Migration Category: news-10001-15000-national

In New Hampshire, a bill requiring that women undergo a 24-hour waiting period and be given “informational materials” about the medical risks of having an abortion, alternatives to the procedure, and the fetus’ gestational age before having an abortion will return to House committee. Those found in violation of the law could be charged with a felony and receive a 15 year prison sentence. Last week, the New Hampshire House voted to pass the bill on to the state Senate but later decided to return the bill to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. A hearing is scheduled on the bill today. Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, said, “Sadly, this is a trend that has been sweeping across the states. Until now, New Hampshire had been protected from it because it had elected officials who believed that government shouldn’t interfere with private medical practice.”

Reuter’s recent review of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s internal documents reveals a close and complicated relationship between the US Catholic Church and the Komen Foundation, which both receives funding from the Catholic Church and has allocated over $17.6 million to US Catholic universities, hospitals, and charities. Reuters reports that such intense financial pressure from the Catholic Church significantly contributed to the Komen Foundation’s January decision to end its partnership with Planned Parenthood. Since 2005, the Catholic Church has vocally objected to the Komen Foundation’s relationship with Planned Parenthood and has limited donations to the Foundation in many states, including Arizona, Florida, Indiana, and Missouri. The Catholic Church’s opposition to the Komen Foundation’s link to Planned Parenthood mounted in 2011 once Cardinal Timothy Dolan became the President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. That year, Ohio bishops announced they would end statewide donations to the Komen Foundation. Although Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio were not recipients of Komen money, the Bishops expressed concerns that Church money would be sent to the Komen headquarters in Dallas and ultimately be given to Planned Parenthood. Bishops in North Dakota then followed suit in denying money to the Komen Foundation or participating in fundraisers. Despite the Catholic Bishop’s reluctance to provide grants and funding to the Komen Foundation, Catholic-affiliated institutions have continued to receive money from the Komen Foundation. In 2011 alone, Catholic institutions received $7.4 million from the Komen Foundation. By comparison, Planned Parenthood received only $684,000 from the Komen Foundation in 2011. Arthur Caplan of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania stated, “It is morally inconsistent, and difficult to explain, why you would condemn donations but continue to accept grants. It makes no ethical sense at all.” In January, the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure announced that, in accordance with its new policies, it would no longer award grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates to conduct breast cancer screenings, education, and treatment. The Komen Foundation then reversed its policy in early February, following a great public outcry from the women’s rights community.

A bill was approved by the Arizona State House last Thursday that would place further restrictions on birth control access in the state by giving employers the right to refuse coverage for contraception under their insurance. House Bill 2625 would allow employers to cite moral or religious reasons to exempt employees from birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The bill includes an exception for employees who can prove that they need contraception for a use other than pregnancy prevention, such as to treat endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome. Under the law, employees are required to pay out of pocket for contraception, and would be reimbursed only after submitting medical records to her employer to prove medical necessity. Anjali Abraham, public policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union, noted that the bill allows for the possibility of an employer to legally fire an employee who is found to be taking covered contraception as birth control. “The bill seems to have a lot more to do with attempting to limit a woman’s access to health care then freedom of religion,” Abraham said. The bill would also remove a provision in current state law that prohibits religious employers from discriminating against an employee who chooses to use contraceptives and pay for them out of pocket. The bill passed the Arizona House with a 39-18 vote and now awaits Senate approval. It could then be signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last Friday that the federal government will no longer provide funding through the Medicaid family planning program for the state of Texas. This comes after Governor Rick Perry’s decision to implement a law that would exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid women’s health program, essentially cutting any government funding to Planned Parenthood. 11 clinics in the state have had to close as a result. Officials at the Medicaid federal agency said that states are not allowed to restrict patient’s access to particular providers and still receive federal funding. Cindy Mann, a top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, stated, “Medicaid law is clear – patients, not state government officials, are able to choose the health-care providers that are best for them and their families.” The Medicaid women’s health program provides free birth control and exams to more than 130,000 women in the state. Texas will be the only state to have federal funding for this program withdrawn. Several states, however, such as Wisconsin, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Indiana, are considering similar action to Texas in cutting funding to Planned Parenthood clinics.

