Census Trivia!

Don't forget to fill out your census forms and send them in, it only takes a few minutes. The state of Minnesota loses $10,000 for every person not counted. These funds pay for healthcare, tution, and roads. Confused about which address to use if your a student? Fill out the form using the address you hang your tooth brush at every night.

For some interesting info on the census, play Census Trivia

Health Care and Abortion Coverage

Late last night the House approved the final vote on the changes to the health care reform bill. The measure now goes to President Obama's desk.

Anti-choice Rep. Bart Stupak, who has come under fire by advocates as well as opponents of the right to choose, responds to Kathleen Parker's column in the Washington Post. He writes, "The pro-life groups rallied behind me -- many without my knowledge or consent -- not necessarily because they shared my goals of ensuring protections for life and passing health-care reform but because they viewed me as their best chance to kill health-care legislation."

NPR's "Morning Edition" reports that after the health care vote, the partnership between anti-choice Republicans and anti-choice Democrats may have ended.

The Washington Post profiles Bob Bauer, President Obama's in-house counsel whose task was to broker a deal between with anti-choice Democrats to secure enough votes to pass health care reform.

In a Newsweek opinion piece, Sarah Kliff takes a look at the argument that Democrats are indebted to pro-choice advocates after the health care reform deal.

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, writes on the Huffington Post that we need more pro-choice members of Congress in order to prevent attacks on the right to choose like the Nelson language in the health care reform package.

In a setback, the health care reform package includes a provision that restores $250 million over five years for states to sponsor abstinence-only sex "education" programs.

"Be Counted" Census Day of Action

Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach in Minneapolis and St. Paul

SUNDAY, MARCH 28th @ NOON
Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation312 Central Ave.

With special guests: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and
U.S. Representative Betty McCollum

Join others in your community to knock on doors raising awareness about the census. Help us make sure that everyone is counted in your community. The Census Bureau estimates that for every person not counted, your community would lose $10,000 in federal funding for schools, roads, public safety and medical care. Census Day is April 1st – please join us!

Tell Congress: Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs ARE NOT health Care Reform!

Today, details of the Reconciliation Act of 2010 were released, the latest version of the health care reform legislation, in a bid to create a package that will pass both the House and the Senate. Included in the final bill was the Personal Responsibility Education program, providing $75 million for a state grant program for more comprehensive approaches to sex education, which would be geared to evidence-based, medically accurate, age-appropriate programs to educate adolescents about both abstinence and contraception in order to prevent unintended teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS. However, the final bill also reinstated the failed Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding program, which directs $50 million a year to states to spend on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Funding for the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage program lapsed on June 30, 2009, and had not been renewed.
But it's not too late for Congress to take action! Tell Congress to remove Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding from health care reform.
First, call House and Senate leadership right now and tell them:

"Remove the extension for the failed Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage program from health care reform. Health care reform should not fund programs that put young people’s health and lives at risk by denying them life-saving information."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: 202.225.4965
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: 202.224.3542

Another Supreme Court nomination fight?

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, leader of the court's liberal-leaning wing, says he will decide within a month whether he will retire or stay on the court for another term. He is the longest-serving justice on the bench, and will turn 90 next month.

Thank you Dr. Boyd!

After the murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller last year, Dr. Curtis Boyd, of New Mexico, has announced that he will start performing late-term abortions. He has hired two physicians who used to work Dr. Tiller on a rotating basis; all three have been the targets of threats in the past, and in 2007 Dr. Boyd's office was set on fire.

The number of providers in the U.S. has continued to drop due to lack of training and fear of retaliation by medical proffesionals. So it's extremely good news when we hear about a doctor who is willing to take the extra step to make sure women can get the care they need in these rare late term cases.

Good Friday Solidarity Event April 2nd!

