Politics Medicaid Cuts Pushed by Republicans Could Devastate Access to Reproductive Care and Contraception
This op-ed explains how Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid could harm young women.
By Kierra B. Jones,March 10, 2025 UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 27 — Medicaid is the most widely used health insurance program in the country. It’s a key source of health-care coverage for people with low incomes or disabilities, including millions of women and young adults across the country who rely on it for sexual and reproductive health care.
In fact, Medicaid provides health care to more than 13 million women of reproductive age (ages 19 to 49), according to the National Partnership for Women & Families. For these women — including roughly 2.6 million Black women, 3.6 million Latinas, and 643,000 million Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women — the program is about more than just access to medical care.
It’s a lifeline. Women represent the majority of Medicaid enrollees. 5 In late February, House Republicans in Congress passed a budget resolution (which directs different committees to come up with specific budget plans) that would require the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending on programs under its purview by at least $880 billion over the next decade. Experts have warned that the only way to meet this reduction goal would be to make drastic and destructive cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helps fill in Medicaid gaps for kids up to age 19 as well as some pregnant women.
Slashing the programs’ funding would undoubtedly hurt millions of Medicaid enrollees.
