BOSTON, MA — Ahead of the third anniversary of Dobbs, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Lori Trahan (MA-3), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) joined Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts President Dominique Lee for a press conference calling out the attacks on reproductive freedom tucked into Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill. 

"Tomorrow will mark three years since Trump's Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. For three years, the Republicans have marched nonstop toward their ultimate goal of a national abortion ban — with total control over women's health care in every state, including Massachusetts," said Whip Clark. "And now, we have their Big, Ugly Betrayal of Women Budget, which will impose the single biggest health care cut in our country's history and inflict the biggest assault on women's health care since Dobbs. To put it simply, this is a life-and-death fight every day. Republicans are choosing to make life harder and more expensive and more dangerous for America's 170 million women and girls. All to help America's 900 billionaires."

“Since Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen a new form of hell at every turn. Now, Republicans in Congress are on track to pass a bill that amounts to a backdoor ban on abortion — even in states where it's protected. Republicans’ bill to cut Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood is a one-two punch to women across the country, and we are not going to let them get away with it,” said Sen. Warren.

"Three years ago, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court opened the floodgates to extreme abortion bans in GOP-controlled states across the country – bans that criminalize doctors, endanger women’s lives, and force survivors of rape to carry pregnancies against their will,” said Rep. Trahan. “Now, Republicans in Washington are trying to punish states like Massachusetts for protecting access to abortion by withholding federal health care funding for families who need it most. It’s a coordinated effort to force every state to fall in line with Trump’s anti-abortion, anti-woman agenda, and we have to do everything in our power to stop it from passing."

"As we mark three years since the devastating day the Supreme Court denied us our bodily autonomy and ripped away the basic right to abortion care in America, we recommit to fighting for families across this country to access the basic medical care they need to survive, to be safe in birth, to be treated with human dignity," said Rep. Pressley, Co-Chair of the House Reproductive Freedom Caucus. "It starts by defeating Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill – their shameful reconciliation bill that would put necessary health care further out of reach for millions of people and would drastically defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood clinics across this nation are quite literally saving lives – often the only option for miles for life saving cancer screenings, affordable birth control, and compassionate prenatal care. We will never yield to Trump and Republicans’ agenda to make America a nation of forced birth – this is not an inevitability, and I'm proud to join Whip Clark, Senator Warren, and Congresswoman Trahan in standing with Planned Parenthood in our fight to restore true bodily autonomy and reproductive justice."

"The so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill’ is a backdoor abortion ban, even in safe-haven states like Massachusetts," said Dominique Lee, president of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts. "This bill would 'defund' Planned Parenthood by blocking Medicaid reimbursement, which could impact half of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts' budget. PPLM serves more than 30,000 patients annually, and nearly 40% of them are on Medicaid. If this bill passes, it won't matter that abortion is legal here. People could lose access to abortion, birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings and other care from the provider they trust most. Planned Parenthood will not abandon our patients, our staff, or our communities, but we need everyone with us to help stop this attack on people's health and freedom."

Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans' budget bill would defund Planned Parenthood health centers, bar private health insurers on the ACA marketplace from offering abortion coverage, and slash Medicaid health care coverage — leaving over 300,000 Massachusetts residents unable to access basic health care services.