It seems like things aren’t getting better for families under the updated healthcare repeal bill, especially for new moms. In the updated version of the bill, individual states would be allowed to drop new moms from Medicaid if they can’t find work within 60 days of giving birth. Basically, that means they only get two months before they get the boot. How awful is that?
According to Representative Katherine Clark, who represents the 5th district of Massachusetts, many members of Congress, including outspoken Jewishs representative Jerrold Nadler and Jan Schakowsky, are outraged. The group released a statement that explains how the healthcare bill is harmful to women and families:
“Just when we thought this bill couldn’t get any worse for women and families, Republicans have found a new low. Their updated bill, released in the middle of the night, now includes a direct attack on new mothers right after childbirth. Their devastating bill would turn back the clock on women across our country by violating family leave protections for new mothers. American families deserve better.”
It’s important to note that this timeframe is a new addition, and “is even shorter than existing federal protections for recent mothers.”
Doesn’t it feel like you may be living in a dystopian novel soon, where women are severely lacking basic rights and protections? It kind of sounds like Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has been turned into a TV show that will air on April 26, 2017 on Hulu.
I’m not the only one to make this connection either. It’s why these women protested the Texas senate, for instance, donned in the outfits from the book. The women were protesting two bills that passed Texas senate and are now at the House for determination: one would allow doctors to lie to their patients who they believe may get an abortion, another would block a safe and legal abortion procedure women can have during their second trimester.
Basically, these two bills are just making it harder for women to access safe and legal abortions.
All of these bills have one thing in common: If you’re a woman, the government doesn’t care about you, doesn’t want to help you, doesn’t want to give you equal rights to men, and doesn’t respect your body enough to protect it.
