Issue Position: Women: Equality & Opportunity

Issue Position

v.04.Sep'12

Promoting Equality and Opportunity for Women

While women make up more than half of this country, we still account for less than 20% of Members of Congress. That is one reason why I have worked so hard to promote policies that empower women and ensure that all opportunities for success are open to them.

Among the many issues I have championed in furtherance of that goal was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which ensures women have legal recourse if they are paid less on the job because of their gender. I also am a strong supporter of the Paycheck Fairness Act to address pay inequalities before it starts. Having worked in local Santa Barbara schools, I also believe it is important to help our young women and girls break into high-demand, quality jobs. That is why I am a strong supporter of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and leadership building opportunities for girls. And I have been a strong supporter of the Violence Against Women Act and of the efforts to extend those protections to women in the LGBT and Tribal communities.

For too long, women have been discriminated against in our health care system. That is why I supported efforts in health care reform to ensure that women are no longer charged higher premiums just because they are women and to ensure that maternity care is covered by all plans. Furthermore, I led the effort to ensure that contraceptive coverage is considered a basic preventive health service to be covered by all insurance plans without co-pays. This is critical as planned pregnancies lead to healthier mothers and babies.

I am strongly pro-choice and have opposed the endless attacks on a woman's right to choose. I believe a woman's reproductive decisions should be made by her in consultation with her family, her health care provider and her spiritual advisor.

I have been a strong supporter of Title X family planning program and have led the fight against those who shortsightedly want to defund the program. Similarly, I have opposed efforts to end federal funding to critical women's health providers like Planned Parenthood.

We must also continue to promote prevention, awareness and education to address women's health issues. That is why I authored the bipartisan HEART for Women Act, which seeks combat heart disease in women by improving research, education and treatment of this often silent killer. This legislation has passed the House previously.

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