WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Three U.S. Democrat senators announced legislation March 5 that would give free birth control and abortifacients to women on public assistance and expand “preventative services” across the country.
Titled the 21st Century Women's Health Act, the proposed bill would instigate a study of abortion access in the U.S. and craft training for nurses specializing in women’s health, and also mandate that all hospitals provide free “emergency contraception” pills to rape victims.
“We need to fight back against those who miss that Mad Men era,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), according to Yahoo News.
Contraceptives, including some abortifacients, are already imposed in private insurance plans by Obamacare. Some contraceptives, regardless if they are classified as “emergency” or not, function as an abortifacient by preventing implantation of the already-fertilized egg in the mother’s womb, a fact disputed by pro-aborts and the abortion industry.
Murray sponsored the bill along with Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who took a verbal shot at her counterparts across the aisle during the announcement.
“At a time when the GOP congress is trying to drag women back to the last century, we are offering a bold agenda to strengthen women's health in this century,” Boxer said.
The biggest part of the law is the free birth control for women on Medicaid, a federally-funded aid program that covers nearly 70 million Americans.
The bill has services interwoven that give the appearance of care for women, touting the expansion of Medicaid coverage for things such as breast pumps, breast feeding support services, well-woman exams, cancer screenings, and treatment and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
It would require states to set up a “Maternal Mortality Review Committee” to look at maternal mortality disparity nationwide, and to assess the elements contributing to pregnancy-related and pregnancy-associated deaths for the purpose of policy development.
The law would also require the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) to carry out a study every five years on women’s health and report the findings to Congress, with a particular focus on the impact of “state laws that restrict access to abortion and geographic regions where access to family planning services is limited.” The DHS study would also account for economic impacts of state laws and “the effect they have on pregnancy-related deaths.”
The bill’s Democrat sponsors lauded the bill as progressive and empowering for women.
“The 21st Century Women’s Health Act lays out important ways we can and should move forward on women's health, from maternity care, to preventive health services, to continuing to expand access to birth control, to ensuring survivors of rape have access to emergency contraception in every hospital. Period,” Murray said.
Abortion advocates were happy with the announcement of the proposed legislation.
“We applaud Senators Murray, Mikulski, and Boxer for the introduction of the 21st Century Women's Health Act in Congress today,” said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, whose organization took in over half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer funding in 2013. “This aptly-named bill not only brings women into the 21st century, it launches us forward.”