Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is the latest lawmaker to criticize the House for holding a hearing on President Barack Obama’s controversial contraception coverage rule without including any women on the opening panel. In an email sent to supporters today, Ms. Gillibrand said she was “outraged” by the absence of female speakers at the House oversight committee hearing.
“I don’t know about you but I was outraged yesterday when the House held a hearing on birth control, without including a single woman on the opening panel,” she wrote.
Ms. Gillibrand also included a photo of the hearing showing the all-male panelists.
“Sometimes a picture really says it all,” she wrote.
Her email ended with a request readers sign up to join the Senate Democrats’ “One Million Strong For Women” initiative.
“Women must be heard. Speak out loud and clear. Right now.”
Upper East Side Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, both walked out of the hearing after asking about the lack of women on the panel. California Congressman Darrell Issa, who chairs the oversight committee, rejected a female Georgetown law student Democrats submitted to be on the panel because he said she was “not found to be appropriate or qualified.” President Obama’s contraception coverage proposal is drawing fierce opposition because it would require religious institutions to give their employees access to insurance plans with birth control and abortion coverage.
Read Ms. Gillibrand’s full e-mail below.
Subject: Not A Single Woman
Dear [Supporter],
I don’t know about you but I was outraged yesterday when the House held a hearing on birth control, without including a single woman on the opening panel. Sometimes a picture really says it all.
Women must be heard. Speak out loud and clear. Right now.
Join One Million Strong for Women today – and please pass this along to your friends and family.
Click here to join One Million Strong for Women right now.
Kirsten