Author: Choicematters

The Tea Party Congressional Reps Attack Women, Seniors and the Poor ALL in One Go!

On Friday, Tea Party favorite Republican Rep. of Wisconsin Paul D. Ryan’s budget was passed by a vote of 235 to 193. All Democrats and seven Republicans voted against it.

This budget attacks Medicare programs that serve those 65 and older, Medicaid health programs for the poor, and any funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X–WHILE CUTTING CORPORATE AND PERSONAL INCOME TAX RATES!

Clearly it was not enough to hit the poor with the Hyde Amendment and the slashing of funds to DC City residents, now they have to attack Planned Parenthood by cutting all of their funding.  Perhaps these extremists relish the idea of the poor not being able to get cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control.

This Tea Party-controlled Congress is showing the world that Social Darwinism rules. They are targeting the most vulnerable–the elderly, the poor, and women–while empowering corporations and the most wealthy.

Read more in The New York Times

New York’s Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Joins Forces with Other Female Senators to Protect Women’s Health

And They Say it Soooo Well!

GILLIBRAND, SENATE DEMOCRATIC WOMEN CALL ON REPUBLICANS TO END CONTINUED ASSAULT ON WOMEN’S HEALTH

Washington, DC—Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, together with Senate Democratic women, urged their Republican colleagues to vote against the upcoming resolutions that would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and roll back health care reform, and to end a continued legislative assault on women’s health care options. The Senators highlighted the devastating impacts these resolutions would have on women and families across the country.

“The election last November was not a mandate for any one political party or ideology,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). “It was a mandate for action – for solutions that will create jobs and get our country going again.  But what are the House Republicans focused on? Not creating jobs. Not growing our economy – but an assault on the rights of women, and health services for millions of American families. These votes to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal health care reform show a disregard for women. If Republicans continue their anti-woman agenda, they will continue to find a fight in the Senate.”

“Even though the Republicans want to take women back to the Dark Ages, we will not go,” Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) said. “We will fight them with every legislative tool at our disposal. Make no mistake: This entire process has not been about reducing the debt or the deficit – it’s been about reducing opportunity. The major constituencies that bear this burden are the women and children”

“I am proud to stand here with my Democratic women colleagues to send the message that we are not going to allow women to be thrown under the bus in this – or any other – budget debate,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). “As a woman and a mother, I am angry that women’s health care is even up for debate right now. I truly hope that once we win these votes and put the issues behind us, Republicans stop playing ideological political games, and work with us in good faith on the serious issues facing our country.”

“This is simply an opportunity for the right wing to turn back the clock and really sock it to American women,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). “To be clear, to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood is to stop providing critical health care to millions of American women, the majority of whom are poor and cannot afford the range of preventative health services provided in California and around the country.”

“While claiming to be focused solely on deficit reduction, Republicans have been pushing an extreme ideological agenda that threatens the health and lives of American women,” said Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), We will continue to stand up for the millions of women and families who rely on these preventive and life-saving health care services.”

“While our budget hangs in the balance, Republicans have chosen to wage a war on women’s health, and we are the last line of defense,” said Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). “We should not be diverted by an extremist social agenda not supported by the majority of Americans. Let’s get back to putting Americans back to work, creating new jobs, and moving our economy forward.”

“Votes on unrelated political issues are a distraction from the real debate over the budget, which itself is a distraction from what we should be talking about–creating jobs,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). “It’s very troubling that a vote to cut cancer screenings and routine care for women was what the Republicans demanded in exchange for not shutting down the government.”

“Just days after a bipartisan budget agreement, I am frustrated that the Senate will spend valuable time on a partisan measure that threatens to take away vital health services for millions of vulnerable American women,” Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) said. “Last year, North Carolina Planned Parenthood facilities performed more than 11,000 breast and cervical cancer screenings and 18,000 STD tests for women who could not otherwise afford these services. I hope my colleagues will stop playing political Russian Roulette with women’s health services and instead focus on a bipartisan, comprehensive plan to reduce our long-term debt.”

