Fact Sheet: Rep. Tom Price’s Long, Anti-Choice Record Spells Disaster for Women, Our Health

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 -- NARAL Pro-Choice America issued the following news release:

By nominating Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to head HHS, Donald Trump is signalling that his administration will be openly hostile to Americans who seek basic reproductive healthcare. As the nation's top health-care advisor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has an obligation to ensure all Americans have access to the health care they need, including reproductive-health care like birth control and abortion. Yet, as the chair of the Budget Committee, Rep. Price has been on the frontlines of efforts to dismantle the nation's health care law. In other words, if he is confirmed, access to quality, affordable health care--particularly for women of color and low-income women--is in grave danger.

With the nomination hearing for Rep. Price set to convene next Wednesday, here is an overview of his virulently anti-choice, anti-health care record from his 12 years in Congress:

* Cosponsored legislation that would make abortion illegal nationwide in almost all cases and ban some of the most common forms of contraception, stem-cell research, and in vitro fertilization

* Repeatedly voted for an unconstitutional ban on abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy, without an adequate exception to protect a woman's health

* Repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood, which millions of Americans count on for affordable, accessible health care

* Supported creation of a congressional panel to lead a partisan, taxpayer-funded smear campaign against Planned Parenthood; this committee targeted students, researchers, and health-care providers in a way that puts them at risk of violence and harassment

* Repeatedly voted to allow employers to discriminate against workers based on their personal reproductive-health decisions

* Repeatedly voted to deny women in the military--who defend our freedom--the right to use their own, private funds for abortion care at military hospitals

* Voted to ban federal employees from choosing health insurance that includes abortion coverage

* Voted in favor of a bill requiring doctors to assess a woman's motivation for seeking abortion and potentially criminalizing those who provide care without first profiling women or asking them invasive questions

* Repeatedly voted to block low-income women from getting abortion services in most cases (Hyde Amendment)--a policy that disproportionately impacts women of color

* Repeatedly voted to allow hospitals to refuse to provide emergency abortion care, even when a woman's life is in danger

* Repeatedly voted to allow a broad range of individuals and institutions--including hospitals, hospital employees, health-care providers, employers, and/or insurers--to refuse to provide or cover medical treatment, such as contraception or abortion care

* Voted to eliminate the Title X family-planning program, which provides millions of women with health-care services ranging from birth control to breast-cancer screenings

* Authored legislation and repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The nation's health care law greatly improves women's access to basic health care by ensuring coverage and affordability of maternity care, family-planning services, and other reproductive-health services

* Voted to block access to family-planning services for the world's poorest women

If you would like to talk with a NARAL spokesperson about Rep. Price and his anti-choice record, please email media@prochoiceamerica.org.

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