Senate Republicans released on Thursday the healthcare proposal that they hid from the public and their colleagues for more than a month, revealing that it's actually pretty similar to the House's version approved back in May. Namely, both plans to repeal and replace Obamacare involve defunding Planned Parenthood.
Well, Jon Hamm and other celeb activists want you to do something about it.
So we're all caught up, the GOP's two healthcare bills aim to withhold all Medicaid reimbursements from Planned Parenthood for a year, even though it's already illegal for any federal money to go toward abortions. More than half of the organization's patients rely on Medicaid for preventative services such as birth control, STD and HIV testing, and cancer screenings, according to its website. Those patients would all be forced to find a new healthcare provider — if there's even another one in their area providing the health services they need.
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Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter partnered with NowThis to bring together celebs who support Planned Parenthood. Hamm, Jennifer Lawrence, Aidy Bryant, Brie Larson, Amy Poehler, Padma Lakshmi, Gloria Steinem, and others made a video telling everyone to call their senators and tell them to oppose any and all attempts to defund Planned Parenthood.
"This is nothing more than a blatantly political attempt to do whatever it takes to attack women's health and rights and take healthcare away from the people who need it most," they say in the video.
The celebs points out that you can go to IStandWithPP.org/call to quickly find your senators' phone numbers, along with a script to follow if you're unsure what to say or clam up on the phone.
Calling your representative to support @PPFA is easy — watch these celebs show you how pic.twitter.com/dZKY3sxhvT
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 23, 2017
Everyone can call their state's senators about healthcare, but there are some Republican representatives who have already voiced some concern about the current proposal. Since Democrats are expected to vote against the GOP proposal and Republican leaders championing it are expected to vote for it, the Republican senators with doubts are the ones to target. (You can find a list of them here.)
The Senate plans to vote on its healthcare bill by next Friday, and Hamm wants you to pick up the phone ASAP.