Repro Health Hub

While 3.5 million pregnancies are among women ages 19–29 and one-third of all HIV diagnoses are made among young adults, many people in this age group are uninsured and lack regular health care.

According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, 13.7 million young adults, ages 19–29 were uninsured in 2006, an increase from 13.3 million in 2005. What’s even worse is that low-income young adults, especially young adults of color, are disproportionately uninsured. 53 percent of Hispanics and 36 of African Americans in this age group lack insurance, compared to 23 percent of whites.

Many young adults go without coverage because they lose it as soon as they graduate from college. In the year following their undergraduate graduation, 34 percent are uninsured at least part of the time. Those who do not wish to further their education after high school are also cut from their health care policies. 60 percent of young adults who do not enroll in college full-time lose coverage under a parent’s policy around the age of 18. To avoid becoming uninsured, some graduates resort to creative methods. According to a Wall Street Journal article, one college grad enrolled in an online university simply so he could stay on his parent’s insurance plan as a student.

What’s most upsetting about this data is that young adults, and particularly young women, are left without coverage to receive regular preventative and reproductive health care. Having no insurance, young adults are either burdened with the costs of health care or forced to go without. More than 60 percent of uninsured young adults opted out of getting health care they needed in the past year due to high costs. This includes failing to fill prescriptions, skipping treatments, and avoiding the doctor all together. Presumed to be a strong, vital source of life, young adults are becoming a larger demographic within the uninsured, overlooked as a group of people that both need and deserve good health care.

By Samantha Hurley

Since the spring of 2007, women of New Orleans have had a new place to access much- needed, affordable women’s health services. The New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic (NOWHC), a project of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence New Orleans, opened its doors in May of 2007 with the mission:

“To equip marginalized and underserved women with the means to control and care for their own bodies, sexuality and reproduction through a holistic, community-centered well women approach to healthcare which integrates sexual health and reproductive justice.”

Their opening came in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which left many previously marginalized and underserved women with even less access to basic women’s health services. Not surprisingly, recovery efforts have been slow (one year after the storm, all the public family planning and STD clinics remained closed leaving 15,000 without care). However, the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic has been proactive—not waiting for a previously lacking healthcare infrastructure to be rebuilt. 

Instead, they are challenging the accepted norms of sub-par care and offering an alternative comprehensive model of care to the women of New Orleans, regardless of their ability to pay. Since opening less than two years ago, NOWHC has served over 350 clients, offering a sliding scale for services through their Women’s Health Fund. The sliding scale at NOWHC puts health services within the reach of many women who otherwise could not afford them. Currently NOWHC offers a range of women’s health services including pap smears, pelvic exams, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy testing, preliminary obstetric visits, and contraceptive services. Recent partnerships with the Latino Health Outreach Project and CAMP ACE have also allowed for Spanish language services as well as free HIV testing at the clinic on a weekly basis.  

In addition to the health services offered, NOWHC is more than a place to access affordable care. As Shana Griffin, organizer with INCITE! New Orleans explained in an August 2006 interview:

“It’s more than providing healthcare services it’s also about challenging the conditions that limit our access and our opportunities, such as poverty, racism, gender-based violence, imperialism, and war. We see it as more than just a clinic, we want it to also be an organizing center that can meet immediate needs while also working for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice.”

If you’re interested in advancing the goals and efforts of NOWHC, send an email to nowhc_info@yahoo.com for more information on ways you can help. 

Don’t have plans the first weekend of April? Craving some inspiring talk about reproductive and social justice? Then you should take a trip to Amherst, Massachusetts! Hampshire College (haven for the free spirited, pro-active and socially conscious) is hosting a free weekend conference called From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom.  

The event is part of a project by the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, “a reproductive rights organization that trains, educates, and inspires new leaders, organizers, and supporters nationwide.” The action-packed weekend will be full of great opportunities to participate in workshops, hear some great musical performances, and listen to some awesome discussions about reproductive freedom in the context of other social issues such as racial equality, health care reform, economic justice, and LGBTQ rights (to name a few!).  

From Abortion Rights to Social Justice:
Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom
April 4-6, 2008
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 

 It’s free, so register now!

 With so much positive and progressive work going on around the country, those of us at the Repro Health Hub would like to take a moment out of each week to give the spotlight to some of the awesome organizations that are working hard to promote equality and reproductive health, rights and justice by initiating our Hero of the Week!   Without further ado, our first Hero of the Week is (drumroll please!)… 

The Pro-Choice Public Education Project!   Based out of  New York City, the project is an empowering resource for young women looking to develop their leadership skills and become more active in the promotion of reproductive justice. Just check out their mission statement: 

To educate young women and the organizations that serve them about reproductive health, rights, and justice in order to develop a new generation of leaders. 

Aside from leadership development and effective pro-choice campaigning, the Public Education Project (PEP) also conducts research initiatives in reproductive health. Their latest undertaking (which comes out this spring! We can’t wait!) will focus on African-American,  Latina, and Asian Pacific Islander women and provide a quantitative study on these populations’ perspectives regarding reproductive health, rights, and activism.  Be sure to check out their website for volunteer opportunities near you or to download some of their great campaign material! 

A big cheers and thanks from your friends here at the Repro Health Hub!

With the 35^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade just a week behind us, abortion opponents in West Virginia are already gearing up for the 2008 legislative season. Among their top priorities: limiting Medicaid funding for abortions.  

If passed, this bill (HB 3077) would limit Medicaid funding for abortions, allowing such funding only in those exceptions that the federal government has permitted through the Hyde Amendment (in cases of incest, rape, or when the mother’s life is endangered). In the 30 years since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, only 17 states have elected to provide additional financial assistance to low-income women through Medicaid, with West Virginia among this small and possibly shrinking minority.  

WV reproductive rights activists, however, are not letting this regressive proposal go unchallenged. WV FREE, a local non-profit supporting reproductive rights, has called on West Virginians to join together as a united voice for reproductive rights on their upcoming Lobby Day (February 28). To further this end, WV FREE has issued a set of talking points to address HB 3077. Of notable significance within these talking points is the reference to Women’s Health Center v. Panepinto, a 1993 case that found limiting abortion funds for poor and low-income women to be unconstitutional. And contrary to what abortion foes might argue, this type of funding has not caused the abortion rate to increase in the state. In fact, consistent with the national trend, the abortion rate has been on the decline in West Virginia since 1990.  

This recent decline, coupled with the previous ruling of unconstitutionality, should serve as sufficient proof that this type of legislation is unnecessary and discriminatory.  

- Michelle Martelle

Members of the Hyde 30 Years is Enough Campaign delivered thousands of petition signatures to Congress today asking for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment!

 The Hyde Amendment, as many of you know, is an egregious policy that prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the woman. This horrific policy has left many women without access to needed care. 

The Hyde 30 Years is Enough Coalition, spearheaded by the National Network of Abortion Funds, is working to change this policy. As part of a multi-pronged approach that demonstrates its grassroots support across the country, the campaign gathered over 12,500 petition signatures calling on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Activists from the coalition brought the petitions to Congress today and delivered their important message that indeed, 30 years is enough! 

For more information about the coalition and how to get involved, check out their website.     

- Myra Batchelder 

It looks like Iowa has been in dire need of reproductive health services, until now.  Here’s a few not-so-fun facts about Iowa’s report card on repro health:

• Iowa ranks 48th in the nation in making family planning services available
• It ranks 39th in its public funding for family planning
• More than half of Iowa’s counties do not have family planning services.
• Half of all pregnancies in Iowa in 2006 were unintended.

In short, Iowa is not on the top list of family planning provider states. But something is finally being done about it, thanks to former first lady Christie Vilsack, whose determination has resulted in the recent launch of the Iowa Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies.

The organization’s goal is to broaden family planning services to the people who need them, and disseminate information to Iowans about contraception and family planning through public education outreach.

“As a woman and a mother, I believe we have a responsbility to give all women in our state the knowledge  and means to prevent unintended pregnancies,” says Vilsack. “Access in family planning results in better lives for women, children and families and the greater Iowa community.”

Amen. The best of luck to Vilsack and the Iowa Initiative! Click here for more info on this fantastic (and much-needed) project.  

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.

Abortion is still legal in the U.S., but every year thousands of women are denied this right because they don’t have the money to pay for abortion care.  

Women face this difficult situation because in 1976 Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which excludes abortion from government-funded health care programs. Every year since, this harmful amendment has been reauthorized under appropriations bills for the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Women enrolled in Medicaid and similar programs receive coverage for all medically necessary health care services, including prenatal care, labor, and delivery. However, as a result of the Hyde Amendment, a woman enrolled in Medicaid is denied coverage for an abortion, unless she is the victim of rape, incest, or her life is in danger.  

As a result, many low-income women are forced to use money they need for food, rent, and other necessities, to cover the cost of an abortion. Many women cannot raise enough money and must continue the pregnancy and stay trapped in poverty. 

How much “choice” do these women actually have if they aren’t able to access abortion? We urge you to take action to repeal the Hyde Amendment! Below are several steps to take action in your state. 

1.) We urge you to join the Hyde – 30 Years is Enough! Campaign, led by the National Network of Abortion Funds, demanding an end to this injustice!  Sign the petition calling on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment and restore coverage of abortion for low-income women.  The goal of the Campaign is to collect 20,000 signatures to deliver to Congress by January 22, 2008. With your help we can meet this goal!  

2.) Email, write or call your Congressional members directly asking them to repeal the dangerous Hyde amendment! Find your members online at http://www.congress.org.  

3.) States have the ability to use state-only dollars to cover additional abortion services. Currently, only seventeen states provide this coverage (Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia). If your state is not listed, contact your state legislators and ask them to provide this much needed coverage! 

For more information about low-income women and access to reproductive health care, check out the National Institute’s Low-Income Access Program.

- Myra Batchelder