The XX Factor

A Conversation About “Women’s Health Issues” with Jeb Bush and Elizabeth Warren

Unlike Jeb Bush, Elizabeth Warren (seen here on July 29 in Washington, D.C.) is not running for president. 

Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images

Here are four sentences that Jeb Bush said today.

“The next president should defund Planned Parenthood. The argument against this is, well, women’s health issues, you’re attacking, it’s a war on women, and you’re attacking women’s health issues. You could take dollar for dollar, although I’m not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women’s health issues, but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinary fine organizations, community health organizations, that exist to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues. But abortion should not be funded by the government, any government, in my mind.”

(Bush later said he “misspoke,” but then effectively repeated exactly what he said when he misspoke.)

And here are four sentences that Elizabeth Warren said on Monday.

“I come to the Senate floor today to ask my Republican colleagues a question. Do you have any idea what year it is? Did you fall down, hit your head, and think you woke up in the 1950s or the 1890s? Should we call for a doctor?”

Warren declined to address whether or not a woman sustaining an injury in a fall qualifies as a “women’s health issue,” and if so, whether or not her treatment should be covered by an employer-provided health care plan or Medicaid.