Each year on Good Friday over 1,000 anti-choice protesters descend upon Planned Parenthood’s Highland Park clinic. They carry graphic signs, as well as harass and intimidate the women (and men) using Planned Parenthood’s many services.
Planned Parenthood has been providing accessible, affordable, and quality reproductive health care in Minnesota for 80 years. Planned Parenthood has no intention of letting anyone try to close their doors or cave to intimidation and NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota and our volunteers will be there to help support them.If you would like to show your support for Planned Parenthood and their patients, please take this opportunity to sign up today.
What: Planned Parenthood Solidarity Event
When: Good Friday, April 2nd from 8-10:00, 10-12:00, 12-2:00 and 2-4:00.
Where: Planned Parenthood 1965 Ford Pkwy Saint Paul
Who: You the Pro-Choice supporter!
Why: To support Choice and the women who will be making personal decisions on April 2nd!
How: Simple, just e-mail volunteer@prochoiceminnesota.org and sign up for the shift of your choice.
At 10am, a multi-faith, pro-choice prayer service will be open to all of pro-choice supporters. This service will last approximately 20 minutes and will include a variety of faiths. Additionally, Planned Parenthood will be collecting food items for local food shelves; please bring a non-perishable food item to donate and Planned Parenthood will collect and deliver them.This opportunity to peacefully exhibit your support comes along once a year, so mark your calendar and we’ll see you at the solidarity event!

National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers

Today is National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. Please take this opprotunity to think of the brave Doctors, Nurses, and support staff that provide this service for women who continue their work despite harassment meant to drive them away.

These brave women and men deserve a huge thank you for all their hard work. Take a minute and do just that on a postcard or letter and send it their way. I little thank you goes a long way in a world where these brave people get huge and very public messages of hate.

Here's a great blog from RH Reality Check on National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/03/10/recognizing-abortion-providers-folks-trust-women

The Choicest of Pro-Choice News!

Here's a copy of the latest Choice Lobby Networkks CLN. If you would like the luxury of having these sent right to your e-mail account just send a note to Amanda at choicelobby@prochoiceminnesota.org

Greetings, Choice Lobbyists!

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Feature: Outing Abortion, From Town Halls to Twitter
One of the fights of the pro-choice movement is to eliminate the shame and secrecy that surrounds abortion. In 2005, the movie “Speak Out: I Had an Abortion” was made, Feministing has hosted a community blogging page dedicated to women sharing their stories, and now a Florida woman is using twitter to take the shame out of having an abortion.

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Honoring International Women’s Day
Yesterday was International Women’s Day, celebrated in many ways including a speech by the Michelle Obama at the International Women’s Day Reception in D.C. Planned Parenthood put together this short video with the message of “Trust women for a healthier world”. Combining these two efforts and many others, legislators in Congress introduced a resolution honoring the achievements of women around the world.

In honor of this annual event, here are two international choice news snip-its:
Kenyans have been working for years to rewrite their constitution and are coming close to completion. Sadly, among many other human rights protections for women, the current version prohibits abortion.
In Spain, under the strict prior legislation, abortion was legal up until 22 weeks if the woman's life was in danger, and in the first trimester in case of rape. Now, the procedure is completely legal until the 14th week, and until the 22nd week if the mother's health is in danger or the fetus is malformed.
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Healthcare. (Need I say more?)
President Obama held his Health Care Summit to encourage Congress to pass this massive reform. Guess what? Stupak is still making noise and using abortion funding as his bargaining chip. Stupak and 11 other anti-choice democrats are holding their vote’s hostage, demanding strict anti-choice language. The bill currently upholds the Hyde Amendment, which already prohibits federal funding of abortions. To appease Stupak, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is discussing the possibility of a separate abortion bill to be voted on in addition to the entire health care bill.

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Minnesota Choice News
An abortion provider from Minnesota helps provide abortion services to the women of South Dakota.
Senator Al Franken has been making a name for himself in Congress by supporting women’s rights day in and day out.
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Choice News Around the Nation
The Arizona Senate passed bills that would ban the use of taxpayer money for abortion insurance, require the disclosure of the health risks associated with donating a human egg, and penalize the destruction of human embryos in non-therapeutic research.
In Idaho, new legislation seeks to extend “freedom of conscience” to pharmacists and other health care workers.
A Nebraska bill seeks to ban most late-term abortions based on the argument that fetuses feel pain.

