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Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference on Republican Attempts to Make America Sick Again and Threaten Women’s Health Care

January 5, 2017

Contact: Drew Hammill/Caroline Behringer, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Co-Chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, and Ilyse Hogue, President of NARAL, to discuss threats facing women under a Trump Administration and Republican Congress, especially a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and defunding of Planned Parenthood. Below are the Leader's remarks:

"Thank you very much, Alana, for sharing your story with us. A former Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, once said, ‘All politics is local.' In this case, all politics is personal. And the impact that it has on people's lives, their ability to be healthy, to have financial stability, is something that we owe them. And Alana, thank you for your courage in sharing your story. It's very important to us.

"One of my constituents, Amanda, has told me of her story where she had endometriosis.

"And she – the ability for her to be able to go and have – she depends on the ACA to pay for her medically necessary birth control, without which she would face crippling pain and even the loss of her fertility.

"And so, it is over and over – the stories are repeated over and over again. Thank you for focusing on this. As my colleagues were speaking – and I thank them. I thank Diana DeGette and Louise Slaughter for their leadership of the Pro-Choice Caucus, for bringing us together today. It is an honor for us to welcome Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood and Ilyse Hogue of NARAL. Thank you for joining us today. And I thank all of you.

"We're here to talk about the Affordable Care Act and what it means to women. Well, my colleagues spelled that out. Alana has told her story. But just to put it in a sentence: no longer [is] being a woman a pre-existing medical condition. Period.

[Applause]

"I'm the mother of five, grandmother of nine. But when I had my five children, I once called the insurance company about a pain I had in my back, and I said, ‘It hurts. You know I've had five children, and this hurts worse than having the five children.' And they said, ‘You had five children? Then you're a poor risk.' So they're making having children a pre-existing condition.

"So, we all have our experiences. But Congresswoman DeGette pointed out something that happened this morning. In his press conference, the Speaker said that, yes, defunding Planned Parenthood would be part of the reconciliation bill that they put forth. This is a priority for the Republicans.

"So I just would like to speak individually to women across America. This is about – as Louise said – respect for you, for your judgement about your personal decisions, in terms of your reproductive needs, the size and timing of family, and the rest, not to be determined by your insurance company or the Republican ideological, right-wing caucus in the House of Representatives.

"So this is a very important occasion, where we're pointing out very specifically about what repeal of ACA would mean to women – and in particular, to address the fact that the Speaker just declared himself, once again, to remove all doubt.

"Well, we – Congresswoman DeGette spelled it out before, as did Louise – we are not going back. We are not going back. We will stand our ground. We will fight that decision by the Speaker to defund Planned Parenthood. And you know what? The American people are with us. We just have to get out the word. Thank you for helping us to do that.

"Now, it is my pleasure to yield to Ilyse Hogue, President of NARAL. Thank you for being with us – and for your leadership, Ilyse."

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Issues:Health Care