Mike Pence sparks outrage with all-male heath-care bill photo

A lack of women in a photo of negotiations over the GOP health-care bill that was tweeted out by U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence is drawing criticism from Democrats.

The photo shows Pence at the centre of a conference table during negotiations with the House Freedom Caucus. About two dozen men can be seen in the photo, but not a single woman.

The repeal of a maternity care requirement is among the concessions the Freedom Caucus is demanding in exchange for support of the bill, leading some to argue women should have been represented at the negotiations.

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Washington Sen. Patty Murray was just one of the voices to draw attention to the absence of women in the room, retweeting the photo and sarcastically adding, “A rare look inside the GOP’s women’s health caucus.”

Planned Parenthood also chimed in on the conversation, sharing a Photoshopped image of the conference room pointing out the number of men around the table.

However, as CNN pointed out, the House Freedom Caucus, the group using its voting leverage in an attempt to  repeal Obamacare, doesn’t have any female members.

It’s also unclear whether or not there were any women present in the room — but out of view of the camera — at the time of the meeting.

Later Trump’s director of social media also shared a photo showing a number of lawmakers meeting with the president, including several women.

This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has come under fire for photos showing a lack of women. In February, Sweden’s deputy prime minister and climate minister Isabella Lövin shared a photo of herself signing a piece of legislation – surrounded by her female colleagues.

READ MORE: Sweden’s deputy prime minister takes jab at Trump with all-female photo

Twitter users couldn’t help but draw similarities to a photo of Trump signing legislation that would cut off funding to NGOs that provide abortion and health-care services to women. Trump was surrounded by seven men in the photo.

— With files from Global News