Concord, N.H. — Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander helped introduce the Restoring Essential Healthcare Act, bicameral legislation that repeals the newly enacted federal ban on Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood. Specifically, this bill strikes Section 71113 of the Republicans’ Big, Brutal Budget, which prohibits federal Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood clinics that offer reproductive health care alongside other health care. Congressman Pappas is a co-lead of this legislation in the House.
“Planned Parenthood delivers lifesaving cancer screenings, vaccinations, contraception, birth control, and so much more to people across New Hampshire,” said Congresswoman Goodlander. “The effort to prohibit Planned Parenthood from accepting Medicaid is dangerous and will take away access to preventive care for those most in need. That’s why I’m helping to lead the Restoring Essential Healthcare Act and using every tool I have to protect your healthcare.”
Republicans’ ban on Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood could leave thousands of patients in every state with no place to seek essential reproductive care and other vital health services. Every year, Planned Parenthood provides healthcare to more than two million people, including STI testing, breast exams, birth control, HPV vaccines, and other critical services.
The Restoring Essential Healthcare Act has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Center for Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Freedom Caucus, All* Above All, Guttmacher Institute, National Abortion Federation, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, National Network of Abortion Funds, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Reproductive Freedom for All, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Power to Decide.
Congresswoman Goodlander is a fierce advocate for reproductive freedom. She was serving as a law clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer on the United States Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was first called into question, and was working at the Department of Justice in 2022 when the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs. Following the ruling, she helped the Justice Department launch the first-ever Reproductive Rights Task Force to protect reproductive freedom under federal law by monitoring and evaluating state and local laws that threaten to infringe on federal protections for reproductive care, including laws that impose criminal and civil penalties on those seeking an abortion or laws that ban or limit access to mifepristone despite the expert judgment of the Food and Drug Administration. Learn more about her work fighting for reproductive freedom here.
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