It’s quite remarkable to see just how much the Trump Administration–and the Republican Party as a whole–hates women. Nearly everything they do in some way exerts control over women–whether its restricting their access to healthcare, abortion or just plain attacking civil rights. It’s like they’re using Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale not as a warning of a dystopian future, but as a guidebook for policy in 2017.
Still waging his epic war to obliterate 100 percent of President Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments–especially the popular ones!–this morning Trump went after the birth control mandates in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Here’s Vann R. Newkirk II in a blog post for The Atlantic on the move:
On Friday, the administration made one of its boldest moves yet, with two memos from multiple agencies that would dramatically curtail women’s access to birth control through their employers. The new regulations, effective immediately, would exempt all employers and insurers from covering or paying for coverage of contraceptives if they object “based on its sincerely held religious beliefs,” or have other “moral convictions” against covering such care.
Not long after I read that, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands issued the following statement, which makes clear just how damaging and heartless this new rule will be:
With this rule, the Trump administration is taking direct aim at birth control coverage for more than 266,000 women in Hawaii. Under this rule, any employer could decide that their employees no longer have health insurance coverage for birth control.
Birth control is not controversial–it’s basic health care the vast majority of women will use in the course of their lifetime. We’re talking about a fundamental right–to be able to decide whether and when you want to have children.
Citizen activism–much of led by women–may have defeated Congressional Republicans’ repeated attempts to repeal the ACA, but moves like this make clear that Trump intends to dismantle Americans’ healthcare protections piece by piece.
Click here for more information on Planned Parenthood of The Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands.
Photo: Sarah C/Flickr
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