Health Care Reform as a Women’s Issue
Pap smears. Mammograms. Maternity care. Women will pay about $1,000 a year more than the average healthy man. Women are disproportionately low income, making Medicare and public forms of health insurance more important for them.
Planned Parenthood discusses facts about women’s healthcare costs, noting that
ü Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related supplies and services.
ü Roughly 16.7 million women are uninsured, and thus likely to postpone care and delay or forgo important preventive care, such as cancer screenings.
ü Six in 10 clients consider family planning centers, like Planned Parenthood health centers, their main source of health care. Often, these centers are their only interaction with the country’s health care system.
Women, desperate and pregnant, beg women’s clinics for financial assistance for abortion. In some states, like Pennsylvania, Medicaid coverage does not extend to abortion. Organizations such as the Women’s Medical Fund struggle to fill the gap in women’s healthcare needs, facing a daily onslaught of low-income women struggling to survive who find themselves facing yet another unplanned pregnancy. [Read RhRealityCheck’s heart wrenching stories from a woman who works for WMF.]
And, because the Hyde amendment bans federal funding for abortion unless the woman was raped, a victim of incest, or faces health complications, the workers at the Women’s Medical Fund are forced to ask these women a litany of questions: was she forced into sex? Was she impregnated by a family member? Was she ever warned of health risks during pregnancy?
Health care reform, aside from being a politically partisan issue, is a women’s health issue. Not only that, but a recently released report from the White House Office of Health Reform discusses the disproportionate affects that high health care costs have on minorities.
Regardless of your political views on healthcare reform, the cold hard facts are that women and minorities bear the brunt of the poor healthcare industry. When women have an inability to control their reproductive lives by lack of sex education, availability of contraceptives, maternal healthcare, abortion services, and financial support in raising children, women as a whole suffer. Encourage a dialogue over healthcare reform, and make sure women’s health remains a part of the discussion.
Choice News
Newly released tapes of a telephone conversation had by then President Nixon on Jan. 22, 1973, the day after Roe v. Wade was decided, indicate his opinions on the decision. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding, “Or a rape.” Uh....
The federal court of appeals for the 4th circuit upheld a Virginia law banning a type of late term abortion, holding that the ban on the procedure adequately protects women’s health.
Another ‘women are stupid’ law is passed...the Arizona Senate approved bill to impose new restrictions on abortion access for its citizens. Under the bill, women seeking an abortion would be required to wait 24 hours after the initial visit with their doctor, who has to give the women state scripted information about risks and alternatives.
A generic form of Plan B is now approved by the FDA!
The Department of Corrections is facing a lawsuit for forcing an inmate to wear shackles during childbirth, contrary to medical advice that shackling women during labor is dangerous. Casandra Brawley was not unshackled until her doctor determined that she needed an emergency C-section. She was released a month later.
In South Dakota, a doctor performing an abortion is required by a 2005 state law to tell the woman that the procedure will “end a human life.” Now, thanks to appeals by Planned Parenthood, a federal judge will hear oral arguments on the law next month.
Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor
Senate confirmation hearings are set to begin July 13 for Pres. Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor.
The session, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is likely to last several days at the end of which will come the Senate vote.
Read the letter sent by the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) to the Senate Judiciary Committee with specific questions, urging that questions on Roe v. Wade indicate Judge Sotomayor’s opinions regarding the rights of pregnant women, and not just the right to abortion.
Sen. Klobuchar sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Contact her TODAY and urge her to give Judge Sotomayor a fair hearing so we can learn more about her views on Roe v. Wade.
NARAL Pro-Choice MN is Proud to Present....Comedy for Choice!!
It’s the 10th annual Comedy for Choice event!
Join NARAL Pro-Choice MN for a night of hilarity!
This year's performers will include: Cynthia French, Peter Paul Rousseau, Ben San Del and Thadra Sheridan with Emcee John Forde, host of Mental Engineering.
Tickets just $35 in advance/$40 at the door.
Table sponsorships available -- call 651-602-7655
Host: NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota
Type: Causes - Fundraiser
Network: Global
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Varsity Theater
Street: 1308 4th Street SE
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN
RSVP at www.prochoiceminnesota.org!
