One Year Later: Feminists Stand By the Affordable Care Act

On the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, we see that the fight for quality, affordable care has not yet been achieved.  This essential piece of health care reform legislation in 2010 sought to end abuses by the insurance industry and extend health care coverage for all Americans.  We all remember the right-wing campaigns to spread fear in the year leading up to (still waiting for those death panels…). The House majority continues efforts to undermine the Act by trying to eliminate funding, challenging it in court, and continuing to promote lies to the public in an attempt to push for its repeal in 2013.

It is as important now as it was a year ago for us to stand with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), though many women’s rights advocates strongly disagreed with some of the provisions related to reproductive rights – the Act maintained the Hyde Amendment’s restrictions on abortion funding, extending them to newly created health insurance exchanges, making abortion less accessible and affordable in the process.  The ACA has produced the largest gains for women’s health since Medicare and Medicaid were signed into law 45 years ago.

When the Act’s full provisions take effect in 2014, it will make incredible headway in promoting gender equality in healthcare by ensuring that women can not be charged higher premiums, nor will they be denied coverage due to pregnancy or other gender-based discriminations often considered to be pre-existing conditions.

These health reforms are imperative for women, as currently nearly half of all low-income women are uninsured and more than half of all women report delaying needed care because of cost. Women are routinely charged higher premiums than men; according to whitehouse.gov, a healthy 22-year old woman can be charged premiums 150% higher than a 22-year old man.  The Act also allows young people to stay on their parent’s insurance until the age of 26 and provides steady funding for comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy prevention.

This year, the Act requires that new insurance plans cover prevention and wellness benefits, as well as preventive services, including mammograms, cancer screenings, and annual physicals.  Because of the Act’s committed support for reproductive health and family planning, an effort by various women’s health organizations is underway to include birth control under preventive services.  We expect to see contraceptives covered and provided under the ACA, despite criticism from the Right.

Today, there is a concerted effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  Last month, the House passed a continuing resolution that would defund key parts of the ACA, particularly those affecting women.  Though they claim it is an attempt to reduce the federal deficit, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the ACA will actually reduce the deficit by over $210 billion in just the first decade. Although it does not defeat all of the barriers to comprehensive health care for women, the Affordable Care Act takes us one step closer to making health care for women more accessible and affordable. All women stand to gain from these upcoming changes, and it is imperative that we as feminists not only recognize but celebrate its one year anniversary.  Our bodies, our lives!

We've Been Stupak'd

While women won big with health care reform, we took a hard blow when it came to comprehensive reproductive health care, and we are doing so again. However, this time there are no trade-offs.

As soon as next month, transitory health-insurance pools for those with pre-existing conditions will become available. Yesterday the NARAL released a statement that said the new temporary health care plans for high-risk individuals will not include comprehensive reproductive health care. It seems the White House Administration has put a total ban on abortion coverage (with the exception of cases of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is endangered) even though there is not a single thing in the federal law that restricts the use of federal or state money for abortion coverage within the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIPs).

This ban is in essence the same as the Stupak amendment which was defeated months ago. With the enforcement of this ban there is no way women will be able to purchase abortion coverage within the PCIP system even with their own private funds. Because these women fall in the high-risk category, they will not have options outside the PCIP system to find insurance coverage for abortion. That's why they are participating in the PCIP system to begin with, because they can't get coverage anywhere else! So in the end the government is completely denying these women of any possible coverage for abortion period!!

We did not work so hard to defeat the Stupak amendment, to so quickly and without any reason find a Stupak ban enforced now! As the Center for Reproductive Rights stated: "Healthcare reform was a tightly bargained piece of legislation - and with this, the White House is threatening to renege on a fundamental part of its bargain with American women and families who truly need coverage."

Join me in speaking out by telling President Obama that this abortion-coverage ban was not part of the agreement on health reform and that abortion coverage should not be excluded from the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans!

Fem News: Some Clarification About New Health Care Reform

Never Go Back: An Update on Healthcare Reform

With visions of "STOP STUPAK" signs dancing in our heads, the fight for comprehensive health care reform and against additional abortion restrictions continued into the wee hours of Christmas Eve in the Senate. The result? The passage of a health care reform act, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that leaves much to celebrate and much to be desired.

