Rally in Solidarity on April 7th for Title X

This is a guest post from Chloe Kessinger, Project and Design Coordinator with the Center for Gender Equity at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR. She writes about the actions her school is taking on April 7th against Title X cuts and invites other groups to do the same. They are planning a die-in to symbolize the the unacceptable number of preventable pregnancy related complications that occur every minute of every day and to highlight the importance of family planning funding. This is a great example of an action you too organize on your campus to participate in our Don’t Be Fooled by Fake Clinics Week of Action and show solidarity with the National Day of Action for Title X on April 7th as well as participating in our Birth Control Access Campaign

The elimination of Title X will cut funding not only for 900 Planned Parenthood clinics in the country, but also 4,500 other family planning clinics that utilize Title X funding to serve low-income women and men in their communities.

On April 7th there is going to be a rally in Washington D.C. to stand against the proposed elimination of Title X, but many students cannot afford to fly out and join the fight, so the Center for Gender Equity at Pacific University intends to bring the fight to local students.

On April 7th the Center for Gender Equity (CGE) will be gathering students in the University Center at Pacific University to 'drop dead' between the hours of 12 and 1 pm. This demonstration is

to raise awareness for the need of Title X funding through representing the statistic of one woman in the world dies every 60 seconds from a preventable pregnancy related complication. One student will be 'dropping dead' every 60 seconds so at the end of the hour the University Center will be full of 'dead' bodies.’ If Title X funding is taken away, and Planned Parenthood and independent women’s health clinics serving low-income women are stripped of federal funding for family planning, many more women will face these unnecessary complications.

We will also be tabling with pamphlets of information on Planned Parenthood and the value of all family planning clinics, as well as having laptops open to the website where students can sign a petition in support of Planned Parenthood. We will be encouraging people to wear pink in solidarity with Planned Parenthood.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, "The Title X Family Planning program was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families."

Last month, the House voted to completely eliminate the 40 year-old Title X Program.

Current news on the situation is that the proposal of the House was rejected by the Senate and sent back to the house for revisions. No matter what the revisions are they will be UNACCEPTABLE to both the young women of this nation and all other people who seek help from family planning clinics. No cuts are acceptable to family planning. By cutting family planning in any way the young poor people of our nation will be made to suffer more then they already are. We need to stand up with all those protesting at the White House on April 7th to show our support for Title X funding and the Planned Parenthood Organization and all women’s health care providers.

The CGE would like to invite any and all other schools and student led organizations to participate on April 7th in some way. Wearing pink, and handing out information is a good way to start spreading the word on the vital importance of organizations like Planned Parenthood.

Walk For Choice This Saturday!

In case you haven't heard, women's access to medical care, family planning, and abortions are under attack. The recent happenings in Congress (HR 358, HR 3, and the cuts to Title X) are putting women's lives on the line and women's bodies under scrutiny. In light of the recent bills that were introduced to the House, activists in Chicago organized an event that sparked Walks For Choice around the world. If you are just as outraged as I am, walk in solidarity with me and thousands of other people this Saturday, February 26th, 2011 in a Walk For Choice!

The walks are taking place in cities across five countries, so gather your friends and put on some ORANGE in support of women's rights to choose! Some locations for Saturday's walk have not been released yet so be sure to check tweets with hashtags #walk4choice by noon tomorrow!

Get creative with your signs and come up with some cool chants like the folks at Bitch Magazine:

• "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?"
• "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!"
• "If you like safe sex, save Title X!"

For more info, check out their Facebook to find a walk in a city near you! And to show solidarity with reproductive health and rights every day, join the Trust Women Silver Ribbon Campaign.

Another Funding Cut for Woman's Health Care?

We need you to take action NOW -- TODAY.

We hope, by now, that you've heard about the two horrible bills introduced in the House that restrict abortion access and funding. The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (HR3) would penalize companies--in the form of tax credits--that offer health plans that cover abortion and would deny federal subsidies to people who have abortion-covered healthcare. And the "Protect Life Act" (HR358) would "prohibit federal funds from being used to cover any part of the costs of a health plan that includes coverage of abortion services."

On top of this, the Republican led House is trying to completely eliminate the Title X Family Planning Program in the FY2011 federal budget (continuing resolution HR1).

Yes, FAMILY PLANNING in the United States is on the chop-block.

Title X is the ONLY federal funding dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and critical related preventive health services. Title X is "designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law priority is give to person from low-income families." For many women across the country, this crucial family planning care is the only medical they receive each year.

According to Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood "The real impact of eliminating the Title X program is that millions of women across the country will lose access to basic primary and preventive health care, such as lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing and treatment, and annual exams...For every public dollar invested in family planning, taxpayers save nearly $4." Title X saves taxpayers money, and more importantly it saves women's lives.

