During the national debate surrounding health insurance reform, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota is working to ensure that women's reproductive rights are protected during the legislative battle. The NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation is proud to partner with the Raising Women's Voices coalition, to make sure women’s voices are heard in the health reform debate and women’s concerns are addressed by policymakers developing national and state reform plans.
For more information on the current state of women and health insurance, click here.
For more information on the increased costs women face, please click here.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Health Care & Abortion Rights
Check out the Minnesota Indepdent's latest article on what Minnesota's largest anti-abortion organization says about abortion and health care reform, and how little of it is based in fact.
To read the entire article, click here.
To read the entire article, click here.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Help guarantee Women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care.
Good news on the health care front, health care legislation headed to the Senate floor will include an option for government-run insurance! While this is great news in helping guarantee affordable health care for Americans we cannot rest with this major step. We absolutely must ensure that women’s health care is not left to chance or as an afterthought. A majority of Americans support the public option, let’s work together to guarantee women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care.
One simple way to do this is to keep a constant stream of letters to the editor going into local newspapers around the state, demonstrating that women are strongly supportive of health reform.
Since the introduction of our blog we’ve seen examples of how health care in the US has been less than fair to women. Examples like 8 states, plus the District of Columbia, don’t have laws that bar health insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. Only 14 states have a requirement for health insurance companies to cover maternity care, and plans that fail to cover this are rising dramatically. (Along that note, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) argued against such coverage, stating “I don’t need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.” To which, yet again, Sen. Debbie Stabenow showed the brains of the bunch by replying dryly, “I think your mom probably did.” Many insurers consider a cesarean section a pre-existing condition and will refuse to cover women who have had the procedure.Women’s health groups are pushing for provisions in the health care reform legislation to dramatically improve the health care and insurance coverage for women. These provisions include banning companies from charging women higher premiums and preventing many of the gender discriminatory provisions discussed above. And the list goes on.
To help ensure women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care we have some very simple volunteer actions you can take right from home that will go a long way in women across the nation getting equal access to healthcare at an equal and affordable price.
Simply contact us at volunteer@prochoiceminensota.org to find out how a couple minutes of your time will ensure women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care.
One simple way to do this is to keep a constant stream of letters to the editor going into local newspapers around the state, demonstrating that women are strongly supportive of health reform.
Since the introduction of our blog we’ve seen examples of how health care in the US has been less than fair to women. Examples like 8 states, plus the District of Columbia, don’t have laws that bar health insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. Only 14 states have a requirement for health insurance companies to cover maternity care, and plans that fail to cover this are rising dramatically. (Along that note, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) argued against such coverage, stating “I don’t need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.” To which, yet again, Sen. Debbie Stabenow showed the brains of the bunch by replying dryly, “I think your mom probably did.” Many insurers consider a cesarean section a pre-existing condition and will refuse to cover women who have had the procedure.Women’s health groups are pushing for provisions in the health care reform legislation to dramatically improve the health care and insurance coverage for women. These provisions include banning companies from charging women higher premiums and preventing many of the gender discriminatory provisions discussed above. And the list goes on.
To help ensure women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care we have some very simple volunteer actions you can take right from home that will go a long way in women across the nation getting equal access to healthcare at an equal and affordable price.
Simply contact us at volunteer@prochoiceminensota.org to find out how a couple minutes of your time will ensure women’s reproductive health care IS standard health care.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
October 28 is National Comprehensive Sex Education Call-In Day!
This is a repost from Feministing. I seriously could not have taken this apart, reassembled it, then posted it without making it, A) exactly like this or B) a mess. If you have never been to Feministing you should check it out. It's an awesome feminist blog covering a wide range of issues, from abstinence only education (and its failings) to a Zombie Party benefiting the Texas Equal Access Fund. www.feministing.com
And the repost:
October is Sex Ed Month of Action and organizers from Advocates for Youth, Catholics for Choice, Choice USA, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, SIECUS, Sierra Club, and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom are joining forces to Congress it's time to finally get rid of failed abstinence-only programs and fund comprehensive sexuality education.
You can find information and tools for organizing a Call-In Day here. You can also sign on to a petition in support of the REAL Act which would authorize funding for comprehensive sexuality education.
This is a crucial moment for comprehensive sex ed. For the first time in a while we should have the support in the White House and Congress to de-fund abstinence-only programs and support real, accurate education about sex and sexuality. However, politicians in DC are continuing the same old fight despite overwhelming evidence that ab-only doesn't work. Electing people who say they agree with us is only the first and easiest step in bringing about political change. The real hard work comes after elections, when advocates need to hold officials accountable, push them to support our issues, and create a climate where that's the most expedient political move for them to make. The time is now: let's finally make federal funding for comprehensive sexuality education a reality!
And the repost:
October is Sex Ed Month of Action and organizers from Advocates for Youth, Catholics for Choice, Choice USA, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, SIECUS, Sierra Club, and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom are joining forces to Congress it's time to finally get rid of failed abstinence-only programs and fund comprehensive sexuality education.
