Raising Women's Voices of Southeastern Pennsylvania

WOMEN'S WAY leads the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of Raising Women's Voices, a coalition formed to ensure that women's voices were heard and reproductive health concerns were address during the federal health care reform debate. This diverse coalition is now advocating for health care reform implementation policies at the state and federal level that support and protect the full-range of comprehensive reproductive health care services for women. We want to ensure that the promise of health care reform becomes a reality for ALL women!

The Pros and Cons of Health Care Reform for Women

The passage of health care reform in this country brought with it many significant gains for women.  For example: a woman with a pre-existing condition such as breast cancer or a pregnancy will no longer be denied insurance coverage and the practice of gender rating will be prohibited so a woman can no longer be charged more for insurance than a man. Learn more about the positive impact of this law! 

Most recently, we engaged in the national campaign, Contraception is Prevention, and our efforts paid off when the federal government announced the new health care reform provision that it will require insurance companies to cover key women’s preventive health services, including contraception, without co-pays. This was a HISTORIC advance for women's health! More Info

However, the health care reform law also came at a price for women. Under this new law, additional restrictions were put in place that limit women's access to safe, legal abortion care. Many states, including Pennsylvania, are now fighting legislation that would ban insurance companies participating in the yet-to-be established state health insurance exchange from offering abortion coverage. If Senate Bill 3 passes, many Pennsylvania women will lose the coverage they currently have so we are working hard to defeat this bill. Find out more about SB 3.