The Feminist Majority Foundation welcomes and is encouraged by the release by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, of advance notice of proposed rule-making on preventive services policy that would ensure employees and students at religiously affiliated institutions receive the benefits of the Affordable Care Act preventive care package, including contraceptive coverage without co-pays or deductibles. The advance notice includes a 90-day comment period for input from the public. Once again the Obama administration shows its strong support for women’s preventive health care coverage and its skill in moving forward. The Obama administration is realizing the President’s commitment that “No woman’s health should depend on who she is, or where she works, or how much money she makes.” What’s more, the Obama administration is ensuring that students at religiously affiliated institutions have insurance coverage that includes the entire preventive care package, including contraceptives, without co-pays and deductibles. The released advance rule guidelines simply implement and provide options which ensure that religiously affiliated institutions who object to this preventive care will not have to pay for it or administer it. In addition, the Obama Administration announced today that under the Affordable Care Act, student health plans will have the same protections as required for individual insurance policies, including full coverage of preventive services without co-pays or deductibles and a prohibition on lifetime limits. Ninety-nine percent of women, at some time during their lives, need access to contraceptives, but approximately half of them today cannot afford it. Now finally the vast majority of insured women will have access without co-pays or deductibles. This is a win-win solution. We are determined that political opponents of the Affordable Care Act will not take the preventive care package away from women. The Affordable Care Act is ensuring that women are not discriminated against in health care. The Affordable Care Act preventive care package now includes the following without co-pays or deductibles: approved contraceptives both for birth control and for treatment of several illnesses, as well as annual well-woman visits and cancer screenings, counseling, such as for domestic and interpersonal violence, testing for HIV and STIs, breastfeeding support, and lactation services and supplies.

After a “closed, two-day meeting,” Catholic Bishops made their top priority defeating birth control coverage in the preventive care package of the Affordable Care Act. The Bishops released a statement yesterday saying that they wanted to protect “religious freedom” and that “this dispute is not about access to contraceptives but about the governments forcing the church to provide them.” The Obama Administration, in an accommodation, however, made clear that if a religiously-affiliated institute objects, the insurance company will provide the coverage directly to the employee or student without institutional involvement. The regulation requiring birth control coverage without co-pays or deductibles as a part of the preventive care package goes into effect August 2012. Nevertheless, a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute indicated that 56 percent of people surveyed, including six in 10 Catholics, indicated that they do not believe that their religious liberty has been threatened. The study also found that “55% of Americans, including 58% of Catholics, agree that ’employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception and birth control at no cost.'” The US Conference of Catholic Bishops also announced plans to launch a broader campaign against state and local laws that they believe infringe on religious freedom, including restrictions limiting the rights of religious groups to use public schools as place of worship and those that limit religious organizations on college campuses. In August 2011, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new guidelines, developed by the Institute of Medicine, that will require private insurance plans under the Preventive Care package of the Affordable Care Act beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover without co-pays or deductibles a variety of services, such as an annual well-woman visit and cancer screenings, counseling, such as for domestic and interpersonal violence, and testing for HIV and STIs, as well as all FDA-approved contraceptives, breastfeeding support, lactation services, and supplies.

The state attorney’s office in Cecil County Maryland dismissed charges against Dr. Steven Brigham and Dr. Nicola Riley for allegedly violating the state’s fetal homicide law and killing “five viable fetuses.” This is the first time that this law was used to charge medical doctors. Dr. Steven Brigham owns clinics in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Maryland, as well as the clinic that was firebombed in Florida earlier this year. He was arrested on December 28 in New Jersey, and Dr. Riley was arrested in Salt Lake City. Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation indicated that the state’s medical licensing board should have been responsible for determining whether the doctors had provided substandard care and that the fetal homicide laws “should not be applied…in this manner.”

On Saturday, Virginia Capitol Police arrested 31 people, 17 women and 14 men, who were protesting an ultrasound bill at the state Capitol in Richmond. The protestors were among some 1,000 people gathered in opposition to the measure. Although the protestors had a permit to conduct the rally in Capitol Square, Virginia Capitol Police Captian Raymond Goodloe indicated that the protesters could not gather on the Capitol steps.

