Today Congresswoman Diana DeGette endorsed John Hickenlooper’s campaign for U.S. Senate. The endorsement was followed by a virtual discussion about health care access, the Supreme Court’s latest ruling allowing employers to make their workers’ reproductive health care decisions, and the need to make science-based policy decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.
“As Governor, John oversaw the critical expansion of health care access in Colorado under the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, the state exchanges, and our innovative state program providing free or low cost long-acting reversible contraception to thousands of women,” said Congresswoman DeGette “We need John Hickenlooper as a partner in the Senate if we want to get Washington working for Coloradans. We have the votes in the House to pass legislation on reproductive health care, on wilderness, on climate change, on meaningful police reform – but then it goes nowhere thanks to Mitch McConnell and Cory Gardner. We can’t wait any longer. We need to flip the Senate and get things done, and I’m proud to endorse John Hickenlooper to vote our Colorado values.”
“Congresswoman DeGette is a fierce champion in Congress on health care access and reproductive freedom, and I’m honored to have her endorsement in my race for U.S. Senate,” said Hickenlooper. “Here’s the bottom line — President Trump and Senator Gardner will stop at nothing to undermine a health care system that covers 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions and to limit access to birth control. It’s simple, an employer shouldn’t have the power to make decisions on the health care of their employees. In the Senate, I will fight tooth and nail to protect health care coverage which allows full access to birth control.”
Access to health care is on the ballot in November’s Senate election here in Colorado. Senator Gardner has repeatedly voted to repeal the ACA and supports the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to overturn the law that could eliminate its protections for preexisting conditions (like COVID-19!) Hickenlooper expanded health care coverage to half a million Coloradans as governor and will continue that effort to expand coverage and lower costs in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Cory Gardner has sponsored legislation to let employers deny their workers coverage for birth control and has repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s provision guaranteeing insurance coverage for contraception, to defund Planned Parenthood, to ban abortion, and even to throw doctors in jail. As Governor, Hickenlooper protected reproductive rights and expanded access to birth control, making long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) available at no cost and lowering the state’s teen birth rate by 54%.
As Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman DeGette has been a leader on reproductive health care, reproductive rights, and birth control access. She and several of her colleagues announced they will file the Protect Access to Birth Control Act to repeal the Trump Administration’s dangerous, anti-woman effort to limit birth control access under the Affordable Care Act. And as a top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, she has demanded accountability from the Trump Administration on why they have sidelined the Centers for Disease Control during the coronavirus pandemic.
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