Tag: planned parenthood

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?

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

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

Where Does Newly Elected Rep. Hayworth (R) 19th NY-CD Stand on Redefining Rape and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act?

When running Nan Hayworth claimed to be—what was it again—on yea, pro-choice but now she doesn’t want to take a position. Now, she seems, shall we say, conflicted: Vote Party line (and platform) or support women?

FYI:
1. Hayworth has defended the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act in letters to constituents.
2. Hayworth has failed to take a stand on redefining rape; and
3. Hayworth justifies tax penalties for abortion.
4. Nan Hayworth is Anti-Choice!

Ask Nan Hayworth Where She Stands!
Let’s remind Nan we’re watching.
Click Here
or Contact her at
In D.C.:
1440 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5441
Fax: (202) 225-3289
In Goshen:
255 Main St., Suite 3232G
Goshen, NY 10924
Phone: (845) 291-4100
Fax: (845) 291-4164

REP. ENGEL – ATTACKS ON WOMEN’S HEALTH THE WRONG MESSAGE

Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) twice offered an amendment to the so called “Protect Life Act,” (H.R. 358) in an attempt to thwart attacks on women’s health resulting from the Republican bill.   Rep. Engel is a senior member on the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health.  (To view the entire debate and vote on the amendment in the Health Subcommittee – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF8CpmEP57w)

Rep. Engel’s amendment, defeated Tuesday by the full Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 31-19, would maintain current laws which protect both doctors who do not practice abortion and those who do.  The so-called “Protect Life Act,” does away with basic protections except for those health care providers who oppose abortion.  The measure would criminalize anyone who would do the procedure or even educate a woman on her choices.  The House also voted on Friday to pass an amendment to strip funding for Planned Parenthood, a measure Rep. Engel voted against.

“If this irresponsible bill becomes law it would put the lives of women at risk.  It is ironic that a bill titled ‘protect life’ could result in the inevitable loss of life.  These bills are the Republican Majority’s opening salvo in their determined quest to dismantle the existing law protecting a woman’s right to seek medical assistance for her own body.  Make no mistake, this bill may pass the House and then go nowhere, but this is not going to stop the Republican’s attempts to pass more extreme legislation to advance their social agenda,” said Rep. Engel.

“I am sure that there are doctors and nurses who believe that they are morally required to provide a requested abortion to a victim of rape, or in an emergency situation,” said Rep. Engel. “However, the Republican leadership only wants to protect one group’s conscience, and no others.  This is wrong and it’s not fair.”

Unfortunately, pro-choice health providers are not protected by Roe v. Wade, as some claim.  “If a hospital fires a doctor because he performs abortions elsewhere, that’s not protected by Roe v. Wade.  Nor is it protected if a nurse is not given a job because she has provided counseling on abortion.  There are also cases where a hospital chooses to provide training on safe abortion methods and is denied a grant as a result.  This bill does not protect these care providers from discrimination for simply following the law.  I find it to be very disappointing that the Majority refused to protect these doctors and chose instead to advance a political agenda.”

Rep. Engel added, “This bill is not equal conscience-protection, instead it is a government advancement of a particular viewpoint—and we don’t do that in this country.  This is more of the Republican Right ill-advised plan to refight the culture wars of the past.”

“We should not protect one group’s conscience and criminalize another’s; it’s not fair and it’s not right.  We need the two-way protections that exist in current law and my amendment would have provided that.”

Rep. Engel is a longtime supporter of women’s reproductive rights and has a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood, WCLA (Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion) – Choice Matters  and NARAL Pro-Choice America.  “For a party that rails against government intrusion in people’s lives, the Republicans want the federal government involved in one of the most personal decisions made by a woman and her family.  For me that is the height of hypocrisy,” added Rep. Engel.

Alert: Special Election – The Washington Agenda wants to come to Westchester!

ALERT!
SPECIAL ELECTION
THIS TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY 15TH!

If you live in the
Westchester County 12th Legislative District
we are begging you to come out and
vote for MaryJane Shimsky.

MaryJane is a 100% pro-choice advocate who will protect our women, children, and families. She understands the importance of our clinics, childcare, and health centers.

Her opponent, DeCicco, publicly stated that all minors should be required to have parental consent before being permitted to have an abortion. Can you imagine a 12-year-old girl, an incest victim, asking the father who raped her, “Can I please get an abortion so that I won’t have to give birth to your child?”(ECC forum, 2/7/11)

At the same forum, he said that 17-year-old females should not be able to get emergency contraception (which is a high dose of birth control that can stop a woman from becoming pregnant up to five days after unprotected sex) over the counter. We should applaud young women who want to take responsibility before they have an unwanted pregnancy, not punish them! DeCicco wants to see them pay the price of unintended pregnancies, and then force them into a circumstance in which they will likely choose abortion.

Astorino, His Puppets and 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.

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.
Importantly, our County legislators decide many reproductive rights issues including prisoners’ rights, Medicaid expenditures, and more. The cost to your tax dollars will be huge if legislators do not understand these obligations, and only try to grab headlines, like Astorino likes to do, with penny-wise pound-foolish cuts.

DeCicco is a puppet–a mini-me–for Astorino. Even a DeCicco supporter, The Westchester Rising, calls him Astorino’s “partner.”

The Message Here:

VOTE FOR MARYJANE SHIMSKY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH!
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
MARYJANE  SHIMSKY!