The ultrasound bill passed the Virginia General Assembly after Republican Governor Bob McDonnell submitted an amendment to the bill requiring that women undergo an external, transabdominal ultrasound, as opposed to a transvaginal ultrasound, as originally stated in the bill. Governor McDonnell is expected to sign the bill into law.

Although McDonnell initially pledged his unconditional support of the transvaginal ultrasound bill, he revised his position earlier this week, saying that he would need to review the bill before signing it. The Governor claimed that he only recently learned about the invasiveness of a transvaginal ultrasound, which requires a probe being inserted into the vagina.

Maryland became the eighth state to legalize gay marriage on Thursday as Governor Martin O’Malley signed the marriage equality bill into law. The bill, called the Civil Marriage Protection Act, was passed in the Maryland House of Delegates on February 17th by a narrow vote of 72 to 67. The Maryland Senate followed suit less than a week later. The new law will go into effect January 2013.

Before signing the bill into law, the Governor said, “For a free and diverse people, for a people of many faiths, for a people committed to the principle of religious freedom, the way forward is always found for the greater respect of the equal rights of all, for the human dignity of all.”

Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, and the District of Columbia currently allow and recognize gay marriage. Washington’s recently passed gay marriage law will go into effect this June. About 30 states have constitutional amendments that seek to prohibit same-sex marriage.

Opponents are already mobilizing against the new law in Maryland, pushing for a referendum as a way to reverse the change this fall. They will need to gather 56,000 valid signatures to put the measure on the November ballot.

Hundreds of women gathered at the Oklahoma state Capitol on Tuesday to protest a personhood bill, SB 1433, which states that life begins at conception and would give rights to a fertilized egg. The bill proposes to give “unborn children at every stage of development all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents” of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Senator Judy McIntyre (D) stated, “I was so excited about the fact that the women in Oklahoma have finally begun to wake up and fight for their rights.” The measure, introduced by Senator Brian Crain (R-Tulsa), passed in the Senate and waits approve in the House, where it is expected to be passed. The Oklahoma State Medical Association has come out against the bill since it could ban women from accessing contraception.

If passed in the Senate and signed by the Governor, the law would directly challenge the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the US and perhaps Griswold v. Connecticut, which struck down state laws banning birth control.

By a vote of 24 to 14, with all Democrats and four Republicans voting yes, the Virginia Senate voted to send a “personhood” bill back to the state Senate Health and Education committee. The bill passed out of committee this morning by a vote of eight to seven and was expected to pass the full Senate. Senator Richard Saslaw (D) filed a motion to send the bill back to committee, and Republican Tommy Norment seconded the motion. The bill will not be voted on until 2013, after the Presidential election. There is speculation that this decision was made based on input from Republican Governor Bob McDonnell. Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal stated, “This clearly shows the power of the women’s movement and that such an extreme amendment can’t stand the light of day. The strong public outpouring and silent protest Monday, the filling of the galleries Tuesday, and the rally Wednesday sent a powerful message to the Governor and the Republican leadership that this bill couldn’t be voted on before the national election.” The “personhood bill,” sponsored by Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Prince William), states that life begins at conception and would give rights to a fertilized egg. The bill proposes to give “unborn children at every stage of development all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of the Commonwealth.”

The Virginia state House of Delegates voted 63 to 36 to pass a bill requiring that women seeking abortions undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, which requires a probe being inserted into the vagina. Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) criticized the bill, saying “We’re talking about inside a woman’s body. This is the first time, if we pass this bill, that we will be dictating a medical procedure to a physician.” The House also voted down by a vote of 64 to 34 an amendment, which requires the women’s consent for the transvaginal ultrasound probe. This means a probe must be inserted into the woman’s vagina with or without her consent if she seeks an abortion. The bill will now go to the state Senate. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell indicated that he will sign the bill.

