No, it's not déjà vu: Somehow, over a dozen Republican white men have once more found themselves in a room, once more deciding the future of women's healthcare, once more without even one woman present. (Last time, was way back in January, so it's fine if you're a little fuzzy on the specifics. After all, that was several centuries ago.)
This time, the photo opp comes as the Trump administration embarks on an eleventh-hour appeal to extreme conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus to back its Obamacare repeal. Members have until now said they couldn't vote to back the bill, which non-partisan estimates already believe will leave around 24 million people uninsured and quite literally cost women their lives, because it's too moderate.
So, a nicely representative cross-section of the American people has huddled to discuss a tantalizing new development that may just woo them. Just kidding; they're all men, all white, and they're deciding whether maternity care and mammograms should be considered "essential" health care treatments under the GOP-led bill, because why should a man, whom a woman gave birth to, who may have sisters or a spouse or children or just women in his world whom he'd prefer not die, who himself can get breast cancer be forced to subsidize a procedure that doesn't explicitly stand to benefit him.
Literally, that's what Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) said this morning:
(Don't worry; he's sorry.)
"This is it," our vice president tweeted. Sure, okay. Yes, this looks very much like freedom to me.
