[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 130, 114th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9443 of May 6, 2016

National Women's Health Week, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Throughout our history, women have contributed to shaping the course of
our country--and with each generation, they have helped affirm the
timeless belief that everyone deserves an equal shot at reaching for our

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Nation's promise. We have achieved great progress in tearing down
barriers that deny women equal opportunities, but we still have more to
do to ensure that health care is a right for every American, regardless
of sex or gender. This week, we recommit to ensuring equal access to
high-quality care for women and to building a more prosperous, healthy
future.
Ensuring women can live full and healthy lives is vital, and central to
that mission is improving the quality, affordability, and accessibility
of health care for women. Because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
insurance companies can no longer charge women more than men or use
preexisting conditions--including pregnancy--to deny them the care they
need.
Twenty million Americans have gained health insurance since the passage
of the ACA, including roughly 9.5 million women since the first open
enrollment period in 2013. Under the Act, annual limits on out-of-pocket
spending for essential health benefits have been established, and
lifetime and annual limits on insurance coverage have been eliminated.
For 55 million women, critical preventive services, including well-woman
visits, certain cancer screenings, and domestic violence screenings and
counseling sessions, are now guaranteed with no out-of-pocket costs.
Access to preventive care can help identify and diagnose conditions
early, benefiting countless women across our Nation.
The important decisions that affect a woman's health should be left to
her alone. Today, efforts around our country to weaken access to
contraception and to limit a woman's right to choose threaten to reverse
decades of hard-won progress. It is crucial we reject actions that
obstruct women's access to sexual and reproductive health services and
stand firm in protecting their access to safe, affordable health care
and the constitutional right to privacy, including the right to
reproductive freedom.
National Women's Health Week is an opportunity to refocus our commitment
to advancing women's health and ensuring a healthy future for all our
Nation's women and girls. To learn more about women's health, and for
health care options available for women and girls, visit
www.WomensHealth.gov or www.GirlsHealth.gov.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 8 through May 14,
2016, as National Women's Health Week. I encourage all Americans to
celebrate the progress we have made in protecting women's health and to
promote awareness, preventive care, and educational activities that
improve the health of all women.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of May,
in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
BARACK OBAMA