My Pro-Choice Politician: Nina Turner (D-Cleveland, OH)
This is the fifth in an on-going series where you all nominate state- or local-level elected officials who are standing up for reproductive rights in their communities and states, and we all, as a community, thank them for what they do.
We need to keep reminding these hard-working, often unacknowledged state-level politicians that we see the work they are doing and we are incredibly grateful for it.
(list of previous installments at end of post)
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Today’s Pro-choice Politician is Nina Turner, an Ohio state senator (D-Cleveland).
Ms. Turner was nominated by both Gig Hartline and Heidi Swindell.
Ms. Turner became nationally famous in March when she introduced her “viagra bill.” Mimicking the paternalistic rhetoric of much anti-choice/anti-contraception legislation and the politicians who support it, Senator Turner said the bill was necessary to “protect men’s health.” From Robin Marty:
As I’m sure anyone who has experienced priapism can no doubt tell you, erectile drugs side affects are no laughing matter. Well, unless you’re in an “American Pie” sequel.
That’s why Ohio state Senator Nina Turner is introducing a very important bill to help regulate Viagra usage.
Via the Middletown Journal:
Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.
At least she didn’t mandate a rectal exam.
Today, if you head over to Senator Turner’s website, this is the first image you will see:
Help us say, “THANK YOU!” to Senator Turner for being a staunch pro-choice ally and for fighting tirelessly for reproductive rights.
- Twitter: @ninaturner
- Phone: (614) 466-4583
Thank you, Senator Turner!
If you’d like to nominate someone for our new “My Pro-Choice Politician” series, you can do so on our Facebook page or via Twitter (we’re @rhrealitycheck and use hashtag #prochoicepol).
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This idea was inspired by our post a while back for Kentucky State Rep Darryl Owens.
First installment: Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)
Second installment: Kathy Stein (D- Fayette, Kentucky)
Third installment: Edith Ajello (D - Providence, Rhode Island)
Fourth installment: Mark Dayton (Governor of Minnesota)
By Vicki Saporta (National Abortion Federation) at RH Reality Check:
In late February, California Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) introduced a bill in the state Senate that would allow nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and nurse midwives (CNMs) to provide first trimester aspiration abortion care. Although the bill had support from leading medical groups in the state, and was even co-sponsored by the heads of both legislative houses, Sen. Kehoe withdrew the bill Friday because it lacked enough votes to pass a key legislative committee.
NPs, CNMs, and PAs — collectively referred to as advanced practice clinicians (APCs) — play an increasingly important role in the delivery of a range of health care services in the United States, and are competent providers of prenatal and postpartum care; family planning services; and gynecological care. In some parts of California—especially rural areas — women may see an APC for the rest of their health care, but are forced to travel outside their communities in order to obtain the abortion care they need. This legislation would have allowed women to obtain safe, early abortion care in their communities, from their current health care providers.
Abortion is well within the scope of practice of APCs and it’s unfortunate that some California Senators missed this point.
by Robin Marty
Utah is about to break new ground this week with a new law scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday that will force women seeking a safe, legal abortion to endure the country’s longest waiting period between her first visit to a clinic and the time of the actual procedure. Although South Dakota was the first to pass a 72-hour rule, their law was blocked by the courts before it could ever go into effect.
It’s appears likely that unlike in South Dakota, abortion providers in Utah may take a “wait and see” attitude to discern exactly how the law affects women seeking an abortion, rather than sue for an injunction immediately. But that doesn’t mean they think it’s a constitutional — or even enforceable — law.
Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
[Planned Parenthood of Utah Director Karrie] Galloway said the way the law was written, no one is in charge of overseeing compliance or writing rules so that everyone knows what is required under the statute.
“We’re left with a system that right now puts the burden — in fact a possible criminal burden — on the physician providing the procedure with no verifiable process for confirming the informed consent.”
The Utah Department of Health’s Nan Streeter confirms that the law gives her agency no oversight authority.
“We talked with our attorney and also with the deputy director of the department to ask about what we were responsible for, and the way the law was written, the only authority the Department of Health has is related to the development of the abortion consent materials,” said Streeter, deputy director of the Division of Family Health and Preparedness. “There’s no provision for the department to either enforce or oversee the consent process.”
