Murray Statement on House GOP Retraction of Harmful Provision Targeting Women's Health

Statement

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement after House Republicans dropped their misguided efforts to target women's preventive health care in the latest version of their government spending bill. The legislation they passed early Sunday morning would have allowed an employer or insurer -- for virtually any reason -- to deny coverage for birth control, annual checkups, screening for gestational diabetes, HPV testing, STD counseling, HIV screening and counseling, breastfeeding supplies and counseling, and screening and counseling for domestic violence.

"Over the last 24 hours, women across America successfully stood up and spoke out against this shameful attack on women's health. In e-mails, Tweets, and Facebook posts they emphatically told House Republicans that their ideological attempts to cut off access to health care has no place in their last minute political games. And thankfully, House Republicans quickly backed down. We may have won this battle, but there's no indication that Republicans are going to give up attacking women's health as an attempt to rile up their extreme right-wing base. While beyond comprehension, Republicans attempting to rob women of access to health care as the clock ticks down to midnight, was not surprising. So I want to make it very clear, we will continue standing up for women, for families, and for their health care needs. And we want to keep the focus on the critical issue at hand, which is preventing a completely unnecessary government shutdown that would hurt families and communities, and threaten our fragile economic recovery. It's time House Republicans did the same."

In April 2011, Senator Murray successfully fought a similar attempt to attack women's health when House Republicans attempted to defund Planned Parenthood as a government shutdown loomed.

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