Women, Health Care and the Economy

“…[W]e are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.”

Obama’s statement from the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade highlights important issues to women’s health.   One writer points out that by increasing women’s access to contraception, jobs that offer living wages with benefits, and access to quality and affordable child care are essential to the nation’s economic health. 

Women’s health is inextricably tied to our nation’s economic well-being, and economic policy should not be void of considering women’s reproductive health issues.  Republic House leader, John Boehner, asks

“”How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?

Women and children make up a majority of the nation’s poor.  Comprising 70 percent of minimum-wage and below-minimum-wage workers, women struggle to attain financial equity in within the workforce.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argues that the inclusion of family planning in Medicaid would prove to be money-saving.  In 2007, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the Family Planning Medicaid Expansion would actually save the federal government more than $200 million over 5 years.  The recent rescinding of family planning expansion from the economic recovery package in an effort to garner Republican support ignores the importance of women’s health and its link to the economy.