Similar to the House bill (known as the Affordable Health Care for America Act) the Senate reforms include great victories for all people, especially women, including: the elimination of gender rating in insurance prices, banning pre-existing conditions, capping out of pocket expenses, and expanding Medicaid to include individuals at 150% of the federal poverty level. With this bill millions of individuals would gain access to health insurance and being a woman would no longer be considered a pre-existing condition. A true victory, indeed.

But with all victories, the devil is in the details. Additional abortion restrictions, known as the "Nelson Compromise," were included in the Senate bill to gain the decisive 60th vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). Unlike the Stupak Amendment found in the House bill, the Senate version does not ban abortion coverage. However, paying for your abortion coverage just got a lot more complicated.

Under the proposed provision, individuals receiving a federal subsidy or funding for their insurance coverage may choose a plan that includes abortion coverage (a victory compared to Stupak). However, that abortion coverage must be payed for with your own money. To keep the government funds clean from your "dirty abortion money" (my words, not the Senate's) the payments must be paid separately. Creating a system where individuals makes two payments to the insurance company: one for the bulk of their healthcare coverage and a separate payment into an allocation fund for abortion coverage.

As you can imagine, the additional processing and compliance regulations established with the Nelson provision would be an administrative nightmare. In the face of so many new regulations, such a disincentive would be an easy out for insurance companies to drop abortion coverage altogether. With currently 85% of private insurance plans offering abortion coverage, such a prospect would be a huge defeat.

So once again, we are faced with the prospect of more restrictions to a woman's access to abortion. As Congress begins debate on a final version of health care reform, we wait in anticipation of great progress for women's healthcare while also in fear of great setbacks.

But we will not go back.

While Congress discusses a bill that will impact all of our lives irrevocably, they must hear a unified voice of support for comprehensive health care reform but also an unwavering opposition to any additional abortion restrictions found in the Nelson and Stupak provisions. We demand health care reform but we must not restrict a woman's access to a legal medical procedure. With such an opportunity for the lives of millions of people to improve and our country to move forward, women's access to comprehensive healthcare coverage -- including coverage for abortion -- must not be pushed back.

For more information about health insurance reform and women visit FMF's special section online.

This article was featured in our January 2010 monthly Choices eZine. Sign up for our alerts to stay up-to-date with the latest feminist news and to receive the monthly eZine.

Celebrate the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22nd

January 22, 2010 marks the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that guaranteed American women the right to a safe and legal elective abortion. Our fore-feminists dedicated their lives to obtaining this integral human right and it is not free from threats, even today. To commemorate the fight for the right to abortion and to stand up against current attacks on that right, take action on January 22nd!

History
Abortion has been performed in every culture and society for thousands of years. It wasn't until the mid to late 1800's that abortion was criminalized in the U.S. Of course, making abortion illegal didn’t stop it from happening, or even reduce the number of women who sought abortion.

It is estimated that as many as 1.2 million abortions happened each year in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These “back-alley” abortions by untrained practitioners, in addition to self-induced abortions often cost women their lives – in fact, many thousands of women died or suffered serious medical problems during the time that abortion was illegal (accurate records could not be kept).

Thankfully, in 1973, Jane Roe, a Texas woman seeking to terminate her pregnancy, brought a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas law prohibiting her from doing so and the Supreme Court sided with her, 7-2. Delivering the opinion of the Court, Justice Blackmum stated:

“The right to privacy…is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice is altogether apparent.”

Abortion rights proponents rejoiced.

Right v. Access
Unfortunately, the Roe v. Wade decision was not perfect, by any means. The wording of the decision left doors open for states to regulate abortion through restrictions on third-trimester abortions, parental consent and notification laws, “informed consent” laws, waiting periods, refusal or so-called “conscience” clauses, and even spousal consent laws (which were later made illegal with the Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling in 1992).

Additionally, Roe v. Wade sent anti-abortion forces into a tizzy (just as its anniversary does every year), and in 1977 we saw the passing of the Hyde Amendment, which, to this day, prohibits Medicaid funding of abortions.

What’s the significance of all these various types of restrictions? Well, abortion may be legal, but it is not necessarily accessible or affordable. This distinction persists today, varying state by state. If you are under age 18, don’t have a provider near you, don’t have transportation, are a victim of incest or rape and don’t want to come forward, don’t have health insurance or don’t have the means to pay for an abortion, we’re sorry – the right to abortion doesn’t apply to you.

Furthermore, for several decades, anti-abortion forces have mounted escalating attacks on reproductive health clinics and health care providers throughout the nation, making access to the very clinics that provide reproductive health services even more difficult.

