What We're Reading - June 18
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Good morning, everyone, and Happy Monday! Romney’s bus tour continues — having already stopped in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — and women have been watching him at every turn! Check out some of the coverage from the first stop in New Hampshire. Here’s what else is happening this morning…
A new sweeping abortion bill passed the State House in Michigan late last week. “Michigan’s Attack on Women’s Rights” – “Even at a time when extreme attacks on women’s reproductive rights and freedom are nothing unusual, a sweeping measure on a fast track in Michigan’s Republican-led State Legislature stands out. The legislation, which cleared the State House of Representatives on Wednesday, contains several constitutionally questionable restrictions that add up to an egregious assault on safe abortion care and on the clinics that provide it. One portion of the extreme legislation seeks to shrink access to abortion care by imposing costly and unnecessary space and other requirements on all clinics that provide six or more abortions a month. Under the bill’s terms, clinics would need to be licensed as surgical centers even if they offer only medicine-based abortions that entail handing out pills and do not perform surgery. Other provisions would forbid health care providers from following the most up-to-date medical protocol for the use of abortion-inducing drugs, which is preferred because it minimizes both side effects and costs. The measure would also bar the use of videoconferences with doctors supervising medicine-based abortions.”
The uproar over women’s health and the birth control benefit is growing among Catholic groups. “Catholic Health Association Rejects Obama's Birth Control Compromise” – “(RNS) In an unexpected blow to the Obama administration and a major boon for America's Catholic bishops, the influential Catholic Health Association on Friday (June 15) rejected White House proposals aimed at easing faith-based objections to the contraception mandate. ‘The more we learn, the more it appears that the ... approaches for both insured and self-insured plans would be unduly cumbersome and would be unlikely to adequately meet the religious liberty concerns of all of our members and other Church ministries,’ Sister Carol Keehan and leaders of the CHA said in a five-page response to the Department of Health and Human Services. Keehan, a crucial ally of the Obama administration in passing health care reform in 2009, had initially sounded a positive note about the administration's proposals in February and again in March that sought to address a wave of bad publicity by accommodating religious concerns about the mandate. The mandate requires that all employee health insurance plans must provide no-cost birth control coverage to employees, and it grants what many consider an unacceptably narrow exemption for religious groups.”
Mayors reaffirm their support of women’s health. “U.S. Conference Of Mayors Passes Pro-Choice Resolution” – “The U.S. Conference of Mayors, a non-partisan organization made up of representatives from about 1,200 cities across the country, voted on Saturday to pass a resolution in support of women's reproductive rights and funding for Planned Parenthood. The resolution outlines the numerous efforts by state and federal lawmakers over the past several years to restrict women's access to abortion and family planning services, including attempts to mandate ultrasounds before abortions, defund Title X and Planned Parenthood, ban abortions after 20 weeks, jeopardize access to birth control, compel the Internal Revenue Service to audit rape survivors who have abortions and allow hospitals to refuse emergency abortion care to women. The mayors promise to fight back against these efforts in the future and speak out on behalf of their female constituents. The resolution ‘affirms the importance of women’s reproductive rights’ and ‘urges Congress and the states to pursue a positive agenda that reaffirms fundamental rights and improves women’s access to safe and comprehensive reproductive-health care.’ Some of its leading sponsors include Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Ed Lee of San Francisco, Mike McGinn of Seattle, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Pedro Segarra of Hartford, Conn. and Sam Adams of Portland, Ore.”