Good Friday Solidarity Event

Each year on Good Friday over 1,000 anti-choice protesters descend upon Planned Parenthood’s Highland Park clinic. They carry graphic signs, as well as harass and intimidate their patients.
Planned Parenthood has been providing accessible, affordable, and quality reproductive health care in Minnesota for 80 years. We cannot stand aside as the anti-choice forces try to close their doors through intimidation and harassment.
Like last year, there will be holding a multi-faith prayer service as well as collecting food for local food shelves. The multi-faith, pro-choice prayer service begin at 10am and will be open to all of pro-choice supporters. The service will last approximately 20 minutes and will include a variety of faiths. For the food drive; please bring a non-perishable food item to donate and Planned Parenthood will collect and deliver them.

If you would like to show your support for Planned Parenthood and their patients, please join us for a peaceful visibility event on Good Friday, April 2nd.This opportunity to peacefully exhibit your support comes along once a year, so mark your calendar and sign-up today!

Pro-Choice Lobby Day 2010!

For those of you who were unable to attend Pro-Choice Lobby Day this year we are proud to present a little video of the day:




Thank you to Bill Sorem for putting this together.

Proposed legislation could have extremely negative effects in Utah

A Utah anti-abortion bill, which would have made a life sentence available for women who suffered a miscarriage by intention or reckless behavior, was withdrawn March 4 to be revised. Governor Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, has neither vetoed nor signed the bill.

The language of the original bill would have effectively made any woman who suffered a miscarriage a potential suspect. Reproductive rights groups are urging the Governor to veto the bill, saying that it could lead to a ‘witch hunt’ where every miscarriage could lead to police questioning.

The bill was a response to a case of a 17-year-old who sought a miscarriage, and paid a man to beat her. Though she was arrested, she was released when a judge said that seeking an abortion was not a crime.

Legal abortions would not be affected by the bill in either its former or future state, but Utah has laws to discourage abortions, including a parental consent requirement for minors.

How a bill like this could be called into existence is beyond belief. It directly puts the women of Utah into the political arena at a time in their lives when they would value privacy the most. It’s legislature like this that shows how little the privacy of an individual woman matters when political parties are butting heads over moral beliefs, and how hard we have to fight to keep the women of this country safe.

Harmful state legislation to keep an eye on

Several states have passed or have proposed legislation which severely affects the rights of its women to make personal reproductive choices. Here's some legislation to look out for:

Utah: The miscarriage ban, which could lead to a lifetime sentence for a woman who had suffered a miscarriage.

Florida: proposed a bill that would outlaw all abortions except when a mother’s life is in danger.

Oklahoma: An ultrasound bill, which will force pregnant women to view an ultrasound before deciding on an abortion, and a data-reporting bill, which will require doctors to report detailed information about abortions to the Health Department, including age, marital status, and education level of patients.

Arizona: passed three bills, one of which bans taxpayer abortions, one which regulates the use of embryos and calls them “human beings, not tissues”, and one regarding the health risks from donating eggs.

Catholics for Choice on Healthcare Reform

For Immediate Release 5 March 2010Media
Contact:David J. Nolan202 986 6093
American Catholics Want Bishops Out of Healthcare Reform