Along with cutting $318 billion for Title X family planning, check out just a few of the other programs the continuing resolution will cut (compared to FY 2010 levels):

• $110 million from the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (eliminating all funding)
• $1.4 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• $747 million for the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC)
• $50 million for Maternal and Child Health Block Grants
• $1.6 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  Thanks to SIECUS for this budget analysis:

WE CAN NOT STAND FOR THIS. TAKE ACTION NOW!

So what can we do to have our voices heard?

We ask you to join in solidarity with Choice USA as part of a National Youth Call-In. Please call your Representatives TODAY and let them know you support reproductive justice.

Call 800-600-5774 and ask for your Representative. (Don't know who your rep is? Go here and type in your zip code to find out.)

Here's a sample script to guide your call:

As a young person/student living in _________ (city/state/district), I am calling Representative ___________ to urge him/her to vote ‘no’ on HR 3 , the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and HR 358, the Protect Life Act. In addition, I strongly urge __________ to not vote to cut funding for Title X Family Planning, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, and other programs for women and children. Abortion access, preventative services, and health and wellness programs are vitally important to young people's lives. As a young person that votes in this district, I believe that taking away insurance coverage for abortion and family planning services disproportionately hurts young people, who are more likely to live in poverty and at a higher risk for unintended pregnancy. We should be protecting the health and decision-making power of young people, not stripping it away. In short, these restrictions hurt everyone. Young people voted in record numbers in the past two elections for more jobs. We want and need jobs, not restricted reproductive healthcare. If you support us now by voting down HR 3 and HR 358, we will support you by giving you our votes in 2012. Please vote with young people, not against us. Do you know if Representative ___________ is planning to oppose these bills?

Call your reps, and make the youth voice heard!! Tell all your friends about these draconian bills and encourage them to call in, too!

P.S. Don't forget to wear a silver ribbon to show solidarity for reproductive rights.

Proposed cuts to California's Family PACT Family Planning Program

Governor Schwarzenegger released a proposed budget last Friday that would drastically cut funding for California's family planning program, Family PACT. Family PACT helps fund comprehensive reproductive health clinics that serve primarily low-income or uninsured populations throughout the state. Family PACT funding enables people to obtain essential services like birth control, prenatal care, STD testing and treatment, pregnancy tests, pap smears, cancer screenings and more.

For every $1 the state spends on Family PACT, the federal government matches it with $9. For every $1 the state spends on family planning services, the state saves $9.25 in future medical and social service costs associated with unintended pregnancy. Cutting funding for Family PACT will not help the state budget crisis, it will actually make it worse.

Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is leading the charge against the proposed cuts. You can take action from anywhere in the state by calling your legislators and following Planned Parenthood's sample script. You can contact your local affiliate group to find out how to take action in your area.

In Los Angeles, join in a lunchtime rally TOMORROW, Tuesday 5/18 from 12-1pm at the Governor's Office at 300 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, 90013. Planned Parenthood will provide signs.

If you're in California, take action on your campus! Educate students about the benefits of Family PACT and the dire consequences cuts to the program will have. Encourage students to call their legislators and ask them to oppose the proposed cuts.

Save California's Family PACT Program!

Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed cuts to California's family planning program - Family PACT. This cut would hugely impact funding for Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care clinics and would force millions to go without reliable birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing & treatment.

If you're a California resident, please call TODAY (votes are set to happen on Monday):

Speaker Karen Bass at 916-319-2047

Speaker-Elect John A Perez at 916-319-2046

Sample Script:

"Hi, my name is ____________ and I live in [city in California]. I'm calling to urge the (Speaker/Speaker-Elect) to protect family planning services. The Governor's proposed cut to Family PACT is bad for the budget and bad for women's health. Can I count on her/him to reject cuts to family planning?"

Spread the word to everyone you know!

Emergency Rally in Los Angeles at 12 Noon TODAY!

Stand up for women's health and join Planned Parenthood Los Angeles for an emergency rally in Los Angeles TODAY at 12 noon!

Governer Schwarzenegger has just announced his intention to cut funding for family planning services - including the life-saving cancer-screening, contraception and STI testing and treatment services that millions of Californians rely on.

Today, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles will be rallying to thank a long time supporter and ally in the fight to protect family planning, Speaker-Elect John A. Perez, and to stand up against cuts to these vital services!

Where: 320 4th St., Los Angeles 90013.
When: Tuesday, January 12, 12 - 1pm.

PPLA will provide signs.

Hope to see you there!

Anti-Women "Pence Amendment" Defeated

Amid the chaos surrounding health care reform, feminists can take some comfort in Friday's defeat of the Pence Amendment. A press release from Planned Parenthood explains the importance of this victory: "The amendment, if passed, would have denied family planning services to millions of women, men and teens by restricting Title X federal family planning funds from going to Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers."

