Strong voter support for women's health provisions included in health care reform packages

A new poll released today shows strong voter support for women's health provisions included in health care reform packages currently moving though the U.S. Congress. Highlights of the poll of 1,000 likely voters, conducted by The Mellman Group for the Moving Forward initiative of the Women Donors Network and the Communications Consortium Media Center, show:

SUPPORT FOR REQUIRING MATERNITY COVERAGE IS NEARLY UNIVERSAL.

The vast majority (86%) of Americans believe that insurance companies should be required to cover maternity care, while just 10% oppose such requirements.

ALLOWING INSURANCE COMPANIES TO CONTRACT PREVENTIVE CARE AND SCREENINGS TO COMMUNITY PROVIDERS, INCLUDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD, IS UNCONTROVERSIAL.

The vast majority of voters (82%) support this proposal regardless of party affiliation, region, age, gender and religious attendance.

AMERICAN VOTERS SUPPORT EFFORTS TO KEEP HEALTH CARE REFORM ABORTION-NEUTRAL.

A majority (52%) of voters support the "Capps compromise" which would prohibit federal dollars, including partial subsidies, from being used to pay for abortions, although abortions could be paid for using private funds generated by patients' premiums. Just 39% oppose this language. This language garners more support from anti-abortion voters (64%) than pro-abortion rights voters (47%). A majority of Catholic voters (58%) also support the language.

"For several years we have been tracking strong support for reproductive and other health issues," notes Donna Hall, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Women Donors Network based in San Francisco.

"We have found that voters see individual decision-making as the overarching value on these issues and they want respect, prevention, planning and personal responsibility to be part of the conversation. This is true whether it is about family planning, maternity care or other reproductive health issues, including abortion," added Hall.

"Over the years, opponents of abortion have used the issue to hijack a whole host of policies by focusing the conversation exclusively on abortion. This is what has been happening with health care reform. Let's resolve the issue with the compromise developed by Congresswoman Lois Capps (D?CA) and move forward with needed reforms," commented Wendy Wolf who leads the Moving Forward initiative for the Network.

"The Capps Amendment IS a compromise. It keeps the health insurance reform legislation 'abortion neutral' and neither expands nor contracts current federal laws, a view supported by a majority of American voters," Wolf added.