Rubio’s Shameful Record of Attacking Women’s Health Care

Today, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund proudly endorsed Patrick Murphy for United States Senate against anti-women’s health politician Marco Rubio. While Murphy supports reproductive rights and access to health care, Rubio has spent his career insisting that women cannot be trusted to make their own personal medical decisions, advocating against the rights of rape and incest victims, and trying to defund critical women’s health services.

As always, Marco Rubio prioritizes his own political self interest ahead of doing what’s right for Florida’s women and families.  

Just how extreme is Marco Rubio’s fight against reproductive rights? 

• Even after Rubio’s failed presidential campaign, he is working to make critical health care out of reach for women in Florida. Rubio said he didn’t believe women with Zika should be allowed to have an abortion – even with the potential risks of microcephaly. 
• Rubio has repeatedly pledged to defund Planned Parenthood, and even said he was “proud” to have voted to do so. Rubio’s anti-women’s health agenda would disproportionately impact uninsured women who rely on it for preventive health care, including cancer screenings like breast exams, and affordable birth control. 
• Rubio has called the Roe v. Wade decision a “catastrophe” that should be overturned and supports banning abortion without any exception for rape or incest victims.
• Rubio supported allowing employers to deny employees birth control coverage.
• Rubio is committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act and its historic advancements for women, including requiring plans to cover preventive services like cancer screenings without co-pay and the ban on insurance companies charging women more than men.
• Rubio has blocked legislation that would help women get equal pay for equal work, which is important for women making reproductive decisions for their futures and their families. 
• Rubio continues to “choose” to give policymakers, not women, the right to make their own personal reproductive health care decisions.