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The Bigger Picture: The Politics of Health Reform, Medicaid, and Access to Abortion

By Stephanie Poggi, National Network of Abortion Funds

August 10, 2009 - 6:00am

Health reform was supposed expand care, not exacerbate existing inequalities. Will Obama and the majority Democratic Congress preside over the biggest cutback in reproductive health care for poor women and women of color in decades?

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News & Commentary

1 Beyond Stupak: Shocking Fertility Control Provisions in Health Care Reform Legislation

By Dorothy Roberts on Nov 25, 2009 - 7:00am | comments

The Stupak furor has obscured the shocking fertility and family control provisions in current health care legislation. The House bill actually authorizes a plan to monitor the childbearing decisions and family lives of low-income women.

Proposed Abortion Law in Peru Meets Heavy Opposition

By Angela Castellanos on Nov 24, 2009 - 9:42pm | comments (1)

Revisions in Peru's Penal Code may lead to decriminalizing abortion in cases of rape or severe disability of the fetus. But conservative political and religious forces are, predictably, opposing these changes.

Bridging the Language Gap on Rights, Literally and Figuratively

By Patrick Malone on Nov 25, 2009 - 7:00am | comments

Rights advocates can forget that there is an entire world of potential allies out there we may be missing because we are not effectively communicating with them.

2 Greater Equality for India's Muslims Can Mean Greater Equality for Muslim Women

By Aziza Ahmed on Nov 24, 2009 - 7:00am | comments (1)

Muslim women in India are caught between the strictures of family and personal law and persistent discrimination against them as women from both the Indian government and society writ large.

Senate Bill More Closely Preserves Abortion Status Quo

By Jessica Arons on Nov 24, 2009 - 7:00am | comments

Opponents and supporters of women's choices in childbearing agreed early on, in theory, to maintain the “status quo” with "abortion neutral" health care legislation. The Senate bill achieves this goal; the House bill does not.

Ending the Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Infections Starts with Talking

By Amanda Marcotte on Nov 24, 2009 - 7:00am | comments (1)

An epidemic of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. disproportionately affects blacks, youth, gays and the poor. Talking openly about sex is the first step in prevention.

3 Pregnant, Jailed and Denied Care

By Amie Newman on Nov 24, 2009 - 8:00am | comments (1)

Bethany Cajúne, pregnant and in a substance abuse recovery program, was jailed for 19 days for traffic violations. But officials repeatedly denied her a drug necessary to her recovery, putting her health and the life of her fetus at risk.

Mr. Stupak: Here’s a Senate Speech You’ll Need To Hear

By Rebecca Sive on Nov 23, 2009 - 8:00am | comments (2)

No one reading this has forgotten that the House passed a healthcare “reform” bill that includes the Stupak Amendment. Here's a speech Congressman Stupak needs to hear.

Anti-choice Groups Denounce Nevada "Egg-As-Person" Amendment

By Wendy Norris on Nov 23, 2009 - 8:00am | comments (36)

In a strange twist, Nevada anti-choice groups, complaining that the wording of a "personhood" amendment to establish civil rights for fertilized eggs is too vague, are on the same side as Planned Parenthood and ACLU.

4 Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Tara Sawyer on Nov 20, 2009 - 6:59am | comments (3)

I'm a transgendered sex worker, and I want to not get killed for who I am or what I do. As our death count rises, I beg that you consider your prejudices around gender, and let us live in peace. I'm literally begging for my life.

The Real Victims of Stupak-Pitts

By Dr. Suzanne Poppema on Nov 20, 2009 - 7:00am | comments (51)

In examining rooms, we see women in terrible pain, but their suffering doesn’t count in Stupak/Pitts world. By banishing abortion from the reform bill, the amendment punishes women who need to end unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies.

Precious, Stupak, and the Erasure of Women's Lives

By Sarah Seltzer on Nov 20, 2009 - 7:00am | comments

With the Stupak amendment literally and symbolically stripping women of equal status, the movie "Precious" presents, in grim detail, the way race, class and bias render a woman's body simultaneously invisible and subject to abuse.

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Advocacy Groups Form Coalition to Stop Stupak and Pass Health Reform Legislation

Jodi Jacobson, Senior Political Editor
Nov 24 2009 - 5:41pm | comments

A broad group of advocacy organizations from the progressive and women’s health communities has formed a coalition to ensure that health care reform is passed and does not restrict women’s ability to purchase private health insurance that provides comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion.
Roundup: Stupak Dismisses Findings of Experts on Effects of Amendment

Jodi Jacobson, Senior Political Editor
Nov 24 2009 - 11:53am | comments

Cong. Stupak takes issue with the GWU analysis which found that his anti-abortion amendment to House health care legislation would have "industry-wide effects" and ultimately cause insurance companies to stop covering abortions altogether. Republican activists seek to impose "purity test" on candidates for office.
Catholics, Evangelicals Pledge to Ignore Gay Rights and Abortion Laws

John Tomasic, New Journalist Fellow
Nov 24 2009 - 11:14am | comments (29)

Human rights advocates stated that a pledge signed last Friday by religious leaders that they won’t abide by laws supporting gay marriage or abortion "perpetuates the fallacy that equality and religious liberty are incompatible and that civil rights are another burden on religious people."

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Standing Up For Women’s Rights

by LeahStern
Nov 19 2009 - 11:31pm | comments
VIDEO Take Women's Health Forward: Stop Stupak!

by PlannedParenthoodAdvocate, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
Nov 18 2009 - 5:43pm | comments
Senator Maria Cantwell: Champion for Reproductive Justice

by Alison Cole
Nov 14 2009 - 3:05pm | comments

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Transgender Day of Remembrance

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Nov 20 2009 - 11:14am | comments (1)
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