“In some parts of New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of preventive health care services to low-income women,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). “It’s going to be far worse for patients and more expensive for the government if we eliminate this funding.” (Press Release Issued 4/13/11)

Congress Trades Away DC Women’s Reproductive Rights (sounds like a slavery-like deal to me)

To avoid a government shutdown, our Congressional representatives agreed to deprive Washington DC women of city monies to fund abortion. Had it not been for the DC mayor and certain city council reps, this atrocity would never have come to light.

When all reproductive rights’ eyes were on the funding of Title X and Planned Parenthood, Congress pulled a fast one.  They included in the budget agreement a prohibition of the use of City funds–not Federal funds–but DC’s own money to pay for abortion.

DC residents did not have a problem with this allocation of funds.  The clear majority of the population support their mayor and his budget that respects the needs of the poor.

Because DC has special standing as a non-state, Congress could do this. DC women were the proverbial sacrificial lamb.

Only because the Mayor Vincent Gray of DC and six City Council people including the Chair demonstrated and were arrested did this horrific agreement ever get the attention of the media.

As Gray said so well, “If this isn’t taxation without representation, I don’t know what is!”

Anti-Choicers Stop At Nothing – Fool Washington Post to Promote Their Agenda

“Anti-Abortion Sting Video Fools Washington Post, No One Else” (from Forbes.com)

“The conservative “gotcha” video* whose claims fall apart upon close inspection is fast becoming a well-established trope. So perhaps it’s a sign of learning that the latest entry in the genre, which “exposes” the lack of mammogram services at most Planned Parenthood clinics, only snookered one mainstream media outlet: the Washington Post.

The video is the work of the Live Action, an anti-abortion group that has been lobbying fervently in support of a Republican-led effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Live Action’s founder, Lila Rose, is an activist-provocateur in the mold of James O’Keefe, he of the ACORN and NPR stings.

In the video, Live Action’s agent calls various Planned Parenthood clinics and attempts to schedule a mammogram, only to be told time and again that they’re not available. “[C]ontrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and other supporters of the nation’s largest abortion chain, the organization does not provide mammograms for women,” declares the group — proof, it says, that Planned Parenthood’s claims to provide comprehensive reproductive health services are hollow.

The only problem is there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that anyone in an official capacity at Planned Parenthood has ever claimed the organization does provide mammograms at its clinics — only that it conducts breast cancer screenings and refers patients needing mammograms to facilities where they can get them.

Live Action’s video shows Richards, during an appearance on HLN’s “Joy Behar Show,” saying that a bill before congress, H.R. 1, would cause “millions of women” to lose their access to “basic family planning — you know, mammograms, cancer screenings, cervical cancer [screenings].” That’s a solid assertion: H.R. 1 would have defunded President Obama’s healthcare bill, which, among other things, provides insurance coverage for preventive care for women.

I searched through Factiva looking for examples of anyone from Planned Parenthood claiming its clinics offer mammograms and found nothing. I emailed and called Live Action to ask if it can cite any such instances; I’ve yet to hear back. So it’s a non-story: Party A proves Party B doesn’t provide thing Party B never claimed to provide. Doubtless that’s why The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other major outlets gave the whole thing a pass, leaving the usual right-wing outlets — Fox News’s Sean Hannity, the Washington Times, etc. — to crow about it to each other, and the liberal watchdog group Media Matters to pick it apart.

Yet somehow the Washington Post got pulled in sans skepticism, running a story on page A4 headlined “Planned Parenthood Challenged on Purported Mammogram Claim.” What, you may wonder, is a “purported” claim? Surely in this era of 360 degree media, any claim made in public must yield a digital paper trail? Why not, then, save the reader the work of figuring out whether that “purported” claim was ever made, and save the copy desk the extra headline space?

I asked the Post’s reporter, Rob Stein, those questions and whether, in effect, he’d been duped into treating a lazy piece of propaganda as news. “I’d prefer to let the story speak for itself,” he told me.

