Male Legislators Scrap Maternity Care, Mock Mammograms

The tussle over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act continues in the halls of power in Washington, D.C., quite dramatically. But one photo, taken by presidential aide Cliff Sims, has been making the rounds on social media this afternoon, so I thought it might be instructive to just take a moment to look at it.

It’s an image of the the House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative group of representatives, who want to take away the requirement that all plans sold on the individual market include “essential health benefits” like maternity coverage.

What’s interesting about this picture of people who don’t want maternity coverage to be easily available? Can you spot it?

Can we ask?

It's important to us to keep the warm, joyfully Jewish community on Kveller accessible for all. Reader donations help us do just that. Can you spare a few to keep Kveller free? (We'll love you forever.)

Support Us

Well, there appears to be only one non white-male person in it, and she appears to be KellyAnne Conway.

Hmm. How interesting.

"How could coverage for birth control, well woman exams, maternity care, and breast/cervical cancer screenings be up for debate," you ask pic.twitter.com/xGLEPvQBzk

— Emmy Bengtson (@EmmyA2) March 23, 2017

This is quite a picture. These are the people who are going to take away maternity care. https://t.co/licoNwT9mH

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 23, 2017

https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/844966986706751488

Don’t worry, though. Despite all the negotiations, Some GOP legislators are still finding the time to make fun of mammograms!

I asked Sen. Roberts if he supports scrapping Essential Health Benefits. "I wouldn't want to lose my mammograms," he snarked. #AHCA

— Alice Miranda Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) March 23, 2017

It’s 2017 and the only conclusion to be drawn is that many powerful men still hate the shit out of women.

Sarah M. Seltzer

Sarah Seltzer, former editor for Kveller, is a writer and editor in New York City. She is a journalist covering culture, activism and gender, most recently as Deputy Editor at culture website Flavorwire.com. Her print and online work has appeared in publications including Poets & Writers, The Forward, Lilith, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, The New York Times, Salon, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, Jezebel, The Hairpin, Refinery29, The Toast, Rolling Stone, and many more. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she edited The Crimson’s weekend magazine, as well as the MFA in writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first baby, Mikey, is growing up way too fast and she can objectively report that he is very cute. You can follow her at @sarahmseltzer and reach her at sarah@kveller.com.