Pages 449 to 452, 484, 486-488, 494 495-497 outline 5 goals to the HHS. We have anaylzed those goals and provide details of how they will negatively impact women’s healthcare, rights and agency:
1. Goal: Repeal and Replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Impact on Women: Repealing the ACA could significantly reduce access to healthcare for women, particularly those who benefit from provisions specific to women’s health. The ACA currently mandates coverage for maternity care, contraception, and preventive services such as mammograms and cervical cancer screenings without additional cost. Repealing these provisions could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for women and decreased access to essential health services. This would particularly affect low-income women, who rely on ACA subsidies for affordable healthcare. Pages 484
2. Goal: Strengthen Conscience Protections for Healthcare Providers
- Impact on Women: Strengthening conscience protections allows healthcare providers to refuse to provide services that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs, such as contraception, abortion, or gender-affirming care. While this is framed as protecting the rights of healthcare providers, it could severely limit women’s access to these critical services, particularly in areas where alternative providers are scarce. This could disproportionately affect women seeking reproductive healthcare and transgender women needing gender-affirming care, reducing their autonomy over their health decisions. Pages 494
3. Goal: Promote Alternatives to Abortion
- Impact on Women: The emphasis on promoting alternatives to abortion, including expanding support for crisis pregnancy centers that often do not provide comprehensive reproductive health information, could limit women’s access to unbiased, medically accurate information about their options. These centers often discourage abortion and may not provide referrals for contraception or abortion services, which could lead to women not receiving the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare. This policy may undermine women’s reproductive rights by restricting their ability to make fully informed decisions. Pages 486-488
4. Goal: Roll Back Gender and Sexual Orientation Protections
- Impact on Women: Rolling back protections against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in healthcare could negatively impact LGBTQ+ women, particularly transgender women. This could lead to increased discrimination in accessing healthcare services, including routine care, reproductive health services, and mental health support. Removing these protections could also embolden healthcare providers to deny care based on gender or sexual orientation, further marginalizing these groups and eroding their healthcare rights. Pages 495-497
5. Goal: Limit Federal Funding for Programs Supporting Reproductive Health
- Impact on Women: Limiting federal funding for programs that support reproductive health, including those that provide contraception, could reduce access to family planning services for women, particularly those in low-income and underserved communities. This reduction in funding could result in higher rates of unintended pregnancies, with associated health risks, and could also limit women’s ability to control their reproductive lives, thereby affecting their economic and social agency. Pages 484-486
Summary
The goals outlined in these pages suggest a significant shift toward more restrictive policies regarding women’s health, particularly in the areas of reproductive rights and access to comprehensive healthcare. These changes could disproportionately affect marginalized women, including those who are low-income, LGBTQ+, or living in areas with limited healthcare options. By reducing access to essential services and rolling back protections, these goals could undermine women’s health, limit their rights, and restrict their agency in making informed decisions about their bodies and lives.
Pages referenced for this section: 449 to 452, 484, 486-488, 494 495-497