You can find information and tools for organizing a Call-In Day here. You can also sign on to a petition in support of the REAL Act which would authorize funding for comprehensive sexuality education.
This is a crucial moment for comprehensive sex ed. For the first time in a while we should have the support in the White House and Congress to de-fund abstinence-only programs and support real, accurate education about sex and sexuality. However, politicians in DC are continuing the same old fight despite overwhelming evidence that ab-only doesn't work. Electing people who say they agree with us is only the first and easiest step in bringing about political change. The real hard work comes after elections, when advocates need to hold officials accountable, push them to support our issues, and create a climate where that's the most expedient political move for them to make. The time is now: let's finally make federal funding for comprehensive sexuality education a reality!
A Democrat Is Leading the Anti-Choice Fringe
From NARAL Pro-Choice America:
I'll be honest—we all expected a fight from the usual anti-choice agitators on health-care reform. We expected it from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)1, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)2, the Family Research Council3, and the American Life League4.
But did you know that an anti-choice Democrat is carrying the right wing's water on this issue?
Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan is ready to jeopardize the entire health-care reform bill to stand between women and their doctors.
He's willing to undermine health-care reform—blocking the landmark bill from even coming to a vote—in order to impose an abortion ban on women in the reformed health system. His proposal would take away coverage from women who already have it.
Women can't afford to lose.
Watch our new video and then take action before Democrat Rep. Stupak gets his way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4uqDb2qqHA&feature=player_embedded
Tell Congress to stand with women, not Rep. Stupak.
We've made it through five congressional committees, but if we can't beat Rep. Stupak's sneaky road block on the House floor, it will all be for nothing.
I can't overstate the consequences of what anti-choice Rep. Stupak is trying to pull. We must win this one. Women can't afford to lose.
Lawmakers in Congress need to know they must continue to reject any and all attempts to impose an outright ban on abortion services in a reformed health-care system—and they need to make sure that reform gets a fair vote.
Speak up now and tell your member of Congress to draw the line—NO more cloak-room politics, NO excuses for anti-woman diatribes, and NO new abortion ban.
I know we can count on you.
My best,Nancy KeenanPresident, NARAL Pro-Choice America
1 "Bachmann warns of abortions at school," The Hill, October 1, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=w0OgcQxpWJp2LFdOA7nGZA..2 "Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Is Not Health-Care Reform," National Review Online, July 23, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=axmA1MNy9RuWLyQmkczTJQ..3 "FRC spot looks to tie public option to abortion funding," CNN, July 29, 2009 http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=-KlGGSiUYT_rerOavZHY2Q..4 "Pro-Lifers Take Death Lightly," The Rachel Maddow Show, September 16, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=3UyIKD8c1wbWcEVGhpS2Bg..
I'll be honest—we all expected a fight from the usual anti-choice agitators on health-care reform. We expected it from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)1, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)2, the Family Research Council3, and the American Life League4.
But did you know that an anti-choice Democrat is carrying the right wing's water on this issue?
Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan is ready to jeopardize the entire health-care reform bill to stand between women and their doctors.
He's willing to undermine health-care reform—blocking the landmark bill from even coming to a vote—in order to impose an abortion ban on women in the reformed health system. His proposal would take away coverage from women who already have it.
Women can't afford to lose.
Watch our new video and then take action before Democrat Rep. Stupak gets his way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4uqDb2qqHA&feature=player_embedded
Tell Congress to stand with women, not Rep. Stupak.
We've made it through five congressional committees, but if we can't beat Rep. Stupak's sneaky road block on the House floor, it will all be for nothing.
I can't overstate the consequences of what anti-choice Rep. Stupak is trying to pull. We must win this one. Women can't afford to lose.
Lawmakers in Congress need to know they must continue to reject any and all attempts to impose an outright ban on abortion services in a reformed health-care system—and they need to make sure that reform gets a fair vote.
Speak up now and tell your member of Congress to draw the line—NO more cloak-room politics, NO excuses for anti-woman diatribes, and NO new abortion ban.
I know we can count on you.
My best,Nancy KeenanPresident, NARAL Pro-Choice America
1 "Bachmann warns of abortions at school," The Hill, October 1, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=w0OgcQxpWJp2LFdOA7nGZA..2 "Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Is Not Health-Care Reform," National Review Online, July 23, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=axmA1MNy9RuWLyQmkczTJQ..3 "FRC spot looks to tie public option to abortion funding," CNN, July 29, 2009 http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=-KlGGSiUYT_rerOavZHY2Q..4 "Pro-Lifers Take Death Lightly," The Rachel Maddow Show, September 16, 2009, http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=3UyIKD8c1wbWcEVGhpS2Bg..
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Guttmacher Responds to Critics of Global Abortion Study
Susan Cohen of RH Reality Check responds to anti-choice criticisms of the Guttmacher Institute's worldwide study that found increased use of contraceptives contributed to a decline in unintended pregnancies and abortions.
Condom use up in fight against STI's
Latest figures show that the condom has caught up to the pill as the most popular contraceptive, most likely because it protects against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. STI prevention was the main concern for half of the condom users who participated in the survey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8316054.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8316054.stm
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