More information is forthcoming. View video of the event. You can find the press kit here: Media Advisory AU Students for Choice Press Release Catholic Students for Women’s Health Press Release Catholic University Students Press Release George Washington University Students Press Release Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice Hoyas for Choice Press Release Joint Statement from Faith Groups Public Religion Research Institute Survey Raising Women’s Voices Blog Post

Students spoke out today in favor of birth control access on college campuses in response to pressure from Catholic bishops to restrict contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Students from Catholic University of America, Georgetown University, Georgetown Law School, American University, and Fordham University spoke at the press conference this morning in Washington, D.C. in support of the Obama administration’s inclusion of birth control coverage without co-pays and deductibles under the ACA. Recognizing that the debate has largely excluded the voices of young women, the very people most affected by this inclusion, the students spoke about their own personal stories and how important it is to them and the women on their campus to have full and equal access to women’s health services. Students pledged to continue organizing around birth control access on their campuses with petition drives and a Valentine’s Day campaign targeting Congress. “We will not back down because we believe that the religious freedom of individual Catholics and students, no matter what their faith, and the need for comprehensive women’s healthcare must take priority to the demands of the Catholic Bishops,” said Callie Otto, of Catholic University. Sandra Fluke, of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, stated, “At Georgetown Law, I and other women have struggled with a lack of contraceptive coverage that causes financial, medical, and emotional burdens. Unable to afford the $3,000 this costs students over their law school tenure, some women have gone without contraception, risking pregnancy and avoidable abortions. Others have spent hours in clinics, missing class, trying to find affordable birth control. In the worst cases, women who needed this medication for other medical reasons have suffered dire consequences. Just one example of many is a friend of mine. Her inability to access these prescriptions caused the loss of her ovary. These burdens are not shared by our male student colleagues.” Under the Preventive Care package of the ACA, all FDA-approved contraceptives will be covered without co-pays or deductibles, as will a variety of other health services, such as annual well-woman visits, cancer screenings, counseling, such as for domestic and interpersonal violence, and testing for HIV and STIs. The Obama administration has exempted from birth control coverage employers at some 335,000 houses of worship. Despite pressure from Catholic Bishops to expand the religious exemptions, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in January that employees and students at religiously-affiliated institutions would have access to complete birth control coverage.

Late last week, a bill that would enable state-funded private adoption agencies in Virginia to refuse placements on the basis of their religious or moral beliefs, including banning placements with same-sex couples passed the state House of Delegates by a vote of 71 to 28. The Virginia Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee also endorse the bill, and it is likely to appear on the state Senate floor for a vote this week. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell indicated that he would sign the bill, if it is passed by the Republican-controlled Senate. Leslie Cooper, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), stated, “It’s a license for child welfare agencies to make bad decisions based on their own religious beliefs rather than the child’s needs.” Senator Mark Herring (D-Loudoun) criticized the bill on the grounds that the private agencies contract with the state government and thus as recipients of state funding, should not be permitted to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) added, “I will listen to the arguments and try to understand what the rationale behind it is…but I’m not include to support discrimination or use of tax dollars to support discrimination.” If the bill becomes law, Virginia would be the second state, following North Dakota, to allow private agencies to refuse placements on the basis sexual orientation.

The US Departments of Labor and the Treasury announced, following the President’s State of the Union Address, two executive actions to help Americans save for retirement and to plan for longevity, as well as to increase transparency regarding their 401K plan options. According to the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, the executive actions are particularly important for women, who tend to live longer than men and thus need greater savings. The executive actions will revise a previous regulation to allow Americans to consider partial annuities, “which allow retirees to receive a steady stream of income for the duration of their lifetimes while also keeping a portion of their savings invested in assets with the flexibility to respond to liquidity needs.” The executive actions will also clarify lifetime income option policies for employees and their spouses. As a result of the first ruling, employees could obtain a low-cost annuity from their employer’s pension plan using a single-sum 401K payout. The second ruling will allow employers to give their employees the option of using their 401K savings “to purchase deferred annuities and still satisfy spousal protection rules with minimal administrative burdens.” Treasurer Secretary Tim Geithner stated, “When American workers take the responsible step of saving for retirement, we should do all we can to provide them with sensible, accessible choices for managing their hard-earned savings. Having the ability to choose from expanded options will help retirees and their families achieve greater value and security.” US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis added, “This common sense rule greatly benefits employers by enhancing the information service providers must disclose to them about the costs associated with providing workplace retirement plans. This rule, and its companion participant-level fee disclosure rule, bring transparency to retirement saving. The rules will enable businesses that sponsor retirement plans, and the workers who participate in the plans, to make better decisions about those plans, the fees they pay, and their investments, leading to cost savings for retirement savers nationwide.”