Continued Threats
While abortion remains legal, there are constantly rising threats jeopardizing access.

Currently, abortion has become a major divisive issue in Congress’ Health Care Reform efforts. By using women’s health and lives as a pawn to stop health care reform from happening, opponents of both reform and reproductive rights have managed to introduce some very restrictive abortion language – the Nelson amendment. By requiring separate payment systems for abortion coverage in the new health insurance exchange, the Nelson amendment will effectively eliminate abortion coverage for all women participating in the exchange – forcing millions of women who currently enjoy abortion coverage to pay out of pocket in the future.

Year after year, voters in referendum states are faced with anti-abortion ballot initiatives and state legislatures consider and often pass bills that limit abortion access. We see these bills and ballot initiatives in the form of: abortion bans (that are placed on the books in order to challenge Roe v. Wade), biased counseling requirements, mandatory delays, gag rules, refusal clauses, restrictions on low-income women’s access, restrictions on young women’s access, personhood initiatives and targeted regulation of abortion providers. In the fall 2010 mid-term election, don’t be surprised to see plenty of the above-mentioned threats present on your ballot!

And lastly, anti-abortion organizations such as Operation Rescue, Army of God and many others are creating a rising tide of extremism and violence against women’s health care clinics and providers. You may be familiar with the “Justice for All” or “Genocide Awareness Project” displays that often set up shop on college campuses. You also may have seen anti-abortion protesters outside of your local clinic. In addition to spreading lies and misinformation and making access to clinics difficult and intimidating, anti-abortion efforts often go far beyond protests and demonstrations and begin to threaten the safety and lives of women’s health care providers and clinic staff. Sometimes these threats escalate into real violence, as with the murder of Dr. George Tiller in his church in May, 2009.

What You Can Do on Jan. 22
On January 22nd, TAKE ACTION! Educate your campus, show support for abortion rights and the feminists who fought for that right, and fight the current threats we face. Let 'em know that we will never go back! Here are some ideas:

- Oppose the Nelson Amendment and show your support for woman-friendly health care reform. Find out how your Senators voted and let them know how you feel. Table with information on this issue and encourage other students to contact their Senators as well.

- Start gearing up for the onslaught of anti-choice ballot initiatives we are likely to see in this fall’s mid-term elections. Parental notification and personhood initiatives will likely be prevalent. Find out what’s likely to happen in your state, and begin educating your campus about why they should vote NO!

- Find out if there will be any anti-choice protests, demonstrations or events happening on campus and organize a counter-protest. Pass out medically accurate information about abortion, as well as information about the local reproductive health clinic.

- Adopt-a-Clinic. Call your local reproductive health clinic and find out how you can help them. They may be faced with protesters and need your help escorting patients into the clinic safely, showing your support through a rally or counter-protest, or just need your volunteer time in the clinic.

This article was featured in our January 2010 monthly Choices eZine. Sign up for our alerts to stay up-to-date with the latest feminist news and to receive the monthly eZine.

NYC Health Reform Event

Fixing Health Reform: A Progressive Guide to Key Issues

Thursday, January 7, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6 pm with light refreshments)
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South

What can progressive advocates do to fix the problems in pending health reform legislation as the process moves into a House-Senate conference committee this month? Join us to find out and get involved!

A call to action for health justice -- Rev. Donna Schaper, Judson Memorial Church
Understanding the conference committee process -- Tim Foley, NYC for Change
Fighting the abortion restrictions -- Lois Uttley, Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need
Improving affordability of health coverage for low and moderate-income families -- Elisabeth Benjamin, Community Service Society
Fighting for the public option and possible alternatives -- Mark Hannay, Metro NY Health Care for All
Action steps and opportunities to get involved -- Nina Agrawal, NYC for Change, and Eesha Pandit, Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need

Please rsvp to info@raisingwomensvoices.net

Co-sponsored by NYC for Change, Metro NY Health Care for All, National Physicians Alliance, Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need, Public Health Association of NYC, Brooklyn for Barack

Abortion Activists on Both Sides Speak Out on Healthcare Bill

Activists on both sides of the abortion debate have expressed their displeasure with the Senate version of the healthcare bill, which will be up for a final vote on Christmas Eve. If the bill passes, it will then go into conference to be reconciled with the House bill, from which it has substantial differences.

