As was to be expected, 2017 has already brought with it some pretty scary attacks on women's access to reproductive healthcare. The latest? On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan confirmed that Republicans plan to strip Planned Parenthood of hundreds of millions of dollars of funding as part of the bill that would also nix Obamacare.
The Washington Post reports that Ryan made these comments following a report from a special investigative Republican panel, which recommended Planned Parenthood lose Medicaid reimbursements and federal family-planning funds. Basically, if the bill passes, around 40% of Planned Parenthood's funding will be at stake.
Even worse, the legislation would be part of a "reconciliation bill," which is a special congressional procedure that allows legislation to pass with only a simple majority of senators instead of the typical 60-vote supermajority. A similar reconciliation bill was passed in both houses of Congress in 2015, but was vetoed by President Obama. When the new bill reaches the White House, Donald Trump will be president - and he is expected to sign it.
Planned Parenthood is known for being an abortion provider, but, as NPR reports, only 3% of its funding actually goes toward providing abortions. The other 97%? It provides STI testing and treatment, contraception and cancer screenings to millions of women who could now be at risk of losing access to these services.
While the future of women's reproductive rights appears to be on shaky ground right now, Planned Parenthood's president Cecile Richards took to Twitter to share ways we can prevent women's healthcare from facing a major setback - including making a phone call to Speaker Ryan himself.
Glad you asked! Right now, you can call @SpeakerRyan: 608-752-4050. If you're looking for more ways to get involved: https://t.co/jFWjYPCJi4https://t.co/BTlqbAl9h9
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) January 5, 2017