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Guaranteeing Access, One Dollar at a Time

November 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

When Serena proposed the idea of focusing on gratitude this month by honoring pro-choice advocates, I immediately knew who I’d choose: the people that make sure that women who need abortions have the money to do so.

Working in either local funds or the funding arms of major organizations is not an easy job. The need is overwhelming, and there’s never enough money to go around. The hours can be long – in the case of a lot of local funds, the work is literally 24/7 – and the stories can rip your heart out.

But this is such essential work, particularly in our current economic climate. Helping a woman raise $200 or $100 or even $50 doesn’t just mean that she can get an abortion. It means that no matter her situation, she can access the same services as any other woman. It means, as a case manager for the D.C. Abortion Fund told me years ago, that a woman’s rights shouldn’t depend on her wallet.  [Read more...]

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Occupy Wall Street and Feminism

October 31, 2011 By 8 Comments

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to gain traction both in New York City and around the country, one question keeps popping up: is this a feminist movement? After all, in its energy, audacity, and sense of limitless possibility, OWS is reminiscent of the feminist movement some forty years ago.

On the Ms. Blog, Daphne Muller argues that OWS is indeed a feminist fight. “I realized that Occupy Wall Street is galvanizing because the ire is feminist, anti-colonialist, anti-racist and anti-patriarchal,” she writes, adding that Code Pink was very visible at the New York protest site that she visited. But while she praises the diversity on display at Liberty Plaza, Muller does acknowledge that men have dominated both intra-movement discussions and mainstream media representation.

[Read more...]

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No Co-Pay Birth Control is Overdue

July 30, 2011 By 2 Comments

As Sarah noted last week, the Institute of Medicine released a report that recommends, among other things, that birth control be considered preventative medicine – and rightly so. As the Atlantic Wire points out, “Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and about 40 percent of unwanted pregnancies end in abortion.”  Increased birth control access can prevent unintended pregnancies, and decrease the need for abortion. As a result, the IOM is advocating that birth control be available at no cost to women as a part of the implementation of the health care reform package.

No co-pay birth control is seriously overdue, ya’ll. NPR reports that, “98 percent of sexually active women will use contraception at some point during their reproductive years, and that cost concerns are frequently cited as a reason for inconsistent use or use of a less then optimal method.” That is because women currently pay between $15 and $50 a month in co-pays for birth control pills — which equals $180 to $600 a year! Consequently, more than one-third of all women have struggled to pay for prescription birth control at some point in their lives.

Just to clarify, the IOM recommendations will not be the equivalent of “free” birth control – the IOM recommendations simply state that birth control should be available without a co-pay price. Women will still have to pay their insurance premiums. However, as an article in Colorlines states, “the women who plunk down about $5 to $50 a month for, say, the Pill are already paying their insurance premiums. This would just lighten their financial load.” [Read more...]

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Why the Repeal of Hyde is a Priority for Pro-Choice Advocates

June 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

I just got back from the 2011 National Network of Abortion Funds organizing summit in Denver, Colorado.  The weekend helped recharge my battery, and more importantly, gave me a lot of tangible tools that I can use to help get an abortion access fund started in Arizona.

The opening plenary session of the summit was about the Hyde Amendment and Health Care Reform. Stephanie Poggi of NNAF, Eesha Pandit of the New York Abortion Access Fund, and Marlene Gerber Fried from NNAF explained what the Hyde Amendment is, and why the repeal of Hyde needs to be a priority for the pro-choice movement.

What is the Hyde Amendment?
The Hyde Amendment was passed in 1976, and was only one of 200 anti-abortion bills that were passed in the backlash against Roe v. Wade. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortion. The anti-choice members of Congress never actually believed that they would get the law passed because the bill was a clear case of reaching too far. The Hyde Amendment initially had no exceptions, not even in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the woman. The bill received 25 roll call votes, and exceptions for rape and the woman’s health had to be added to Hyde in order for the bill to pass.

During the Congressional testimony on the Hyde Amendment, Henry Hyde blatantly admitted that he didn’t want any women to have access to abortion, but he knew he couldn’t have everything he wanted so he focused on restricting abortion access for the women he knew he could effect: low-income women. [Read more...]

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Bill Restricting Medical Abortions Signed into Law by Jan Brewer

April 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jan Brewer, along with a litany of other anti-choice politicians in Arizona, have made it a legislative priority to limit women’s access to abortion and other reproductive health care services throughout the state. Between the bill approved in the Arizona Senate earlier this week to ban race and sex motivated abortions, and the piece of legislation to limit out access to RU-486, one thing is very clear: women’s reproductive health, rights, and justice are under attack in Arizona and the anti-choice community is hard at work organizing a coordinated assault on reproductive freedom.

One of the recent strategies to zero out access comes in the form of HB2416, which Jan Brewer signed into law Saturday night. Once the law takes effect, women seeking access to RU-486 will no longer be able to get the pill from a Nurse Practitioner and will instead only be able to get it from a Physician. The problem here is simple. There are nowhere near enough trained Doctors available in rural communities throughout Arizona, and women who live in cities like Flagstaff or Yuma often times depend on Nurse Practitioners to distribute the RU-486. [Read more...]

