Tina Smith: “reserving the right to object, I have great respect for my colleague from Iowa, our neighbor to the south, but we just…”

“reserving the right to object, I have great respect for my colleague from Iowa, our neighbor to the south, but we just disagree on this issue. I think that this is an attempt by Republicans to claim that they are increasing access to contraception when, in fact, this bill does not accomplish that goal at all. And I also think our Republican colleagues believe that they have a message problem when it comes to women's health when, in fact, they have a policy problem. And I regret to say this bill is not going to fix it. One in three women in this country face barriers to accessing prescription contraception, and only half of women that are interested in over-the-counter birth control pills can afford them. But instead of addressing this very real and very well-understood challenge, this bill does nothing to improve access to contraception. It does not address the lack of insurance coverage for prescription and over-the-counter birth control--carve-outs that Republicans have repeatedly supported which make contraception more expensive for patients. It does not protect patients from efforts to roll back the ability of providers to prescribe birth control. It does not enable patients to know what is best for themselves to get birth control without unnecessary barriers.…”