DemocracyNow.org - The debt ceiling agreement reached this week by the White House and Congress could deal a serious blow to women's well-being according to leading women's rights groups. The deal will potentially impose $1 trillion in cuts to programs programs that mostly serve and employ women — such as family planning clinics, food stamps, college tuition assistance and child care. The National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest feminist organization in the country, called on President Obama to "stand up to the conservatives and Tea Party activists" and resist balancing the federal budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in this country -- namely women, and especially women of color. Democracy Now! interviews NOW President Terry O'Neill about the debt deal and how few women were involved in the negotiations. They also report on new federal guidelines requiring insurance companies to cover birth control with no co-pay, with some religious exemptions.

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