Placing criminal burder on an abortion provider without providing clear oversight of exactly what he or she has to do in order to protect him or herself from charges? That sounds quite a bit like nearly every other piece of anti-choice legislation, determined to create a process so laden with potential legal pitfalls that no doctor will feel comfortable providing abortions.
From Robin Marty at RH Reality Check:
On May 1st, a group of about 50 people gathered in Fargo, North Dakota. Their intent? To try and “shut down” the only clinic in the state that provides pregnancy terminations, in the hopes to make it an “abortion-free” state.
Leading the charge was Operation Save America, under the leadership of Rev. Flip Benham. Best known for his belief in “justifiable homicide” and his “Wanted” posters styled to make doctors who provide safe abortion care and those who employ them look like Old West villains (and with the “Dead or Alive” implied), Benham has been arrrested multiple times for stalking.
My Pro-Choice Politician: Mark Dayton (Governor of Minnesota)
This is the fourth in an on-going series where you all nominate state- or local-level elected officials who are standing up for reproductive rights in their communities and states, and we all, as a community, thank them for what they do.
We need to keep reminding these hard-working, often unacknowledged state-level politicians that we see the work they are doing and we are incredibly grateful for it.
(list of previous installments at end of post)
______________________________________
Today’s Pro-choice Politician is Mark Dayton, Governor of Minnesota.
Mr. Dayton was nominated by Robin Marty.
Today, Robin Marty reported for RH Reality Check:
Last week, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a bill meant to increase the costs of running clinics that perform abortions, a move anti-choice politicians hoped would cause clinics to struggle and potentially close their doors.
Now, Dayton has veto-ed another bill, this time to stop a ban on “tele-med” abortions by restricting RU-486 to only be used within a doctor’s presence.
Citing the safety of the drug, as well as the additional expenses that mostly rural women would incur if the Rochester tele-med program were banned, Dayton stated in his veto letter:
While patient safety should always be our top priority and can be addressed through state-level policy making, a veto is warranted on legislation driven by a specific political ideology rather than a broad-based concern for protecting all patients.
As Marty points out at the end of the article:
With both the House and the Senate in solid anti-choice hands since the 2010 sweep election that flipped both bodies, Governor Dayton has single-handedly stopped the state from passing restriction after restriction on a woman’s right to choose. Without Dayton’s vetoes, Minnesota would likely have gone down the same path as Wisconsin, Arizona, and so many other states that have spent the last two years declaring a war on reproductive rights.
Governor Dayton is a true political ally and advocate for the pro-choice, reproductive rights movement.
Please help us say “THANK YOU!” to Governor Dayton. Let’s show all those other governors (looking at you Brewer, Perry, Daniels, Brownback, Corbett, etc.) that we are paying attention and we know who is on our side.
- Twitter: @govmarkdayton
- Phone: 800-657-3717
Thank you, Governor Dayton!
If you’d like to nominate someone for our new “My Pro-Choice Politician” series, you can do so on our Facebook page or via Twitter (we’re @rhrealitycheck and use hashtag #prochoicepol).
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This idea was inspired by our post a while back for Kentucky State Rep Darryl Owens.
First installment: Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)
Second installment: Kathy Stein (D- Fayette, Kentucky)
Third installment: Edith Ajello (D - Providence, Rhode Island)
As @LilyOutLoud told us on Twitter, this twitter feed is similar to ramseysaurus’ Facebook post.
From @VagAgainstGOP’s description:
If the government is so interested in what we do with our vaginas, then we are going to consult these legislators on our daily vagina decisions.
On the 176th Anniversary of Texas’ Independence, we mourn 25 straight days of mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds in the lone star state.
Texas has had mandatory ultrasounds before an abortion since October. The transvaginal portion of the law was ruled constitutional (after first being declared unconstitutional) and went into effect 25 days ago. To date, Texas is only state to force transvaginal ultrasounds.
Texas joins Arizona, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Kansas as states with current mandatory ultrasound laws.
Oklahoma and North Carolina have both passed laws similar to Texas’ but neither one is being enforced because the laws are held up in court pending rulings.