"Interference by the US Catholic bishops in healthcare reform does not help women," said Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice. "The bishops claim that this is an issue of 'conscience.' However, in seeking to impose their views, the bishops show no regard for the consciences of millions of women in the United States who want the ability to prevent unintended pregnancies or have an abortion when they need it.
"In November, the bishops' last-minute backroom power play with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) derailed meaningful healthcare reform. The Democrats said from the outset that those who were happy with their coverage would be able to keep it. The bishops should not be allowed to use healthcare reform to restrict women's access to safe and legal reproductive healthcare services. Congress has listened to the bishops, now it is time for Congress to listen to American Catholics who want comprehensive healthcare reform."
American Catholic voters don't want the bishops' help in healthcare reform. Local and national polls have found that i) Catholics want healthcare reform to provide coverage for abortion and ii) that the bishops should not involve themselves in this battle. The American electorate wants its representatives to listen to the voters, not to the Catholic bishops.
Majorities in three of four Congressional districts recently polled: Maine (61%), Pennsylvania (55%) and Ohio (54%), oppose the Catholic bishop in their area having much of an influence on how their member of Congress votes on healthcare reform. In all four districts, the survey findings suggest that a member of Congress who takes the side of the Catholic bishops on abortion in healthcare reform could pay a price at the ballot box. Voters in Texas are much more likely to view their member of Congress less favorably (41%) than more favorably (23%) if that Congressperson votes for a healthcare reform bill that "makes it more difficult for women to get health insurance that covers abortion."
Read an Executive Summary containing the results of all four polls. Individual District results: Maine's 2nd, Ohio's 9th, Pennsylvania's 14th and Texas' 16th.
Nationally, 68 percent of Catholic voters disapprove of Catholic bishops saying that Catholics should oppose the entire healthcare reform plan if it includes coverage for abortion. Fifty-six percent think the bishops should not take a position on healthcare reform at all. In fact, only a small minority of Catholics, fewer than 15 percent, are in line with the bishops in believing that all abortion should be banned. The rest can see circumstances in which legal abortion is an acceptable, even essential, aspect of healthcare. In addition, large majorities of Catholic voters support health insurance coverage for abortions in any private or public option.
The full results of this poll are available here.
O'Brien continued, "Many assume that the bishops speak on behalf of the 65 million Catholics in the US. This just isn't true. In fact, during the healthcare debate, the bishops have consistently misrepresented the views of American Catholics. Religious and ethical concerns can legitimately inform public policy, but the bishops have overstepped the mark. Lawmakers would do well to listen to the views of those who elect them and reject attempts by the bishops to influence the outcome of this vital debate."
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Catholics for Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to women's well-being and respect and affirm the capacity of women and men to make moral decisions about their lives.

Show your support for responsible sex ed this Wednesday!

Correction - An earlier message included an incorrect time for the Senate Hearing on Wednesday, March 3rd. The Senate Health Housing and Family Security Committee will meet at 12:30pm in room 15 of the State Capitol.



HF2986 - the 2010 Responsible Sex Ed bill - will be heard by the House K-12 Education Policy and Oversight Committee on Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:30am, in the basement hearing room of the State Office Building. Later that day, Senate Health Housing and Family Security will hear SF2645 at 12:30pm in room 15 of the State Capitol. We know that sex ed programs provide information that Minnesota youth need to be safe and healthy. Attend the hearing and demontrate to legislators the broad public support for sex ed! For up to date hearing information, check the Education Committee's schedule and the Health Committee's schedule for any last minute changes. For additional information and directions to the Capitol visit www.leg.state.mn.
For more information on what's happening at the Capitol, contact lorie@moappp.org or amy.brugh@mnaidsproject.org
Sincerely,
The Coalition for Responsible Sex Ed

Pro-Choice Lobby Day is just about here!

Pro-Choice Lobby Day is only four days away! With last week’s fierce debate on the Responsible Family Life and Sexuality Programs Bill (HF2986/SF2645), we can see that getting this bill passed is not going to be easy. We’ll need the full support of every pro-choice, pro-sex education person out there.
Simply put, we need you at the Capitol on Thursday, March 4. We need you to stand with us, in person, and tell your legislator to stand up for Minnesota’s youth! With a 13 percent increase in HIV infections, a rise in teen pregnancies, and the highest levels of reported STIs ever, we cannot wait for a new governor or a better time.
Minnesota’s youth need us now!
Join us at Pro-Choice Lobby Day on the 4th and raise your voice for Minnesota’s youth!