A coalition of women’s rights leaders has launched a bipartisan campaign to double the number of women elected to the highest levels of government by 2020. Political Parity held a press conference on January 19th to announce the initiative chaired by Swanee Hunt and Kerry Healey. Healey dubbed the campaign a “grand experiment”. Speaking at the Round Table was Mary Hughes of the 2012 Project, Tiffany Dufu of the White House Project, congressional staffer Tara Setmayer, Debbie Walsh of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), and Sam Bennett of the Women’s Campaign Fund. The panelists spoke to increasing the overall number of female elected officials over the next ten years by encouraging women to run for public office and by using research to further women’s campaigns. The group intends to turn 2012 into a new ‘Year of Women’. The original “Year of Women” occurred in 1992 when women were elected to office in vast numbers. Currently, women comprise only 17% of Congress. Bennett declared that “Political Parity is today’s Seneca Falls” and will work across party lines to promote women’s political campaigns.

The Silver Ribbon Trust Women Campaign, a coalition of 42 local and national pro-choice organizations, has declared January 20-27 Trust Women Week to celebrate and commemorate the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The Silver Ribbon Campaign this year has organized a virtual online march in partnership with moveon.org to organize the pro-choice community around support for reproductive health and rights. So far there are close to 68,000 and counting participants in the march. The organizers of the march have declared it a “super-petition” for reproductive rights. Participants who sign up will be able to write a message to voice their support for reproductive rights. The messages will then appear on the national virtual map. Visit Trust Women Week march to participate.

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services announced today the Obama Administration will not broaden the religious exemption for contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of the Affordable Care Act. This request, primarily by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, would have denied millions of American women contraceptive coverage, including students, teachers, nurses, social workers, and other staff (and their families) at religiously-connected or associated schools, universities, and hospitals, as well as institutions, such as Catholic Charities. Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, stated, “This is a landmark victory for the health of young women. We applaud this decision for women by Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration. Birth control is the number one prescription drug for women ages 18 to 44 years. Right now, the average woman has to pay $50 per month for 30 years for birth control. No wonder many low income women have had to forgo regular use of birth control and half of US pregnancies are unplanned. This decision will help millions of women and their families.” Employer insurance plans must cover FDA approved birth control with no co-pays or deductibles starting August 2012. Non-profit religious institutions employer plans, under this new rule, that do not currently cover contraception must do so with no copays or deductibles beginning August 2013. Those non-profit religiously affiliated institutions that currently cover birth control, however, must offer it without copays or deductibles by August 2012. Moreover, student insurance plans at religiously affiliated universities must cover contraception with no co-pays or deductibles beginning August 2012. Only women who work directly for a house of worship, such as for a church, synagogue, or mosque itself, are exempted from this required coverage. Women’s rights and pro-choice groups, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the National Women’s Law Center, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and NARAL Pro-Choice America, urged the Obama Administration not to consider the broader religious exemption. In August 2011, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new guidelines, developed by the Institute of Medicine, that will require private insurance plans under the Preventive Care package of the Affordable Care Act beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover without co-pays or deductibles a variety of services, such as an annual well-woman visit and cancer screenings, counseling, such as for domestic and interpersonal violence, and testing for HIV and STIs, as well as all FDA-approved contraceptives, breastfeeding support, lactation services, and supplies.

Operation Rescue, an extremist anti-abortion group, has launched a website – abortiondocs.org – which lists the photographs and addresses of abortion providers, as well as maps to find their places of business. The website, which describes itself as the “largest collection of documents on America’s abortion cartel,” aims to list every abortion provider in the country. Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and co-founder of the National Clinic Access Project, stated, “What causes us real concern is fear of where this could be headed. It opens the possibility that some so-called ‘grass-roots activist,’ who does believe in the use of violence, will be able to use this as a tool for stalking doctors, which has happened.” Rachel Maddow remarked on her show on MSNBC last night that website is Operation Rescue’s attempt to take individual WANTED posters, which she described as “a tried and true means of intimidation for the anti-abortion movement,” to a national level through the web. She stated, this is “an extremist movement with a history of violence taking something that is arguably criminal and trying to make it more mainstream and national.”