*Similar releases will be sent today targeting Republican senators and candidates in New Hampshire, Missouri, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Yesterday Senator John McCain joined the Ted Cruz wing of the Senate Republican caucus and advocated for a government shutdown over funding for Planned Parenthood, and earlier this week numerous Senate Republicans voted to defund Planned Parenthood and limit women’s access to safe and affordable health care. But Republicans like Senator Portman have been attacking women’s health for a long time, and a look at their recent voting history when it comes to women’s health, means they could be next to jump on the shutdown train.
Not only did Senator Portman repeatedly vote to defund the organization that provides critical health care services to 2.7 million patients annually, but Portman also:
• Voted to allow employers to block contraceptive coverage, limiting a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions with her doctor.
• Voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would repeal the provision that allows women full contraceptive coverage without a co-pay – forcing women to pay an average of about $250 more annually out-of-pocket.
• Voted against a bill that would ensure employers could not interfere with employees’ contraceptive coverage in response to the Hobby Lobby decision.
“Not only has Senator Portman now repeatedly voted to limit women’s access to critical health care services, but he has also voted on more than one occasion to strip women of the right to make their own health care decisions with their doctor,” said DSCC National Press Secretary Sadie Weiner. “With so many votes that attack women’s health it wouldn’t surprise us one bit if Senator Portman becomes the latest Republican to advocate shutting down the government in order to deny women funding for critical healthcare services.”
BACKGROUND:
PORTMAN SUPPORTED BLUNT AMENDMENT TO ALLOW EMPLOYERS TO DENY WOMEN ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTION & IMPORTANT PREVENTIVE CARE
Portman Voted To Advance The Blunt Amendment, Which Allowed Employers To Refuse To Provide Contraception To Female Employees. [CQ, 3/1/12; S.Amdt. 1520 to S.Amdt. 1730 to S. 1813, Vote 24, 3/1/12]
• Blunt Amendment Would Allow Employers To Block Access To Women’s Contraception Or Important Preventive Care That They Objected To. “The Senate Thursday rejected an effort to vastly expand conscience exemptions to the Obama administration’s new birth control coverage rule, even as Republican presidential contenders continued to tussle over the issue. The measure, an amendment proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to a highway funding bill, would have allowed not only religious groups but any employer with moral objections to opt out of the coverage requirement. And it would have allowed such employers to do so in the case of not only contraception but any health service required by the 2010 health-care law.” [Washington Post, 3/1/12]
• Boston Globe: Blunt Amendment Would Broaden Conscience Clause Such That Contraception, In-Vitro Fertilization, Blood Transfusions, Vaccines Could Be Excluded From Insurance Coverage. “At issue is a bill introduced last year by Blunt in response to the federal health care law mandate that coverage of birth control be included in all insurance plans. Blunt’s bill would broaden the conscience protection clause to allow any employer or insurer who has religious or moral objections to a particular health service from covering it. That could mean not only contraception being excluded from coverage, but also in-vitro fertilization, blood transfusions, vaccines, or anything else employers deem a violation of their faith.” [Boston Globe, 2/18/12]
American Cancer Society Opposed The Blunt Amendment, Saying It Could Allow Employers To Deny Coverage Of Life-Saving Preventive Services Based On “Undefined” Beliefs. “The lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society also opposed the Blunt amendment, saying it would allow employers to deny coverage of life-saving preventive services like mammograms and smoking cessation programs, based on ‘undefined religious beliefs or moral convictions.’” [New York Times, 3/2/12]
National Women’s Law Center: The Blunt Amendment Was So Vague That It Could Have Created A “Huge Loophole” In The Insurance Requirement For Preventive Care That Could Result In Millions Losing Coverage. “The Blunt Amendment allows employers and insurance companies to refuse coverage of any health care service required under the new health care law based on undefined ‘religious beliefs or moral convictions.’ This creates a huge loophole in the new health care law’s coverage requirements. For example, any corporation whose CEO opposes contraception based on his ‘moral convictions’ could deny all coverage of contraception or any other service to the company’s employees. Even more disturbing, a CEO’s view of ‘morality’ could potentially include concern for the cost of a particular benefit. Such broad, undefined refusals would result in millions of individuals losing vital health service coverage.” [National Women’s Law Center, 3/13/12]
