U.S. Senator Chris Coons participated in a roundtable discussion of ideas for protecting women’s access to contraception and family planning services on Wednesday. The meeting was hosted by the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee and featured more than a dozen leaders in women’s health, including Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Nancy Kennan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America; and Alethea Smith-Withers, board chair of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
“All women should have the right to affordable, accessible reproductive health care,” Chris said. “Sadly, many Republicans in Congress insist on creating harmful barriers to keep women from accessing much-needed services. Today’s meeting allowed for a productive discussion with leaders of women’s health care on how we can move forward to continue to advocate for these critical family planning services.”
The hour-long discussion focused on recent destructive initiatives taken by Republicans to block women from accessing basic reproductive health care. In particular, Cecile Richards and Nancy Keenan discussed the important role the Affordable Care Act has played in improving and expanding access to important health services for women, including requiring health insurance plans to cover preventive services such as mammograms and cervical cancer screenings with no deductible or co-pay.
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