Reproductive health for Americans faces an uncertain future with the election of Donald Trump and the Republican-held Congress. The President and his GOP colleagues have made it clear that they are planning to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (putting no-cost birth control at risk, among other things), and they will defund Planned Parenthood. According to the organization’s leadership, 2.5 million people rely on Planned Parenthood for essential healthcare, including cancer screenings, mammograms and birth control. Community health centers and public health officials speculate that no one else could handle servicing all of those who would be without care.
Planned Parenthood reports a 900% increase in women getting the 5- or 10-year IUD since the November 2016 election, giving themselves a birth control option that will outlast the current administration.
According to an article on BBC News in early February 2017, some states are looking ahead and making plans to aid their citizens. In Oregon, legislators have introduced the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which would continue to provide contraceptives without co-pays in the event of an ACA repeal. It would ensure similar coverage for reproductive health services like STD screenings and abortion.
The Illinois Abortion Act of 1975 states that if Roe vs. Wade is ever overturned, abortion will be illegal in the state. Lawmakers there are hoping to pass HB40, which would repeal that provision in the law and ensure women on Medicaid and state employee health insurance have abortion coverage. And, lastly, in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has floated the idea of a ballot amendment to put the right to abortion in the state constitution.
Americans are showing support for reproductive rights and could make it difficult for legislators concerned with public opinion. Naral-ProChoice America reports that seven out of 10 people support legal abortions. The Centre for Reproductive Rights has seen hundreds of new donors, many of them monthly sustainers, in recent months. And Planned Parenthood reports more than 400,000 have donated since the election (some in Vice President Mike Pence’s name). However, even those amounts won’t match lost federal funds if defunding occurs. Planned Parenthood says that even if federal funding is lost, it will find a way to continue providing the care that patients need.
Get involved by calling your Congressional representative and demanding that they protect reproductive health services for all Americans today.