“Extremists in the House delivered another outrageous attack on women’s health today by passing a reconciliation bill that would cripple the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and defund Planned Parenthood for one year. This callous bill would make basic women’s health care – including preventive, contraceptive and abortion care – inaccessible or unaffordable for millions more women. It is bad policy and yet another painful example of lawmakers being willing to sacrifice women’s health to their ideological and partisan agendas.

The ACA is the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation. It is an unmitigated success that has vastly expanded access to affordable health coverage and is laying the groundwork to change our health care system into one that provides higher value, higher quality, patient- and family-centered care. The reconciliation bill would decimate key pillars of the ACA that are essential to protecting access to affordable, comprehensive coverage for millions of people who would otherwise have no choice but to go without the health care they need.

At the same time, millions of women rely on Planned Parenthood for high-quality preventive care, including birth control, potentially life-saving screenings for cancer, and screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Defunding the organization for a year is utterly without justification and would cause enormous harm, leaving millions without access to their trusted health care provider. Women who rely on publicly funded programs and those who live in medically underserved communities would suffer the most.

We’ve said it before and we will say it again: Attacks on Planned Parenthood are attacks on women’s health. Women’s health should never be a pawn in a political game. Funding for Planning Parenthood must stand and the ACA’s individual and employer mandates must remain in place. We urge every Senator to reject this bill and do all they can to ensure that all women and families can access quality, affordable health care, including the full range of reproductive health services.”