Reproductive Rights and Women’s Issues
As a husband and father of two young daughters, Jim Himes is personally committed to making sure that all women are guaranteed equal opportunity and reproductive freedom.
In families all across America, and right here in this district, women are making important choices for their families every day. Far more than men, women determine what food is on the table, where the children go to school, and how the family spends money. In so many ways, women are the backbones of our families, and our society. It is critical that federal policy affords women the rights and protections that reflect true equality. This means protecting a woman’s right to choose, ensuring that all women have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, and making sure that all women receive equal pay for equal work.
Championing Reproductive Freedom
Jim believes that a woman’s reproductive choices are private and complex-and hers alone to make. Jim fully supports a woman’s right to make reproductive choices without interference from politicians or the government. Jim also supports reducing unplanned pregnancies through comprehensive family planning services, availability of contraception, and scientifically accurate sex education.
Reproductive rights are at great risk given the perilous makeup of the current Supreme Court. Unlike Chris Shays, who has campaigned enthusiastically for a Presidential candidate who opposes Roe v. Wade and would appoint judges who would criminalize reproductive choice, Jim supports only Presidential candidates who share his commitment to women’s reproductive freedom. Jim will also work to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify the protections upheld by Roe v. Wade and guarantee the reproductive freedom of future generations of American women.
Increasing Access to Family Planning and Equitable Healthcare
In Congress, Jim will support federal funding of reproductive healthcare, including crucial preventive care, access to family planning, and comprehensive sex education. Jim will work to pass legislation requiring all health insurers to provide equal coverage for contraception. Jim will also support the repeal of the Bush Administration’s "gag rule" that prohibits international family planning organizations from offering women in developing countries a full range of reproductive health care options.
Women suffer more frequently from a range of diseases, and health care disparities among minority and low-income women are especially pervasive. Unlike his opponent, Jim will promote women’s health access by working to enforce state regulations requiring insurance plans to cover screenings for breast and cervical cancer. Jim will fight for legislation to encourage research on gender and health disparities and to establish outreach programs in underserved communities to help women access healthcare and maintain healthy lifestyles.
Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention
Jim will work in Congress to strengthen the global fight against AIDS. The HIV infection rate among women around the world is now a staggering 7,000 women a day, and the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS in the United States has quadrupled over the last twenty years. HIV infection has been particularly devastating among women of color-the leading cause of death in 2004 for African-American women between the ages of 25 and 34 was HIV infection. Jim supports the development of products such as microbicides that will empower women to prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Fighting for Equal Pay and Economic Opportunity
True equality has not been achieved in a society where women still make only 77 cents on average for every dollar made by a man. In Congress Jim will support legislation ensuring that equal work is compensated by equal pay, regardless of the sex of the worker. Jim will also support efforts to increase penalties for wage discrimination on the basis of sex and to prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share their salary information with their co-workers.
