#blunt amendment

Don’t Take Away My Breast Exams – Image by Charlotte Cooper FLIKR CC

Concord, NH –– Last week, the Republican-controlled Executive Council in New Hampshire voted to restore funding for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England with bipartisan support. The vote isolated Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire as one of the only legislators still holding steadfast in her campaign to eliminate patients’ ability to access services at Planned Parenthood health centers. 

The Republican-controlled Executive Council followed the lead of Governor Hassan and the Republican controlled House and Senate state legislature –– which this year killed 16 bills that would have restricted access to reproductive health care –– in rejecting efforts to block care at Planned Parenthood health centers. It’s not just elected officials: 66 percent of New Hampshire voters support access to Planned Parenthood.

Statement from Jennifer Frizzell, Vice President of Public Policy for Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund:

“Kelly Ayotte is fighting a lonely battle against Planned Parenthood. New Hampshire has spoken loud and clear –– voters and elected officials have totally and completely rejected attempts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers. Yet, Kelly Ayotte continues to prioritize defunding Planned Parenthood –– voting six times to block New Hampshire women from birth control and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood. New Hampshire voters understand that Planned Parenthood provides essential health care that women depend on. Inexplicably, Ayotte continues to try to take that away. New Hampshire women can’t afford another six years of Kelly Ayotte.”

Senator Kelly Ayotte has voted six times to block patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers. A survey conducted by Hart Research shows that voters in New Hampshire strongly support Planned Parenthood, and oppose Ayotte’s position to “defund” the organization. Key findings from the survey includes:

66 percent of New Hampshire voters oppose blocking patients from accessing Planned Parenthood’s preventive health services, including 72 percent of Independents.

By a two to one margin, voters in battleground states including New Hampshire are less likely to vote to re-elect their senators if they vote to block patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood.

Furthermore, Kelly Ayotte won’t protect access to birth control coverage. Ayotte even proposed a plan that would make more women pay for birth control by undermining the health law that gave nearly 300,000 New Hampshire women access to no-copay birth control.

ROMNEY: “I don't believe employers should tell someone whether they could have contraceptive care or not. Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives.”

Recall back in March, when Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri introduced a bill that would allow employers to deny contraceptive coverage to employees. 

Normally, I do my best to keep my head down when people are arguing about politics. But every once in a while something hits a nerve, and I can't stay silent. Especially this close to an election.

Here's the deal: I'm a 22 year old woman who graduated from college last December. I graduated summa cum laude with two degrees and I've recently been hired full time at a nationwide company. But, because they technically hired me as a 'temporary' employee, they were not required to provide me with health coverage.

That being said, last month I went in for my annual appointment with my gynecologist. A week later he called me back and told me he had found abnormal cells on my PAP smear and would like me to come in again for a biopsy. Today I received the results of that biopsy.

This time they found high-grade cervical dysplasia and I have to go in next month to have a LEEP procedure, which will hopefully remedy the problem.

I'm a smart, productive member of society who just so happens to be on my parents' healthcare plan. If I hadn't been allowed to stay on that plan until I got my own, I may have skipped my PAP smear this year or put it off until I could afford it. Which may not have been until after those high-grade abnormal cells had become cancerous.

My point is this: If I ever had any doubt as to who my vote was going to in November, it has been completely eradicated. Mitt Romney would repeal the law that allows me to afford medical care by remaining on my parents' insurance while not being a full time student. Mitt Romney would support the Blunt amendment, so even when I do have my own health insurance, they may not be required to pay for preventative treatment like PAP smears and HPV screening. I'm terrified to think what might happen if Romney is elected and I need more tests done once he has started signing bills.

By Blog for Choice on September 13, 2012, 2:25 PM

Extreme anti-choice state lawmakers are at it again!

Last night, the Missouri legislature overrode Gov. Jay Nixon's (D-Mo.) veto of a far-reaching anti-choice bill that will now go into effect.

This law will allow bosses to refuse to cover birth control, abortion, and other health-care services in their insurance plans based on their personal beliefs. Women who work at these organizations may no longer receive comprehensive health-care coverage.

This is the furthest-reaching of any recent state bill on this topic.

When Gov. Nixon vetoed the bill in July, he delivered a strong rebuke against its intent to deny contraceptive-coverage to women. Watch his great remarks:

We've seen this kind of political interference in women's birth-control coverage at the federal level, too.

Earlier this year, another Missouri native, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), proposed an extreme amendment to allow corporations and insurance companies to refuse to cover birth control and other essential health-care services, including maternity care, HIV/AIDS screenings, mammograms and cancer screenings.

Fortunately, U.S. senators stood up for women and defeated the notorious Blunt amendment.

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