The Senate bill includes an abortion compromise that was added this past weekend in an effort to secure the support of Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE). Right-wing senators took to the Senate floor to denounce the new language. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who had previously sponsored an unsuccessful anti-abortion amendment with Nelson, said, “The language to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund elective abortions in the Reid amendment is completely unacceptable. The new abortion provisions are significantly weaker than the amendment I introduced with Senator Ben Nelson.” In a press conference on Saturday, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) told reporters that the negotiations with Nelson “threw unborn babies under the bus."

The National Right to Life Committee issued a statement strongly opposing the new version of the bill and Operation Rescue, an anti-choice extremist group, blasted Nelson for having “sold out the lives of innocent children for political gain.” The National Conference of Catholic Bishops said that they do not support the bill moving forward toward a vote.

Pro-choice groups also expressed their unhappiness with the compromise. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a statement that ”After the passage of the Stupak amendment in the House, we heard loud and clear from women across the country that they will not stand for the undermining of their rights and their access to benefits. This Nelson abortion check provision will no doubt create the same outrage, as women learn that they are being made second-class citizens when it comes to health care coverage.” The President of NOW, Terry O’Neill, said she was “outraged” as “Right-wing ideologues like Nelson and the Catholic Bishops may not understand this, but abortion is health care. And health care reform is not true reform if it denies women coverage for the full range of reproductive health services.”

Pro-choice senators accepted the compromise reluctantly. In a joint statement, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), assured the public that "We said all along that we wanted to ensure there was a firewall between private and public funds — this compromise achieves that. We said we would not accept language that prohibited a woman from using her own private funds for her legal reproductive health care – this compromise meets that test.” Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), appearing on the PBS NewsHour Monday, expressed his general unhappiness with the compromise, saying “I don't like the deal that was made on abortion. I think that that compromises a woman's right to choose.” He went on to explain his acceptance of the manager’s amendment and the healthcare bill, saying, “A woman with breast cancer is 40 percent more likely to die if she doesn't have insurance than if she does. That's why we need to move now, why the delay tactics from some of our colleagues…simply don't serve the public interest. In this legislation, ultimately, 31 million people are going to get insurance under this legislation.”

Healthcare - What the heck is going on?

While most of DC was enjoying SNOPACALYPSE '09 this weekend, our dear friends in the Senate were negotiating the Healthcare Reform bill. Once again, women's rights ended up being used as a bargaining chip.

Voting during an unusual 1 am session on Monday morning (the bizarre timing has been forced by the GOP, which has thrown every feasible parliamentary procedure hurdle in the bill's way), the Senate ended debate on the healthcare bill, clearing the way for expected final passage of the bill on Christmas Eve. The 60-40 vote fell along party lines and came after a tense weekend of negotiations with Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE). As a result of those talks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced the Reid Amendment, a 383 page "manager's amendment," which includes new language relating to abortion.

Under the new version of the healthcare reform bill, state legislatures will decide whether their insurance exchanges will permit plans that offer abortion coverage. If a state does permit insurance plans that cover abortion services to participate in the exchange, those services must be paid for by private health insurance premiums and not by federal funds.

The new plan, known as the "abortion opt-out" immediately raised protests from pro-choice leaders, who worry that the compromise will result in a de facto abortion ban for women in conservative states. "It is not acceptable to burden women and employers with the chilling requirement of multiple payment structures, creating a condition where participants are less likely to opt for full coverage. And it is unconscionable to allow state-run exchanges to opt out of providing abortion coverage, even when a woman's life is in danger," said Kelli Conlin of the National Institute for Reproductive Health.

Despite these concerns, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), two champions of reproductive rights in the Senate, put out a joint statement on the Reid Amendment, saying, “We said all along that we wanted to ensure there was a firewall between private and public funds — this compromise achieves that. We said we would not accept language that prohibited a woman from using her own private funds for her legal reproductive health care – this compromise meets that test.”

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), leaders of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, disagreed with their colleagues, declaring that the compromise is "not only offensive to people who believe in choice, but it is also possibly unconstitutional."

Are there still good things in this bill? Yes. But it is infuriating that women have been thrown under the bus, yet again, for a bill that doesn't improve a public option or even a Medicare buy-in. And the bill is full of special benefits for Nebraska, Arkansas, and other states whose Senators and Representatives played hardball. This bill will probably end up passing, and it will hopefully improve healthcare for millions of Americans. But I can't help but feel disappointed and betrayed after a very difficult year.