If only it did.”

Top 3 Reasons To Demand Rep Nan Hayworth Recuse Herself!

Rep Nan Hayworth’s Conflict of Interest

If you believe earmarks are bad because they use tax payer dollars to indirectly feed a Congressional representative’s campaign coffers and to generate votes, then you must believe congressional votes cast to directly fuel a congresswoman’s own personal bank account are horrifically bad…maybe even criminal.

That’s exactly what it seems newly elected Republican Rep Nan Hayworth (NY– 19 CD) is doing.

Hayworth is apparently voting in such a way, on specific issues, that directly benefits her own personal financial bottom line, and her husband’s career as the head of a major health care lobbying organization.

Let me explain: Every time Rep Nan Hayworth votes on any aspect of health care that is exactly what she is doing!

Why? Because:
Reason #1:      Nan Hayworth is a founding partner of the huge, thriving Mount Kisco Medical Group which is a 235-physician multispecialty medical group;

Reason #2:      Hayworth’s husband, Scott, is also a founding partner and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Kisco Medical Group;

Reason #3:   Husband Scott is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Group Association, “AMGA’  (perhaps so named as to be easily confused with the AMA, the American Medical Association…) In other words, he is the head guy at a major lobbying organization that-surprise-lobbies on health care.

The American Medical Group Association provides “a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy [code for lobbying],…”AMGA “promote[s] policymakers’ and lawmakers’ awareness…”

“Through our efforts, members are assured that their interests are represented before many audiences, including Congress and federal agencies, in addition to other healthcare organizations and interest groups.”　These are direct quotations from the AMGA website, with italics added.

Translation: Nan Hayworth’s husband is the head lobbyist who has personal access to a congresswoman—his wife—on issues that directly benefit their/her pocketbook.

He’s not just making money for them as a lobbyist.
She—Rep Nan Hayworth—is making money for them personally each time…

***She votes for the Pence bill to cut all funding to Planned Parenthood and all of their cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control and more;

***She votes to cut all Title X funding and thus the family planning services provided to approximately five million women and men;

***She votes to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Those patients have to go somewhere…maybe to one of the more than 113,000 physicians who practice in AMGA member organizations or…to the Hayworth’s very own Mount Kisco Medical Group.

Hayworth keeps proving her husband’s power as a lobbyist and her ability as a founding partner to keep bringing money home, literally.

This must be illegal….no?

“GOP Bill Would Force IRS to Conduct Abortion Audits”

Stop The Insanity! This Extremist Anti-Choice Congress Wants the IRS to Audit Abortions.

Anti-Choice Extremists, led by Republican House Rep. Pitts, want to pass H.R. 3–the Stupak Amendment on Steroids–so the IRS can audit abortions.

They don’t care about jobs. They Only Want to Continue On-going Attacks Against Women!

These zealots want to subject rape and incest victims to audits if they choose abortion.

If Pitts‘ bill H.R.3, becomes law it could prohibit using tax benefits such as credits or deductions to pay for an abortion or health insurance that includes abortion coverage.

In enforcing H.R. 3, the IRS could make a woman relive the horrid experience by requiring that she describe her sexual assault that she already told the police again to an agent from the IRS.

Read more from Mother Jones, click here: “Were you raped? Was it incest? And other questions the government’s tax cops would have to ask women who’ve terminated pregnancies.”

 

If Pitts‘ bill H.R.3, becomes law it could prohibit using tax benefits such as credits or deductions to pay for an abortion or health insurance that includes abortion coverage.

In enforcing H.R. 3, the IRS could make a woman relive the horrid experience by requiring that she describe her sexual assault that she already told the police again to an agent from the IRS.

Alert White Plains: Special Election March 31st – Right to Life Candidate Targets Mayor’s Job!

ALERT!
SPECIAL ELECTION
THURSDAY, MARCH 31ST !

