Op-Ed: Shelve the theatrics and address real issues affecting Pa. women and children

 If you listen only to certain Republican talking points repeated over and over during recent news conferences and hearings targeting transgender athletes and access to abortion, your views of women’s health care might be skewed. 

You might think that, in Pennsylvania, women’s health care is all about what legislators want to take away. 

However, that’s just not true. 

The “anti-this” and “anti-that” attitudes of, sadly, various elected officials are not reflective of the greater message that we in the Women’s Health Caucus wholeheartedly believe in. 

Simply, we are “pro-women,” “pro-children” and “pro-family.” 

In other words, don’t allow these entirely unnecessary theatrics to overshadow the genuine importance of advocating on behalf of women. 

True women’s health care means ensuring that no matter what someone looks like or where they come from, access to comprehensive reproductive health care is essential. 

Women of Pennsylvania face a climate where far too many people giving birth will die before their child’s first birthday. 

Women of Pennsylvania are forced out of work because they cannot afford child care, or they’re too often compelled to lose wages to take time off to care for their families. 

Women of Pennsylvania risk too much danger of losing a child because they lacked reasonable accommodations at work while pregnant. 

Women of Pennsylvania were disproportionately forced out of the workforce due to the pandemic. 

These are just a few of the myriad issues women from all walks of life face in our commonwealth. The problems are not new. And there are no magical, snap-of-a-finger solutions. 

While the Women’s Health Caucus is steadfastly dedicated to addressing these issues, what we need is for the entire General Assembly to work together, heed the advice of legitimate health experts and act on evidence-based policies that prioritize the wellness and care of women and children across the state. 

It’s time to address these disparities with policies to enhance women’s health care in Pennsylvania. The Women’s Health Caucus proposes the following: 

• Require employers to provide paid leave so women are not stuck with the choice of family or finances. 

• Improve access to child care for working and student parents through tax credits and subsidies so they can advance in their career or finish their studies. 

• Remove structural barriers and guarantee quality and dignity in the workplace by removing gender pay gaps and unpredictable scheduling, while increasing the state’s minimum wage. 

• Require workplace protections such as accommodations for nursing or pregnant people, as well as enacting stricter sexual harassment policies. 

• Reduce our maternal mortality rate by providing Medicaid up to 12 months postpartum, expanding the perinatal health workforce and improving screening for pregnant and postpartum women. 

• Improve access to contraceptives by requiring insurance companies to cover them without cost-sharing, similar to the ACA provision that was recently rescinded. 

• Increase funding for family planning so women can receive comprehensive and medically accurate services. 

Improving women’s health care doesn’t require news conferences designed to parrot tired and untrue talking points. To make a positive difference for all women and children of Pennsylvania, let’s instead focus our energy and attention on evidence-based policies that address bona fide issues and move Pennsylvania forward. 

Submitted by Women's Health Caucus members: state Reps. Mary Jo Daley, D-Montgomery and Morgan Cephas, D- Philadelphia; and state Sens. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Montgomery/Delaware, and Sen. Judy Schwank D-Berks.