This originally appeared on Raging Chicken Press.
Mothers Day weekend is here. So it is only fitting that we talk how big of an asshole Congressman Scott Perry really is. The day after Congressman Perry voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act the Congressman met with Alissa Packer and Leon Reed from the Indivisible Action PA 4th chapter and Stephanie Gray, an insurance actuary. The meeting was happening inside his Wormleysburg office, and according to Alissa Packer, the Congressman gave them permission to record the meeting. This meeting was going on when over 40 constituents gathered outside his Wormleysburg office to protest his decision to repeal the ACA.
At the end of the video, Alissa Packer and Stephanie Gray were pressuring Cognressman Perry on maternity care because maternity care services would be one of the first employer based services dropped if the ACA is repealed. Congressman Perry told the women, "I don't want maternity care. I have two children, and we're not having anymore. I don't want to pay for maternity care," and finished the conversation with "you're asking me to pay for things I'm never going to use."
Here is a transcript of that interaction followed up by the video:
Stephanie Gray: I think one of the points why it may feel like a war one women or it could disproprtionately impact women if states, I don't think Pennsylvania will do this, but if the state does take the waiver for the essential health benefits, one of the first things to go for individual insurance will be maternity care. Prior to the affordable care act, unless you have employer based insurance, you cannot buy maternity care.
Congressman Scott Perry: I don't want maternity care. I have two children, and we're not having anymore. I don't want to pay for maternity care.
Alissa Packer: But that's a societal...who is going to take care of you when you're old?
Perry: But that has nothing to do with maternity care. We're talking about the cost of bearing children.
Packer: The women who are having the children need to have them in a safe manner.
Perry: No, I agree completely, but I'm not having anymore. You're asking me to pay for things that I'm never going to use.
Congressman Scott Perry: I’m Done Having Children. So Why Should I Pay for Maternity Care?