Image via Photo_Phiend

Guest Post: Manhattan Rally Against Anti-Choice Amendments

Jerin Alam, the former president of the Hunter Women's Rights Coalition, a FMF affiliate, and the co-founder of the NOW-NYS Younger Women's Task Force asked that I post this account of an Anti-Stupak Rally held in Manhattan a few weeks ago. It's a great example of the kind of local protest that can happen at lawmakers' offices around the country.

The December 2nd Speak-Out was a well-attended and noisy NOW-NYS Anti-Stupak Amendment demonstration outside the New York office of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Speakers like NOW-NYS President Marcia Pappas and NOW National Action VP Erin Matson commended New York's Senators Gillibrand and Schumer for their pro-choice positions but urged that the Senate Health Bill goes no farther than existing law (i.e. the 1976 Hyde Amendment) in restricting funding for abortions. The House Bill, with its Stupak provision, goes far beyond Hyde, prohibiting insurance coverage even in policies paid for with private funds.

Pappas remarked: "We insist that our pro-choice Senator Shumer please never again endorse an anti-choice Democrat. The Democratic platform is stongly pro-choice, and had Democrats welcomed only candidates with this position, this grave danger to women's lives would not be rearing it's head in today's Health Care Reform Bill."

Reproductive Rights Pioneer Bill Baird, of the 1972 Baird v. Eisenstadt decision legalizing birth control for unmarried Americans, fired up the crowd with hair-raising tales of his many "obscenity" related arrests for teaching birth control. Past NOW-NYS President Marilyn Fitterman decried the Roman Catholic Church as a "foreign soverignty dictating to our government," after which feminist singer Sandy Rapp sang her take on the Catholic Hierarchy "White Men In Black Dresses" and "Remember Rose: A Song For Choice." about the first back-street abortion fatality of the Hyde Amendment. (Listen and free download free at MySpace.com/SandyRapp.)

Representatives from both Senators Schumer and Gillibrand (as well as Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's office) also addressed the group, along with a number of distinguished speakers including NOW-New York City President Sonia Ossorio, Brooklyn/Queens NOW Co-Presidents Rachelle Suissa and Julie Kirschner, Albany Area NOW President Mary Richmond, National Dominican Women's Caucus President Zenaida Mendez, NOW-NYS Young Feminist Task Force Chair Jerin Alam, World Can't Wait Director Debra Sweet, and New Jersey NOW President Maretta Short.

After the Speak-Out, many of the protesters marched to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, where they sang and chanted on the stage-like entrance steps, much to the interest of Christmas-display viewers, many of whom joined in the songs and signed the petitions. The demonstration continued until the police were called by the ChurchMen.

For more info on the event see: http://readme.readmedia.com/National-Organization-for-Women-NYS-Local-NOW-Chapters-Rally-for-Womens-Abortion-Rights/989488

Wish you could do more to Stop Stupak? You can, tomorrow!

Thankfully, the Senate rejected the Nelson Amendment, but as we all know, there is more work to be done to save women's reproductive rights.

This Saturday, December 12th, the Courage Campaign, a progressive grassroots organization in California, is hosting a phonebank in their Los Angeles office called "Friends of Equality: Protecting Women's Rights." They will be putting pressure on the House Dems that voted for the Stupak Amendment.

They want to ensure that it taken out of the final bill when it comes back from conference committee. "This will be a unique and tightly targeted campaign, pressuring these lawmakers with the voices of those they SHOULD care most about – motivated pro-choice Democratic voters who will hold them accountable at the ballot box in 2010."

You can sign up for one of two shifts (or both!) from 9a-12p or 12p-3p.

Please RSVP.

The address is
1930 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 1210
Los Angeles, CA 90057


We hope to see you there!

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/ari/2209798871/

Help Increase Immigrants' Medicaid Access

Under current law, legal immigrants with low incomes must wait FIVE YEARS in order to be eligible for Medicaid. The only exception to this rule is for pregnant women and children. Given the fact that over 70% of Medicaid recipients are women, this arbitrary 5 year waiting period disproportionately affects women and only hinders access to vital health services. As we know, lack of access to preventive health care only complicates problems and increases costs down the road.

Thankfully, on Monday, 12/7, Senator Menendez (D-NJ) filed an amendment to the Senate health care reform bill to provide states with the option to remove this five year waiting period for legal immigrants! The vote is expected this week.

You've organized and taken action to protect women's health and defeat the Nelson-Hatch amendment. Now it's time to stand up for low-income immigrants' access to health care!

