On the recordFebruary 7, 2012
I am also very proud to be here with my colleagues. I think Senator Murray was eloquent, along with Senator Shaheen and Senator Mikulski. I am here to put it in my own words; that is, here they go again. Sadly, politics has once again entered into women's health care. This time we see an attempt to deprive women of a critical benefit: access to contraception through their health insurance plans. Just last week, what did we see? A move to punish women by taking away their free breast cancer screenings all because of rightwing politics. Before that, as Senator Murray eloquently indicated, we saw a Republican move to defund family planning because of politics. My Republican colleagues almost shut down the government over family planning, and now, if they have their way, millions of women could lose their contraceptive coverage, which could expose them to declining health outcomes and their babies to declining health outcomes and could cost them about $600 a year. Let's step back and look at where we are. Some months ago, the Institute of Medicine, which is comprised of a number of leading scientific and health experts, made a decision. They advised the Obama administration on what preventative benefits should be included for women--specifically for women--in new health insurance plans. That is what this whole to-do is all about.…





