It is time for us to give the media something to talk about on our terms, something that supports an expansion of pregnancy-related care rather than a restriction. It is time to speak out against politicians interfering in the health-care decisions that belong to individuals and families, and speak up for those unable to afford care due to restrictive and harmful legislation. As reproductive health workers, activists, and consumers, we must talk about the importance of state- and federally-subsidized abortion coverage, which gives people the full range of reproductive health options. And we must encourage policymakers to do the same.
The Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project is $20,000 behind in their fundraising efforts; this means that fewer people will receive the assistance they need to obtain abortions and other reproductive health care. To donate to any one of the Richmond teams, see our Ongoing Fundraisers page.
racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive health outcomes, from Guttmacher Institute
(via thedisreguardian)
This is how government should be.
A draft of the resolution was first brought to the Board of Health by Dr. Schewel a couple of months ago after gaining interest through her work with WMF. Initially, Dr. Schewel’s pledge only included the issue of abortion coverage but, she says, “They were so outraged about threats to public family planning services that they wanted to expand to include that issue.”
“We had no conversations about personal feelings about abortion and family planning because we’re here as servants of public health and so our personal beliefs are irrelevant, so they embraced it,” she told me after a press event on the resolution held Friday afternoon. “Cities are where we see the impact of state and federal policies. We see them here on the ground, the frontline. We see the impact on our city streets, in our city health centers, in our day care centers, everywhere.”
Cuomo’s calculated play to the progressive base with his speech seems to have worked, but what would really leave a lasting impression would be passing a slate of progressive laws, to go beyond the rhetoric and actually work to make the bill pass. Klein’s reputation has been staked on his ability to get the notoriously dysfunctional senate moving again, and Cuomo appears to want to burnish his progressive credentials, having spent much of his term so far as a stern fiscal conservative. Jay Jochnowitz, the Editorial page editor at the Albany Times Union, wrote of the Women’s Equality Act, “The Independent Democratic Conference, the Republicans’ coalition partner, should consider its credibility on the line if it can’t get such key legislation to the floor.”
Brooks was confident before the speech that this was the year the Reproductive Health Act would pass.
“The voters here in New York support this particular piece of legislation,” she said. “They did speak with their vote and want to see this work.”
The voters are solidly behind this bill; the governor claims it as central to his agenda. Now it’s time to see if the senate can get it done—and how much weight the governor actually will throw behind getting it passed. As Azi Paybarah wrote, “Cuomo does own this Senate coalition, politically. And he will continue to own it right up until the moment he decides not to.”
Read more about the Reproductive Health Act and Governor Cuomo.
Hell Hath No Fury Like the Bishops Scorned, But Filipinos Are Not Listening
Written by Magdalena Lopez for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post.
The recently signed Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill), promising to greatly expand contraceptive access in the Philippines, was a victory almost 15 years in the making. For more than five years, I worked with Catholics for Reproductive Health, a group central to the fight against those other Catholics against RH, otherwise known as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The bishops and their allies aren’t celebrating with us that the country’s huge unmet contraceptive need and rising rate of HIV infections may soon be somewhat ameliorated. Instead, they are busy planning the downfall of the legislators who courageously withstood the many statements that “contraception is corruption” and that RH Bill supporters were jeopardizing their standing with the Catholic church. The 80 percent-Catholic populace has already left behind the small opposition that simply will not recognize defeat — proving once more that the institutional church doesn’t understand what Filipinos need, how they think or how to reach them.