A comfortable majority, 247-183, rejected this threat to women's health. Help keep this pro-woman momentum going by joining FMF interns tomorrow in a counter-protest to Operation Rescue's demonstration!

Photo credit goes to Stacy Lynn Baum's flickr.

What is going to a Crisis Pregnancy Center REALLY Like?

As FMF blog followers, I hope/assume that many of you are familiar with Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC). I am not going to spend time talking about how ridiculous it is that CPCs are federally funded, or how I think that it should be illegal to tell women that condoms are 100% ineffective, or that there is a direct correlation between having an abortion and getting breast cancer, as that would take hours to write about. In a word: ridiculous.

However, it is nice to see others spreading the good word about the horrors that are CPCs, and mentioning FMF in their posts! Blogger Myra Duran (a former FMF intern in the LA office!) explains her experience at a CPC, describing all of the details from the “spa-like” atmosphere, to filling out paperwork about her religious beliefs, to peeing in a Dixie cup. It even includes a video from the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Young Women's Leadership Conference this past March!

For me, the best part is actually reading the responses to her blog post, which range from full support to overt opposition. I recommend you check her blog out, as a reminder of the action that we need to take to stop CPCs!

Swaziland "Love Test"

Population Services International (PSI) has started a new HIV testing program called “love testing,” where couples from Swaziland receive HIV testing together, as a couple. Joining forces with UNICEF and UNAIDS, this program has received $3,000,000 from PEPFAR (The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) to act in Swaziland, where the rate of HIV/AIDS is over 26% of the population. PSI spokesman Dominic McNeill explains that the logic behind the campaign is that that HIV testing is wasted if only one member of a sexually active couple is tested. As they say, it takes two to tango, and if one person has been tested for HIV, and the other hasn’t, the tested individual is not free from contracting HIV from their partner. It is important to have all sexually active members tested in order to prevent further spreading of the disease.

By calling it “love testing,” the campaign has had an incredibly effective turn out so far, as PSI has “seen a 25 percent increase in couple testing and a 400 percent in general testing year-on-year" (CNN) However, PSI also explains that men prove more resistant to testing, as a way of protecting their masculinity. PSI has told CNN that they must go to places male presence is prevalent, such as farms, churches, and even prisons. Such voluntary testing is certainly a great step in the right direction towards HIV/AIDS treatment, but of course we all know that the focus needs to be turned to prevention through…bum bum bum…family planning and contraceptives!


If you would like to see PSI's official Love Test Video, click here.

Unlocking Condom Cases at CVS

For teens and adults alike, it is awkward enough walking through CVS to grab a pack of condoms, but imagine needing to ask an employee to find a key to unlock the condom case! CVS has locked condom cases in stores nationwide, exacerbating this awkwardness, undoubtedly causing people who had planned to be careful in their sexual practices to second guess the need to buy them out of fear of shame.

In a time when sexual education has been practically eliminated in many public schools, and the rates of STIs and HIV/AIDS are skyrocketing (especially in Washington, DC), there is no reason for condoms to be difficult to access.

Six FMF interns and I braved the DC metro yesterday to attend a rally in front of CVS in Dupont Circle. The rally supported the Cure CVS initiative to stop CVS from locking up condom cases. Speakers ranging from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, came to the rally to fight for this cause, and speak about safe family planning. While CVS might argue that locking condom cases is a method of theft prevention, speakers from Los Angeles who had sampled CVS stores in East Los Angeles found that 75% of locked cases were in neighborhoods that were predominantly African American or Latino, insinuating racial slurs.

Additionally, speakers mentioned how the language barrier might prevent Latinos and other ethnicities whose first language is not English from being able to buy condoms. Skeptics of this campaign argue that we take our business elsewhere, to RiteAid, Walgreens, etc, but many of these stores are not open 24 hours a day like many CVS stores are.

Locking up condoms leads to larger public problems that I am not sure that CVS understands. Unwanted pregnancies that might arise from lack of accessibility to condoms might lead to the want/need for abortion, which automatically becomes a political issue. The risk of contracting HIV/AIDS from not wearing condoms also leads to health care issues and extraordinary medical bills. We live in a society that understands the importance of condoms, and there is no need for CVS to continue blocking their access.

Clinton Stands Up For Women's Lives

If any of you missed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (how much do I love saying that?) this week stand up for and defending reproductive rights and family planning at the Foreign Relations Committee hearing, I urge you to watch the two clips from the hearing below. Change is really here in Washington! Enjoy and be inspired :) Happy Friday!



And the following on Margaret Sanger: