Repro Health Hub

Last night in the CNN/YouTube Republican debate, candidates were asked a very important question:

The National Institute’s Messaging Project has been doing research behind this concept since 2006 - if abortion is banned, women will be criminalized. Anti-choice supporters have been bringing language into the political debate surrounding abortion for too long that polarizes, frightens, and misinforms people. It’s about time we put our opponents on the defensive and begin to get down to the core of the issue - what will happen to women if abortion is made illegal?

If you’d like to learn more information about this project, click here.

The Young Professionals’ Council for Choice (YPCC) is a newly formed, awesome group of - well, young professionals who are pro-choice and wanted not only to mobilize other younger people to support reproductive rights, but to have some fun doing it.

So you’re in New York and would like yummy “Safe Sex on the Beach” cocktails, come get your pro-choice party-on at their kick-off event next Thursday; it promises to be quite a hoot.

Click here to buy tickets and here for more info on the council.

The New York Times recently covered the story “Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised.” Former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona said the Bush administration would not allow him to speak or issue reports on emergency contraception and sex education among other issues. When public health issues are not disclosed to the public for political rather than scientific reasons, we can be grateful to the many community-based organizations filling this informational void and working to protect the publics’ health. 

The promotoras (community health educators) of   the Dominican Women’s Development Center (DWDC) are a group of 10 women living in Washington Heights, NY who are filling the public health informational vacuum.  Luz Bermudez, a promotora, has been living in Washington Heights for over 40 years. After attending a community gathering on the high risk and prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Washington Heights and Inwood,  Luz said, “I signed the contract to become a promotora, - I knew I  needed to become more deeply involved, I knew that the information I shared could save someone’s life.”

A true leader, Luz was quick to recruit more promotoras. “I got involved because of Luz”, said Argentina Cruz, “I have known her for 16 years, she is my friend and we have always been involved in community work.” Luz and Argentina walk the streets of Washington Heights in red t-shirts that read, Got Condoms? – Latinas Get Real, and are warmly and enthusiastically greeted as “Las Señoras de los Condones” (The ladies with the condoms).   

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The Center for Reproductive Rights has released their 2007 version of their report, “What If Roe Fell?” In 2004, they reported that 30 states were already more or less poised to criminalize abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned. Now a number of states are creating “bans-in-waiting” that are prepared to ban abortion immediately following a Roe reversal.

And this doesn’t include other bans. For example, 38 bans have been introduced in just 17 states. Additionally, four “bans-in-waiting” have already been passed in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota. Check out the full report here.

Also take a look at the National Institute’s Messaging Project which asks the big question if Roe is overturned: “How much time should she do?”

The MergerWatch organization of New York, in partnership with the Avery Institute for Social Change and the National Women’s Health Network, is in the midst of bringing a vital issue to the forefront of the healthcare reform movement- women’s rights.  The name of this ongoing project is Raising Women’s Voices for the Healthcare We Need.   

Unlike other healthcare efforts that claim they have the rights of the uninsured at the base of their campaign, Raising Women’s Voices has actually asked real women what struggles they’ve had with their medical insurance and how they would attempt to rectify the healthcare system.  The project places special priority on engaging women from communities that are frequently marginalized in health policy discussions such as low-income families, communities of color, immigrants, young women, women with disabilities and those who are lesbians, bisexual or transgender.   

Through these discussions, Raising Women’s Voices hopes to develop a vision for a healthcare system that would meet the identified needs of these women and their families, real needs from real people. The project aims to mobilize women to advocate for their rights in their own communities, so that their voices are heard before the rest of the healthcare reform movement drowns them out.   

Click here to check out information on their upcoming audio conference next week, “Where Should Women’s Health Advocates Put Our Energy?”

While Myra wrote a post last week about the horrid Hyde Amendment and how it prohibits women on Medicaid from getting funding for abortion care, the Kaiser Foundation coincidentally released an issue brief today titled, “Medicaid’s Role for Women.”

The public health care program isn’t typically identified as a women’s program, yet 69% of its adult beneficiaries are women. Medicaid also finances 41% of all births in the United States and 61% of publicly funded family planning services.

So in short, Medicaid is doing tons for women’s health care in this country. And for that, they get kudos from us.

Check out a PDF version of the brief here.