Northam to Congress: ‘Legislators should not tell women what they can do with their bodies’

Yesterday, President Trump made it clear attacking women’s healthcare will be a hallmark of his administration.

After years of attempts to block access to safe, legal abortions, the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive attack on women’s reproductive health care.

The bill includes a provision that effectively bans even private health insurance policies from covering an abortion if the plan was purchased in the federal exchange, state exchange, or the plan is subsidized to insure low income women. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed similar legislation referred to as the Stupak-Pitts amendment but was defeated by pro-choice Senate Democrats in 2010. At the time, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said such legislation would “create a two-tiered system that would punish women, particularly those with low and middle income families.”

The bill also makes the “Hyde Amendment” permanent, and bars Washington D.C. from using its resources to cover abortion access, and increases costs on small businesses that offer insurance to employees if they cover abortion access.

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam has a long record of defeating Republican attempts to roll back women’s access to reproductive health care. He led the fight to defeat the infamous transvaginal ultrasound bill. He continues to stand up to further government interference in private medical decisions, and he wants to increase access to the most effective forms of birth control.

Dr. Northam issued the following statement on U.S. House of Representatives vote to cut funding for reproductive care:

“This is an outrageous attack on programs that help low and middle income women. President Trump and the Republicans callous decision shows no understanding of the importance of reproductive care to millions of women in the Commonwealth, and the country. This is not some abstract concept; it hurts people. Last Saturday, men and women around the country rallied against backwards policies like these. I will continue to stand with them and fight against such attacks in Virginia.”