Sen. Hillary Clinton strongly opposed the Bush administration proposal to redefine the notion of abortion as it would limit women's access to family planning services by discouraging medical providers to offer contraception and legal abortion.
The proposal would include in the notion “abortion” widely used contraceptive solutions such as birth control pills and intrauterine devices, which would completely change funding regulations for medical service providers.
If the proposal would ever become accepted, it would limit women's access and right to contraceptives by allowing medical providers to refuse to provide contraceptives, which would create a chain reaction and represent a danger for women's health.
At a time when using contraceptive methods in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies should be something to talk about more often, the Bush administration is putting ideology first by trying to block access to family planning service, Clinton argued.
“This is a gratuitous, unnecessary insult to the women of the United States of America. These rules pose a dire threat to women's health, to health-care providers, and to uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. It is a disgrace, but unfortunately it is not a surprise.”
Sen. Clinton was also joined by several women organization, who also believe Bush administration's proposal to refuse women's access to contraception and take contraception out of health insurance plans shows how for some people, ideology goes beyond the wellbeing of women across America.
The proposal came at a time when family planning services are starting to become available to low-income women, when over-the-counter emergency contraception has finally been approved by the FDA and when the necessity to promote contraceptive methods has become more necessary than ever, as women start their sex life at younger ages.
“We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda to turn the clock back on women's rights,” Sen. Clinton added during the press conference held at Bellevue Hospital.