--- title: Graham-Cassidy Obamacare Repeal Bill and Women's Health description: Republicans' latest attempt to repeal Obamacare includes several provisions that would dramatically affect women's health care. canonical: https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-20T15:11:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:30:43.794Z article:section: Politics og:title: 3 Ways Obamacare Repeal Would Change Women's Access to Health Care og:description: Republicans have a new last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act og:url: https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f7667d939f03ce/6988de89196cf424f6042011/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Graham-Cassidy Obamacare Repeal Women's Health og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3 Ways Obamacare Repeal Would Change Women's Access to Health Care twitter:description: Republicans have a new last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f7667d939f03ce/6988de89196cf424f6042011/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Ways the New Obamacare Repeal Bill Would Change Women's Access to Health Care > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 20, 2017 3:11 PM UTC  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) talks on the phone before a news conference to announce opposition to the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare at the U.S. Capitol July 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) talks on the phone before a news conference to announce opposition to the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare at the U.S. Capitol July 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 20, 2017 3:11 PM UTC Republicans latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, includes several provisions that would [dramatically affect](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/19/16328928/obamacare-repeal-cassidy-graham-health-care-women) women’s health care. Named for sponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, the Graham-Cassidy bill would make it harder for low-income women to access Planned Parenthood, reduce private insurance coverage for abortions and allow states to reduce maternity coverage. The bill needs to pass by the end of September to have a realistic chance of being enacted into law. It’s currently just a handful of votes away from reaching the majority needed. Here’s a closer look at how the Graham-Cassidy bill would affect women’s health. ## It would prevent women on Medicaid from visiting Planned Parenthood The bill would [end for one year federal funding](http://www.kff.org/medicaid/fact-sheet/5-ways-the-graham-cassidy-proposal-puts-medicaid-coverage-at-risk/) to states that pay for lower-income women on Medicaid to get reproductive health services at Planned Parenthood. (Since 1977, federal law has [banned the use of federal funds](http://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/coverage-for-abortion-services-and-the-aca/) for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment.) ## It would restrict abortion coverage on plans that get tax credits The bill would restrict people who get tax credits to buy insurance on the individual market from purchasing plans that include abortion coverage. It would also bar small businesses that receive tax credits to offer insurance from including abortion coverage in employees’ plans. ## It would drop a requirement that health insurance plans include maternity care The bill would allow states to stop requiring that private insurance plans include maternity care among the essential health benefits included in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/"},"headline":"3 Ways the New Obamacare Repeal Bill Would Change Women's Access to Health Care","datePublished":"2017-09-20T15:11:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:30:43.794Z","description":"Republicans have a new last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act","url":"https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/","keywords":["Health Care","Congress","Lindsey Graham","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f7667d939f03ce/6988de89196cf424f6042011/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f7667d939f03ce/6988de89196cf424f6042011/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Graham-Cassidy Obamacare Repeal Women's Health","caption":"Graham-Cassidy Obamacare Repeal Women's Health","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4949573/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-womens-health/","name":"3 Ways the New Obamacare Repeal Bill Would Change Women's Access to Health Care"}}]}] ```