On Thursday morning, the GOP released its planned changes to the Affordable Health Care Act. As predicted, the AHCA would be horrendous for women. It even includes removing Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, which would mean that 60 percent of Planned Parenthood’s 2.5 million patients would not be able to access its services.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) took to the Senate floor on Thursday, lambasting the GOP for its continued attacks on a health care organization that millions of Americans depend on.
“Frankly, I am sick of coming down to the Senate floor to explain to Republicans what Planned Parenthood does,” she said in a video posted to her Facebook page.
“I am sick of explaining that it provides millions of women with birth control, cancer screenings, and STI tests every year,” she continued.
She also reminded her fellow Senators that, because of the Hyde Amendment, federal funding does not go toward abortion services, but to the many other health care services that Planned Parenthood offers.
“I am sick of explaining that [Planned Parenthood] provides millions of women with birth control, cancer screenings, and STI tests every year.”
- Elizabeth Warren
“Speaker Ryan called this ‘mean’ bill ‘pro-life,’” she said, “but this is just the biggest political play of all. Calling something pro-life won’t keep women from dying in back-alley abortions. It won’t help women pay for their cancer screenings that could save their lives. It won’t help them take care of their families, have safe sex, or afford their medical bills ...The Republican bill will make it more likely, not less likely, that women and their children will die.”
Warren delivered a similarly scathing speech in August 2015 after the GOP attempted to defund Planned Parenthood.
“Do you have any idea what year it is?” Warren said at the time. “Did you fall down, hit your head, and think you woke up in the 1950s or the 1890s? Should we call for a doctor?”
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