Call your Senators today and urge them to vote in favor of the Menendez amendment. You can reach your Senators through the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3141. If it's busy, visit: www.senate.gov and look up your Senator, then call their direct DC and District office lines with your message.

Thank you for your help!

Photo courtesy of flikr.com/Joseph Hoetzl

Op-Ed: Stupak-Pitts abortion amendment an attack on women's rights

By Claire Macomson, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

As many of you know, the health care debate has been raging on for months. Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would radically change health care in this country. I am not here to debate the pros and cons of the public option or whether or not the government is going to let grandma die. I am here to talk specifically about the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and its attack on women.

Currently, federal funds are banned for abortion, exceptions allowed, under the Hyde Amendment, and most private insurers cover abortion. The Stupak-Pitts Amendment will prohibit the use of federal funds for abortions for women in the public option, and will prevent private insurers from covering abortions for women with government subsidies under the proposed exchange system. Its exceptions include rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. It also specifically allows for supplemental abortion insurance to be bought.

This is an attack on women. Supporters of this amendment will say that their tax money should not go to support something they morally oppose. All Americans are forced to pay for many things they morally oppose; the wars, the death penalty, public schools, the welfare system, abstinence-only sex education, various government programs - the list goes on for both sides of the debate. That is not a good enough excuse. No excuse is good enough when women's lives are on the line.

People will bring up that the amendment allows for abortions to protect the mother's life, and in instances of rape and incest. That is a joke. Rules like these are arbitrary. Look at the way we treat rape victims in our society: with scorn and distrust. We blame them for the violent and unacceptable acts against them. Who decides if a pregnant woman has been raped, in time for her to get a timely abortion?

Women do not have the time the courts will take making their decisions about our lives. Who decides what constitutes a threat to a mother's life and well-being? What happens to a mother who has to give birth to a baby she knows developed without a brain? Wouldn't it be better for her and her family to have the option of privately terminating this pregnancy, rather than go through the mental anguish of giving birth to a dead baby? What woman deserves to have her life placed in jeopardy by our bureaucratic government? It's a joke, and not a funny one at that.

Trying to limit abortions will not decrease the number being performed. Women have always gotten them when they needed them, whether it was legal or not. Abortion has been a necessary part of society since ancient times; ask anyone studying the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Stupak-Pitts Amendment will only serve to force more and more women into back-alley procedures because they cannot afford to pay in full for a proper procedure. Back alley abortions still exist today, because some women cannot afford the cost. Do we really need more coat hanger deaths on our public conscience?

All women deserve equal access to abortion. Restricting it only makes it more dangerous. It will just lead to more deaths and complications. I urge you to write or call your senators and urge them to not support the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the health care bill. Because women deserve better than a coat hanger, and because women deserve better than to be pawns whose rights can be bartered away.

Stop Stupak: Call your Senators!!!

Today is the day we STOP STUPAK.

Today, the Senate begins debate on their version of the Health Care Reform Bill. Senators Hatch and Nelson are preparing to introduce an amendment to the Senate version of the bill that is identical to the Stupak-Pitts amendment.

Call your Senators TODAY. We need to flood the lines, and let our voices be heard. This is the biggest threat to reproductive health our generation has seen, and they need to know that we won't go back!

Call BOTH your Senators at BOTH their DC office and field office.
You can find the phone numbers for both offices at senate.gov. You can also reach your Senators D.C. office by calling the capitol Switchboard at 888-423-5983.

Let your Senators know that you want a pro-women, pro-choice health care reform bill, and to URGE them to fight against any attempt to attach a Stupak-like amendment to the Senate version of the health care reform bill.

Let them know that women rights will not be a bargaining chip!




check out Lindsay phonebanking!

Stop Stupak Phone Banks in the FMF's Los Angeles Office

Here in the FMF's Los Angeles office, we are ANGRY about the Stupak amendment! We can't make it to DC for the Emergency/Rally Lobby Day on Dec. 2 but that won't stop us from taking action!

If you are in the Los Angeles area, join us at the FMF Headquarters on Dec. 1 & 2 for a Stop Stupak Phone Bank! We'll be phonebanking our supporters, asking them to take 2 minutes to call key decision makers and demand that no anti-choice amendments be included in health care reform.

The Stupak Amendment is the single largest threat to abortion access in our lifetimes. We must demand that young women's lives and bodies stop being used as a political bargaining chip and make sure Congress understands that abortion is health care.