If you live in the
City of White Plains
and
you care about
Choice, Women, Children, and Families
YOU NEED TO KNOW

Tom Roach is the good guy running for Mayor of White Plains in a Special Election being held on March 31, 2011. He is running on the Democratic, Working Families, and Independence party lines.

Former President of the City Council, and, now, acting Mayor of White Plains,Tom Roach is a 100% pro-choice advocate who will protect our women, children, and families.

Roach understands the importance of our clinics, childcare, health centers, and the importance of protecting access to our reproductive health care centers.

His opponent, Bob Hyland, has a history of being endorsed by the Right to Life party. A high profile former football player and sports bar owner, Hyland has no experience in elected office. His claim to fame is that in 1988 he tried to register to vote as a member of both the Republican and Right to Life parties.

According to the anti-choice zealot website LifeNet, Hyland has a record of helping the [Right to Life] cause.

Astorino, His Puppets & Imitators, & Washington Extremism
What is going on in Washington DC, brought on by the anti-choice zealots empowered by the Republican win last November, can happen here in Westchester County and in its towns and cities like the County’s capital–White Plains.

Westchester’s Right to Life County Executive Rob Astorino is a rabid extremist, yanking funding away from working women and their children.  This is a man whose budget shows he only cares about those who vote for him. The rest of us–especially the working poor–are being thrown under the bus so that he can claim to meet budget promises. Trust me when I say we will all pay later in tax dollars for Astorino’s stunts.

Hyland is an Astorino impersonator who will do to White Plains what Astorino is hard at work trying to do to the County!

Tom Roach stands with Governor Cuomo
for Women’s Reproductive Rights!


The Message Here:

VOTE FOR TOM ROACH

THURSDAY, MARCH 31st!
Special Elections have a very low turnout because few people realize the election is occurring.
Thus your vote will have a multi-fold impact!
TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE
TOM ROACH!

Pssst-Pass it On: University of Vermont Students Oppose the Pence Amendment!

Students at the University of Vermont Show They are Willing to Fight for What is Important–Women’s Health!

On February 25, 2011,  Senator Lederer-Plaskett  and Speaker of the Senate Chevrier sponsored a resolution in opposition to the Pence Amendment. 

They used the attached PowerPoint presentation to help make their argument. Click to view: PPHPWPT 

An overwhelming majority of the Student Government Senate then voted in support of the resolution.

Knowing the power of the vote, the University of Vermont Student Government Association will send the resolution to Vermont’s U.S. Senators, Patrick Leahy and Bernard Sanders, urging them to vote ‘nay’ on the Pence Amendment, in an effort to protect the health and well being of all Vermont Residents, including students at the University of Vermont.

Pass this on to the students you know. They can join forces with students at the University of Vermont and around the country.

Below is the text of the resolution:

Resolution in Opposition to the Pence Amendment

Whereas, the Pence Amendment and Proposed Budget Cuts passed the U.S. House of Representatives on February 17, 2011,

Whereas, the Pence Amendment and Proposed Budget Cuts will end all Federal Funding for Planned Parenthood and 102 affiliated organizations

Whereas, the current federal funding makes up approximately 37% of Planned Parenthood’s annual budget[1],

Whereas, Planned Parenthood provides life-saving cancer screenings and pap smears, STI and HIV Testing, and distributes Contraception and information about Family Planning free of charge[2],

Whereas, Planned Parenthood provides free health care services to those who cannot afford them,

Whereas, Planned Parenthood maintains that if the Pence Amendment passed in the Senate, 48% of their patients would be unable to utilize Planned Parenthood’s services and therefore would have no way of accessing their chosen form of health care[3],

Whereas, the Hyde Amendment prohibits any federal funding for abortion, excluding abortions due to rape or incest, or a threat to the life of the woman, eliminating the possibility of federal funding for Planned Parenthood from being used to fund abortion procedures[4],

Whereas, without Federal Funding Planned Parenthood would be unable to provide much needed services and would be forced to close as many as eight hundred clinics[5],

Whereas, Planned Parenthood serves 3 million Americans, and 21,000 Vermonters annually[6],

Whereas, the University of Vermont Student Government Association believes that the budget cuts to Planned Parenthood would have an extremely detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of the UVM Student Body and the United States as a whole,

Be It Resolved that the University of Vermont Student Government Association demands the continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood and other Women’s Health Organizations,

Be it Further Resolved that the University of Vermont Student Government Association urges its U.S. Senators, Patrick Leahy and Bernard Sanders, to vote ‘nay’ on the Pence Amendment, in an effort to protect the health and wellbeing of all Vermont Residents, including students at the University of Vermont.

