On Sunday, Paul Ryan on CNN explained his plans for Affordable Care Act once Donald Trump takes office, and well, things are not looking so good for women.
Trump vehemently promised his supporters he would repeal the ACA once he took office but he has already backed off his word to completely replace the program. After he met with Obama, he declared he’ll allow young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until they’re 26 and ensure that people with pre-existing conditions will not be denied coverage or face higher premiums.
Before we breathe a collective sigh of relief, Ryan balked on whether the Trump Administrative will continue to provide free birth control options for women. When prompted by CNN Jake Tapper to elaborate on their plans for reproductive care, Ryan became dismissive, and said, “Look, I’m not going to get into all the nitty-gritty details of these things.”
Tapper pushed the question further: “With all due respect, I don’t know that the average woman of childbearing years who relies upon contraception provided by health insurance mandated by the Affordable Care Act, I don’t know that she would think that that’s just a nitty-gritty detail.”
Ryan became defensive and said he was not going to disclose details on a plan that hasn’t been written yet and refused to comment. Considering Ryan’s less than stellar resume on reproductive rights, I’m not surprised — but I am deeply worried. ACA not only provides free birth control to women but also ensures that every woman is entitled to one free annual pap smear and a whole other list of preventive and awesome benefits, like free breast cancer screenings, HPV genetic tests, domestic violence screenings and counseling, and much more. And not to forget, one of the most important aspect of ACA is to stop insurance companies from charging women higher premiums simply because they are women.
We are facing a very real possibility that the Trump administration may turn back the clock on reproductive options and allow insurance companies to go back to discriminating against women. It is a terrifying thought but a real possibility that we need to be prepared to stand up to. We can help by donating to Planned Parenthood to help millions of women get access to these services that may no longer be able to afford.
Watch the clip here:
Top photo from Twitter/Paul Ryan
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