Here are the details: FMF Headquarters at 433 S. Beverly Dr. between Pico and Olympic, 90212. Tuesday, December 1 join us from 6pm - 9pm, or on Wednesday, Dec. 2 join us from 10am - 6pm for any amount of time. Spread the word!

To RSVP, email Allie at amcdonald@feminist.org or Jacqueline at jsun@feminist.org or call us at 866-471-FMLA.

See you on December 1st & 2nd!

Health Care Debate Conference Call

ATTENTION ACTIVISTS: Whether you're feeling fired up or totally lost in the fray of this Health Care debate, we want to help. Join us for this call next Monday and we'll be breaking it down to the basics!

When: Monday November 23rd, 8PM Eastern.
Number: Call 218-862-1300, conference code 789637.
Hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation, Advocates for Youth, and ChoiceUSA.
RSVP here!

There are already restrictions in place that guarantee that no federal funding would be used to pay for abortion. But the Stupak-Pitts Amendment on the House bill goes even further! No plan included in the insurance exchange could offer abortion coverage AND it would prevent women who receive federal subsidies from purchasing plans that cover abortion.

There’s still time to stop this harmful language from being included in the final health care bill! The Senate will likely start debating its bill over the next few days, and then both bills still need to be reconciled before they become law.

Confused? It’s a complicated process – and we’re here to help sort through it all…

On Monday, November 23rd, Advocates for Youth, Choice USA and Feminist Majority Foundation will be hosting a call for youth activists from across the country.

RSVP now!

The purpose of the call is to:

1. Clarify the Stupak-Pitts amendment and its impact
2. Update you on the Senate version of health care reform
3. Outline where we go from here – and the role each of us has to play to protect women’s health and rights
4. Share ideas about how to activate your campus and community to make sure women’s ability to access abortions is not only for the wealthy.

If there was ever a time to get angry and organized, this is it.

So mark your calendar. Monday, November 23rd, 8PM Eastern. Call 218-862-1300 and use the conference code 789637. Be sure to RSVP.

We need to make sure our voices are heard on our campuses, in our communities and through the halls of Congress.

Stop Stupak Phone Banks in Los Angeles!

Here in the FMF's Los Angeles office, we are ANGRY about the Stupak amendment! We can't make it to DC for the Emergency/Rally Lobby Day on Dec. 2 but that won't stop us from taking action!

If you are in the Los Angeles area, join us at the FMF Headquarters on Dec. 1 & 2 for a Stop Stupak Phone Bank! We'll be phonebanking our supporters, asking them to take 2 minutes to call key decision makers and demand that the Stupak amendment be stripped from the Health Care Reform bill.

The Stupak Amendment is the single largest threat to abortion access in our lifetimes. We must demand that young women's lives and bodies stop being used as a political bargaining chip and make sure Congress understands that abortion is health care.

Here are the details: FMF Headquarters at 433 S. Beverly Dr. between Pico and Olympic, 90212. Tuesday, December 1 join us from 6pm - 9pm, or on Wednesday, Dec. 2 join us from 10am - 6pm for any amount of time. Spread the word!

To RSVP, email Allie at amcdonald@feminist.org or Jacqueline at jsun@feminist.org or call us at 866-471-FMLA.

See you on December 1st & 2nd!

Pictures Truly Worth A Thousand Words

Cartoons courtesy of Slate Magazine.

FAQ about Stupak-Pitts, Part II

Here are two more FAQs about the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and what it means for women and health care.

What are the Risks of introducing the Stupak-Pitts Amendment into the Senate?
Bills that have been introduced to Senate committees in the past that have similar messages to the Stupak Amendment have been rejected. If Majority Leader Reid melds a bill from those approved by Senate HELP and Finance committees, the final bill to be introduced would not have Stupak-like language. In order to re-introduce the language of the Stupak Amendment, the Senate would have to have 60 votes. Senator Baucus and others have indicated that gaining 60 votes in favor of this amendment would be ‘nearly impossible’

According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 13% of all women who had an abortion in 2001 used insurance coverage to pay for it. Why are we making such a big fuss over its availability under health reform?
This figure does not account for women who may have paid out of pocket and then later sought reimbursements from their insurance companies. The authors of this study explained that had the study included only women who had insurance coverage, the percentage of women who used their coverage to pay for the procedure would be dramatically higher. Furthermore, because of the stigma attached to the procedure, women who do have access to insurance coverage may not utilize it; the Stupak amendment would make this even worse. Numbers aside, the main concern is that about 85% of private plans cover abortion, currently, and that right should not be stripped because of reform.