[1] http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/Pence_Fact_021111_vF.pdf

[2] http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

[3] http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/Pence_Fact_021111_vF.pdf

[4] http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/the-abortion-issue/

[5] http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/Pence_Fact_021111_vF.pdf

[6] Ibid

Save The Date – Sunday, April 10th – A Forum on Women’s Reproductive Health & the Role of Government

Join us for an informative forum on Sunday, April 10th, at the Scarsdale Public Library at 1 p.m.  on Women’s Reproductive Health and the Role of Government.

Presenters:

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, (AD 88) will detail the role of legislation in advancing public policy and women’s reproductive health.

Kathryn Miller, Vice President for Clinical and Community Health Programs at Public Health Solutions, will explain the role all levels of funding play in health care, and the potential risks of certain aspects of so-called fiscal belt tightening.

Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, President of WCLA – Choice Matters, will examine the impact that elections at all levels of government have on reproductive health, the make-up of the State Senate and aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the national health care legislation).

There is no cost to attend.

RSVP Here!!!!

Join Us – Rally For Women’s Health! – Feb 26th – Foley Square

RALLY
For
WOMEN’S HEALTH & RIGHTS!

JOIN WITH WOMEN
FROM ACROSS THE STATE

AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!

Saturday, February 26th Foley Square

(Across from the Court House in Lower Manhattan,
between Lafayette St. & Centre St.
New York, NY 10007)

1-3pm

Directions: Take the #4, 5 or 6 SUBWAY downtown to BROOKLYN BRIDGE/CITY HALL STATION. Exit at the rear of the platform, towards the last car of the subway train. When you come up above ground you will be standing in Foley Square.

REMEMBER

Current Anti-Choice Bills
1. H.R. 3, misleadingly called the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ);

2. H.R. 358,  the so-called “Protect Life Act” sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa); and

3. H.R. 217, Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, sponsored by
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). (PASSED IN THE HOUSE 2/18/2011.)

We Must Stop this anti-choice run-away-train Congress! There are lives at stake – those of the living, breathing women of this nation!

Last Friday, the House passed the Pence Amendment (H.R. 217.)
This amendment—if it passes the Senate–will mean the end of federal support for an organization, Planned Parenthood, that each year provides more than 800,000 women with breast exams, more than 4 million Americans with testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, lifesaving cancer screenings, HIV testing, and 2.5 million people with contraception.

But that is not enough! They now want to zero out all funding for Title X in the Federal budget. That means all the health centers we know and have come to rely on will get NO funds for Title X. Women will die!

Right now, our pro-choice congressional representatives and advocates are fighting back but they need us. They need to hear from us!

Sponsoring Organizations: (List in formation) Choice Matters, Community Health Care Networks Family Planning Advocates of New York State, Feminist Majority Foundation, Inwood House, NARAL Pro-Choice NY, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, National Council of Jewish Women New York Section, New York Civil Liberties Union, NOW-New York City, NOW-New York State, Planned Parenthood Affiliates New Jersey, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, Planned Parenthood Mid-Hudson Valley, Planned Parenthood of Nassau County, Planned Parenthood of New York City, PRCH, Public Health Association of New York City, Public Health Solutions, Raising Women’s Voices, Religious Institute, Reproductive Health Access Project, SisterSong NY, Trust Black Women, Trust Women, United Neighborhood Houses, Violence Intervention Program Inc., Women’s Media Center, YWCA of Brooklyn