Trump's Latest Comments Show He Is Blind To What Actually Helps Women

If there's one thing we learned from President Trump's first 100 days in office, it's that he's pretty delusional when it comes to helping women. In celebration of national Women's Health Week, President Trump issued a statement aimed at recognizing "the importance of providing women access to the best, evidence-based health information and care," proving how blind he is to the myriad of ways the Republican healthcare bill would hurt women.

The Guardian's Ben Jacobs posted the full statement to Twitter, which read, "Ensuring affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare is critical to improving women's health and ensuring that it fits their priorities at any stage of life."

President Trump continued, "In particular, women should have access to quality prenatal, maternal, and newborn care. Under the current healthcare system, however, the lack of choice in health insurance and in healthcare providers, along with skyrocketing premium and out-of-pocket costs, are failing our citizens, our families, and, in particular, our women. Studies show that women are often the primary healthcare decision-maker for their family and they deserve better options."

Everything the president advocates for — maternal and newborn care, accessible and affordable women's health care, improving women's health — sounds excellent. However, Trump's policies promote the exact opposite.

His first 100 days in office were a complete disaster for American women and women abroad, and the Republican healthcare bill he wants to see become law would only make things worse.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) that passed the House earlier in May would allow certain states to charge higher premiums for people with preexisting conditions (which could include sexual assault, domestic abuse, and c-sections), not force insurance plans to cover essential health benefits (such as pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care), and end Medicaid expansions.

Trump's Women's Health Week statement also said, "The number of women dying from heart disease and cancer — the top two killers of women in America — has been decreasing for decades," adding, "Thanks to new breast cancer treatments, our health care professionals have saved lives and improved the quality of life for millions of women. We must continue to foster an environment that rewards these needed advances in research."

Yes, deaths from heart disease and cancer have continued to decrease, but no thanks to the current president. The health organization Trump is hell-bent on defunding, Planned Parenthood, currently serves millions of people every year, offering cancer screenings to detect and treat women's cancer.

The AHCA would also make it more expensive for women to get treatment for heart disease and cancer, as they would be classified as preexisting conditions.

President Trump's comments on Women's Health Week make it unavoidably clear that he has no idea how to improve women's health. He claims to be helping women, but his policies harm them at every turn.