Don't think this is the last one! More to come later this afternoon.

Never Go Back - Talking Points on Stupak-Pitts

SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT! WE WILL NOT GO BACK!

Inspired by Ellie's email from this morning, we've assembled key talking points for you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

• Stupak-Pitts is a virtual ban on ALL abortions – in both the public option and private options!

• Stupak-Pitts will not end abortion– just your ability to access/afford one.

• Stupak-Pitts is a LONG TERM BAN – if it passes, it will affect generations of women to come!

• Under Stupak-Pitts, Women be limited in their ability to purchase coverage for abortions with their own money!

• Stupak-Pitts is a DENIAL OF CHOICE dictated by the Conference of Catholic Bishops and anti-choice lobbyists!

• Stupak-Pitts will deny abortion coverage for poor and middle-class women!

• Under Stupak-Pitts, women will LOSE existing coverage for abortion!

• Stupak-Pitts is BACKWARDS and re-opens the doors for new generations of back-alley

abortions!

• Stupak-Pitts could create a ripple effect - birth control coverage is the next choice to be

slashed!

• Stupak-Pitts is an obstruction to true health care reform!

• Stupak-Pitts is unacceptable, deplorable, and destructive!

Guest Post: Women on Medicaid Are Being Forgotten in Stupak Outrage

Guest post by Danine Spencer. Originally posted at danine.net.

On Saturday night, my joy and relief at the health care reform bill being passed in the House of Representatives was quickly wiped out by the fury being expressed on Twitter and elsewhere by feminists and progressives over the Stupak amendment. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, the amendment “bans abortion coverage even if women pay for it with their own money in the public option or private plans in the insurance exchange.”

This is obviously a big deal. In a press release, FMF’s president Ellie Smeal said:

“Millions of poor and middle class women will be denied abortion coverage. Millions more may lose abortion coverage because currently some 85% of private plans now have such coverage.”

I agree the Stupak amendment is terribly, terribly wrong. It is, as Ms. Smeal said, “an unacceptable, giant step backward for women.” Still, abortion cannot be allowed to derail health care reform. This is far too important to me and millions of other women – and men. Health care reform is about life and death. Out-of-control premiums and medical bills are forcing families to choose between buying groceries for their kids, paying the mortgage or obtaining life-saving medical treatment and prescription drugs.

Health care reform is not about abortion. Bart Stupak and the other “pro-life” members of Congress should be ashamed of themselves for hijacking what may be the most important piece of legislation of our time. This is truly a matter of life and death.

Abortion cannot be allowed to derail health care reform. Still, there is another issue that has been overlooked in the outrage over the Stupak amendment. According to the Kaiser Foundation, 9.5 million women are currently on Medicaid. The federal standard for Medicaid requires abortion coverage only in situations where the mother’s life is in danger or in the case of rape or incest. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia only provide this level of coverage while seventeen states exceed federal requirements, funding “all or most medically necessary abortions”.

If abortion doesn’t derail the bill and we actually get health care reform passed, Medicaid’s ranks will expand to include 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, including millions more women.

What about poor women? Don’t we deserve abortion coverage as part of our reproductive rights? Where is the outrage for us? It seems like the feminist movement has simply forgotten about the poorest and sickest of women, those who are most likely to be in need of abortion services. Indeed, many women enroll in Medicaid because they are pregnant and uninsured. Our society has created a safety net for low-income women when they get pregnant but that safety net is full of knots and hard to break free of.

Medicaid’s income limits keep women mired in poverty. StateHealthFacts.org reports that 52.3% of non-elderly families receiving Medicaid have at least one full-time worker, which means that worker is working full-time but doesn’t have health insurance through their job. In order to keep their Medicaid, they cannot earn more than the FPL eligibility limits for their state. If they do earn more than the limits, they risk losing their health insurance.

Furthermore, 47.8% of the non-elderly on Medicaid work part-time or not at all. These people are not eligible for employer-sponsored plans and will probably be unable to afford any plans in the new insurance exchange. They will be stuck on Medicaid. Without abortion coverage.

It has been extremely frustrating and infuriating to watch the uproar over the Stupak amendment. It feels like the feminist movement has forgotten about the poor, sick and disabled women who are on Medicaid and only have access to abortion services under the Hyde Amendment.

Those of us on Medicaid deserve the same reproductive rights that everyone else is entitled to. We are not second-class citizens. We’re women.