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AZ Legislature Takes Anti-Choice to a New Level

February 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

In case the rest of the world has any doubt that Arizona is full of gun-slinging, ignorant assholes, one look at the state legislature’s agenda should clear up any confusion.  Several anti-choice bills have been introduced at the legislature in the past few weeks, and they make the already draconion abortion restrictions in our state look like a cake walk compared to what is potentially coming down the pike.  Let me summarize the worst offenders in the bunch.

HB2416
HB2416 would introduce several new restrictions on abortion access, including:

  • Expands the definition of abortion clinic from those that perform surgical abortion to also include those that dispense medications which induce abortion without surgery.
  • Requires Arizona courts to appoint guardians ad litem for minors who are asking courts to waive the state parental consent requirement.
  • The bill expands required components of informed consent to include mandatory ultrasound and “auscultation” (using a stethoscope to listen to fetal organs, including the heart).
    - Both components must be provided at least one hour before medication is administered or the surgical procedure is provided.
    - Must offer the patient to view the ultrasound and to hear the heartbeat, etc.
    - Must offer to provide a detailed explanation of what the ultrasound depicts.
    - Must offer the patient a print version of the ultrasound.
    - Patient must certify in writing that the ultrasound and auscultation were offered, and whether she accepted or declined the offer.
  • Bans use of “telemedicine.”

There are so many problems with this bill it’s hard to know where to start the tirade. For starters, how many pills are considered a form of surgery? Can you imagine if a doctor had to have admitting rights at a hospital if they wanted to prescribe Viagra? The men of this state would be rioting in the streets! What if they needed to have admitting rights to prescribe allergy medicine, or insulin? I think you get my drift. Taking a pill is not the same as having surgery. It’s a total no brainer. [Read more...]

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Telemedicine Abortion the Latest Target of Conservative Lawmakers

January 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

Late last week, the Washington Post reported that conservative politicians were targeting a relatively new method of physician-distributed medical abortion pills. Commonly called “telemedicine abortion,” this method allows physicians to consult with women via a video link-up in a clinic. If the physician is satisfied that the woman understands the procedure, he or she can then use a remote control to open a drawer in the clinic that contains the pills. This method is currently only used in Iowa, where more than 2,000 women have used this service through Planned Parenthood of the Heartland since 2008.

Now, legislators in Iowa and Nebraska have announced that they will try to ban telemedicine abortions, and this week Nebraska senator Tony Fulton is expected to introduce a state bill that would require doctors to be physically present to administer the pill. (Never mind that telemedicine abortions aren’t currently available in his state.)

[Read more...]

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Women to Begin Boarding Submarines in the Next Two Years

April 15, 2010 By 1 Comment

According to the Secretary of the Navy, women may soon be authorized access to the submarine experience. Two years to be exact. — Take that hegemony.

Women have a place on submarines, cigarettes do not, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said Tuesday afternoon during a visit of Kitsap facilities.

Mabus, the Navy’s top civilian leader, addressed policy changes and the Navy’s future during an interview at the Puget Sound Navy Museum.

Integrating women onto submarine crews is “absolutely the right thing to do,” he said. Congress has a few more days to reject the change, otherwise women will be serving beneath the sea within two years. Mabus said he’s gotten nothing but positive response from Congress and the community. [Read more...]

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Questioning the Efficacy of HIV Home Testing

December 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

anxiousA recent article in Poz Magazine about HIV take home tests has me intrigued, and also puzzled. For starters, I didn’t realize that there was even an option to do an HIV test at home. But since November of 2005, the FDA has been considering the possibility of allowing HIV tests to be administered over the counter, similar to a home pregnancy test. The proposed test would be similar to the oral swab test that is now widely available across the country, where the test results are available in under 30 minutes.

One of the major arguments in favor of HIV home testing is that is would increase the number of people who get tested. Did you know that 1 in 4 people who is HIV positive doesn’t know their status?

It’s paramount that more people know their HIV status. About 1.1 million Americans are living with the virus, but one in five doesn’t know it—and these unaware people accounted for half of the 56,300 new infections in 2007. Furthermore, studies show that people who know they’re positive modify behavior so they are less likely to spread the virus.

An OTC test would reach those who don’t have access to a clinic or don’t want to get tested in a medical setting. And the tests would appeal to myriad reasons a person might want to get tested, from the couple ready to take their relationship to an intimate level to individuals about to switch health insurance companies or donate blood and who want to privately confirm their status beforehand to avoid public documentation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Not a RIGHT, but an obligation, to fight.

November 19, 2009 By 1 Comment

Our predecessors risked everything to protect a woman’s right to choose. If we want, we can defeat the Stupak amendment.

We_Can_Do_It!I am reading an inspiring book, Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California. From free speech rights to the gay rights movement, the book recounts numerous stories of civil rights activism in California and the efforts of those who risked everything for freedom.

I have been reading the book in the aftermath of the Stupak Amendment and have been inspired and motivated by its amazing stories. One fight that the book highlights is the dynamic struggle Californians have fought for abortion rights.

The book tells the following story of brave pro-choice activists, which I hope will serve as a poignant reminder that ours is not the first generation to fight, and win, the battle for choice. [Read more...]

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