Women

Speaking on Komen Foundation's Decision Reversal

“I believe that every issue is a women's issue. As the first woman elected to represent Washington state in the United States Senate, I have spearheaded efforts to invest in women's health, protect reproductive rights, provide life-saving assistance to victims of domestic violence, close the pay gap, as well as increase access to child care. I remain committed to expanding opportunities for women not only in Washington state but across America.”

My Priorities

  • Ensuring equal access to critical reproductive health services.
  • Increasing access to critical family planning services as well as supporting policies that decrease unintended pregnancies.
  • Ensuring that all women in this country are able to make decisions about their bodies and their health.
  • Providing federal assistance to all victims of domestic violence, including immigrants, Native Americans, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals.
  • Ensuring women are treated fairly and paid equally in the American workplace.

My Accomplishments

  • Helped pass the landmark health care reform legislation that provides millions of women with access to critical preventive health services without cost sharing – including well-woman visits, contraceptive methods and counseling, and screening for sexually transmitted infections. 
  • Using my role in Senate leadership, as well as my senior positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, fought against numerous attacks on women’s health including opposing an amendment that would have permitted employers and insurance companies to deny coverage not only for contraception, but for any essential health service that they objected to on the basis of personal religious belief or moral convictions.
  • Fought against attacks on funding for the National Family Planning Program (Title X) and Planned Parenthood as well as supported legislation that would restore family planning clinics’ access to discounted prescription drugs, including contraceptives.
  • Worked with my colleagues to support a strong reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, including expanding provisions that protect immigrant, tribal, and LBGT victims of domestic violence as well as introducing legislation that addresses the economic barriers that trap victims in abusive relationships.
  • Supported the HHS guidelines which require all health insurance plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover several women's preventive services, including well-woman visits, breastfeeding support and contraception services.
  • Work to ensure that all Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decisions on whether the Plan B (a form of emergency contraception) should be provided over the counter with no age restrictions be based upon scientific evidence rather than political pressure.
  • Led a letter calling on Susan G. Komen to reverse their decision to end all funding to Planned Parenthood – funding that provided nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams and resulted in 6,400 referrals for mammograms over the past five years.
  • Supported legislation that would reverse the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co that seriously undermined the laws that protect workers against pay discrimination.
  • Worked with the administrator of the FDA to encourage pharmaceutical companies to include women in advanced clinical trials of new, life-saving drugs.