PORTMAN SUPPORTED REPEALING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND FORCING WOMEN TO PAY MORE FOR BIRTH CONTROL
Portman Voted To Repeal The ACA. [Vote 51, 3/22/13]
Analysis Showed Women’s Total Savings On Birth Control Control Because Of The ACA Was $1.4 Billion. “American women are spending much less money on birth control since the Affordable Care Act started requiring insurance plans to cover contraception, according to a new analysis. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania examined health insurance claims from one of the country’s largest private insurers in 2012 (pre-Obamacare) and 2013 (post-Obamacare). They found that spending on the pill, America’s most popular birth control method, quickly fell 38 percent — from $33 to $20, on average. Spending on IUDs, meanwhile, plummeted 68 percent, from $262 to $84. The total savings, the health economists estimate: $1.4 billion.” [Washington Post, Wonkblog, 7/8/15]
• Average Birth Control Pill And IUD Users Saved About $250 Per Year Because Of The ACA. “Women are saving a lot of money as a result of a health law requirement that insurance cover most forms of prescription contraceptives with no additional out-of-pocket costs, according to a study released Tuesday. But the amount of those savings and the speed with which those savings occurred surprised researchers. The study, in the July issue of the policy journal Health Affairs, found that the average birth control pill user saved $255 in the year after the requirement took effect. The average user of an intrauterine device (IUD) saved $248. Those savings represented a significant percentage of average out-of-pocket costs.” [Kaiser Health News, 7/7/15]
• Headline: “Obamacare Has Saved Women More Than $1 Billion On Birth Control” [Washington Post, Wonkblog, 7/8/15]
PORTMAN VOTED AGAINST BILL TO ENSURE EMPLOYERS COULD NOT INTERFERE WITH EMPLOYEES’ BIRTH CONTROL, IN RESPONSE TO THE HOBBY LOBBY DECISION
Portman Voted To Kill Bill Prohibiting Employers From Refusing To Cover Employees’ Contraception. [CQ, 7/16/14; S. 2578, Vote 228, 7/16/14]
• Bill Was A Response To The Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby Decision That Limited Access To Contraception. “Today, Senate Republicans filibustered the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, also referred to as the Not My Boss’s Business Act. This bill from Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Udall (D-CO), would restore the contraceptive coverage requirement guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act put in jeopardy by the recent misguided Supreme Court decision in Hobby Lobby, and protect coverage of other health services from employers who want to impose their beliefs on their employees by denying benefits.” [Office Of Sen. Murray Press Release, 7/16/14]
• Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act Would Have Restored Contraceptive Coverage Requirement. “Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Mark Udall fought back today against the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling with plans for legislation intended to restore the contraceptive coverage requirement under the Affordable Care Act. […]The bill, the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, mandates that employers cannot disrupt coverage for contraception or other health services that are guaranteed under federal law. It comes a week after the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling that closely held for-profit companies can deny contraceptive coverage under their company health plans if it goes against a sincerely held religious belief.” [ABC News, 7/9/14]
American Congress Of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Endorsed Bill Reversing Hobby Lobby Ruling, Noting That “Family Planning, Including Contraception,” Leads To Better Health Outcomes For Mothers And Their Children. “The value of family planning, including contraception, is clear. It allows women to time and space their pregnancies, leading to more optimal health outcomes for mother and for baby. And it helps to prevent unintended pregnancy; in America, nearly one half of all pregnancies are unintended. It is also essential that when an ob-gyn prescribes the appropriate contraceptive for each individual patient, he or she can trust that the patient will have access to that treatment option. Restrictions to this access are an unnecessary, inappropriate impediment in the patient/physician relationship. But in order for women to access contraceptive care, they need coverage. By ensuring contraceptive coverage for workers insured under their employer-provided plan, this bill would put birth control within reach for more American women, regardless of their financial situation.” [American Congress Of Obstetrician & Gynecologists, Press Release, 7/9/14]