Planned Parenthood Great Plains Condemns the U.S. Senate’s ACA Repeal Bill
For Immediate Release: June 22, 2017 (Updated: June 22, 2017, 6:58 p.m.)
Overland Park, KS – Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) condemns the U.S. Senate’s draft of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill, which decimates health care for women, low-income, elderly, and disabled patients while blocking Medicaid patients from accessing Planned Parenthood. The Senate’s Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA) is no better than the House version passed in May, which would have left 23 million Americans without health insurance.
“Millions of Americans have taken to the streets and filled town halls to send a clear and concise warning to their elected officials, that leaving 23 million Americans without insurance and attacking marginalized communities and Planned Parenthood patients will not be tolerated. This draft bill is a direct insult to Americans who voted these Senators into office. We are warning the U.S. Senate to think long and hard about the consequences their vote could have on their communities at home and to their political futures,” Planned Parenthood Great Plains President and CEO, Laura McQuade said.
Access to health care, under this draft bill, would depend on a person’s zip code and income, threatening the core of our country’s human rights protections. Tens of thousands of patients rely on PPGP health centers for preventive care including STI testing and treatment, birth control, annual exams, and cancer screenings. Without Planned Parenthood, many patients would be left waiting months for an appointment, and in some communities, without care altogether.
“Community health centers across this country have agreed, Planned Parenthood is an essential sexual and reproductive health care provider that closes the gap in underserved communities. This draft bill, thought up in secret by 13 white men of privilege, is a reckless proposal that will disproportionately harm women, people of color and the disabled community. We call on our Senators in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma to reject this measure,” McQuade said.