Applaud Senators Gillibrand & Blumenthal for Speaking Out for Women’s Health

United States Senate

SENATORS GILLIBRAND AND BLUMENTHAL CALL ON COLLEAGUES TO UPHOLD WOMEN’S ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Senators Say Republican House Bills Represent “Unprecedented Effort to Restrict Access”

Washington, DC – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)  called on their Senate colleagues to prevent efforts to block access to reproductive health care for millions of American women, citing recently-introduced Republican legislation in the House of Representatives designed to restrict choice and prevent access to vital health care services. In a letter to Senate colleagues, Gillibrand and Blumenthal noted that bills introduced by Representatives Mike Pence and Christopher Smith would constitute an “unprecedented effort to restrict access” to women’s reproductive health care.

“When we should all be focused on creating jobs and growing our economy, extreme forces in the House are mounting a new effort to cut critical funding for women’s health care and curtail women’s rights,” said Senator Gillibrand. “I strongly urge all of my colleagues in the Senate to stand strong against this unprecedented effort to restrict access to women’s reproductive health care. We cannot allow this type of assault on American women to gain any ounce of traction.”

“Women in Connecticut and across the country deserve nothing less than unfettered access to their trusted health care providers and vital health care services,” said Senator Blumenthal. “Efforts by Republican House leadership to overturn long-settled understanding of the law are deeply troubling, and I will strongly oppose them. I am asking colleagues to join in a bipartisan fight against any measure that would so severely set back and sabotage women’s health care and rights.”

In the letter, Gillibrand and Blumenthal tell Senate colleagues:
The Republican House leadership has made it a top priority to move legislation that would redefine the long-settled understanding of what constitutes federal funding of abortion, and to defund Planned Parenthood health centers around the country. Both bills introduced by Representatives Smith and Pence are likely to pass the House, and we will no doubt see attempts to pass these bills in the Senate.

We must work together to stop these bills in their tracks, as they represent an unprecedented effort to restrict women’s access to reproductive health care and to their trusted health care providers.

Gillibrand helped lead the fight in the Senate to oppose the harmful and dangerous Stupak Amendment to health care reform and has long advocated for affordable access to quality reproductive care for all women.

Blumenthal has been a steadfast supporter of a woman’s right to choose; as Connecticut’s Attorney General, he consistently advocated for expanded access to vital reproductive health services.

Text of Letter Follows:
Dear Colleague:

We wanted to call your attention to a recent New York Times editorial highlighting two pieces of legislation introduced in the House that seek to undermine the ability of women to access comprehensive health insurance coverage and to see the trusted health care providers on whom they rely for medical care.

The Republican House leadership has made it a top priority to move legislation that would redefine the long-settled understanding of what constitutes federal funding of abortion, and to defund Planned Parenthood health centers around the country. Both bills introduced by Representatives Smith and Pence are likely to pass the House, and we will no doubt see attempts to pass these bills in the Senate.

We must work together to stop these bills in their tracks, as they represent an unprecedented effort to restrict women’s access to reproductive health care and to their trusted health care providers.

We hope you will take the time to read this editorial and consider the many ways in which the Smith and Pence bills would negatively impact the health care available to women. We look forward to working with you to make sure that women can continue to have access to reproductive health care and the health care provider they rely on.

Sincerely,
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Senator Richard Blumenthal

Click to read The New York Times editorial The Two Abortion Wars: A Highly Intrusive Federal Bill

ALERT: Anti-Choice Extremists Work to Change Definition of Rape

Anti-choice crazy extremists in Congress—mostly Republicans but with some Democrats thrown into the mix—are fighting to redefine rape so as to limit any form of funding for victims (in this instance that’s definitely we women.)

They want to redefine it as “forcible rape.” One would think the definition of rape is forced sex, but not to these zealots. They want it to only constitute rape when the victim is pulverized.

Forget the rape where the victim is given a drug, passes out and  becomes an unconscious target. Forget about incest where a child is scared of her attacker. Forget about the wife who is raped by her husband and forced to succumb. Forget about the rape that occurs with a knife to your throat.

Why are they doing this? Because they believe in their perverted hearts that if they successfully change this definition and then apply it to the Hyde Amendment, they will eliminate the funding of abortions that are now permitted.

The Hyde Amendment, which is enshrined in federal law targeting poor women, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion except in a very few specific cases, two of which are rape and incest.

Today’s Congressional crazies think that this rape and incest exception is too broad. If that child was not beaten when her father raped her, to them, it doesn’t count! My suggestion is let’s see how these zealots each fare after being raped. The men won’t end up pregnant but at least they’ll experienced forced intercourse—anal, with an object, or otherwise! Then, they can come forward, putting their entire lives on the line, testify and be told it wasn’t rape because they weren’t beaten.

They want to include this new definition in their No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act. Trust me and those in Congress who fight for our cause, there is NO funding for abortion in the Obama Health Care Law now. This is simply a vehicle to further destroy our right to choose. Passing No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act is a top priority of these anti-choice crazies.

Standing with Eric Schneiderman for NYS Attorney General

“We are thrilled to endorse Eric Schneiderman for Attorney General. From the frontlines at clinics to the courtrooms to the State Senate, Eric has proven his commitment to a woman’s right to choose. It is vitally important who the Attorney General is when it comes to freedom of choice. Across the nation, anti-choice attorneys general have abused their position targeting women’s reproductive rights: in Kansas harassing the late Dr. Tiller; in Virginia, working to close 20 safe clinics; and in Michigan trying to outlaw abortion. Eric will protect clinic access, stop harassment, and aggressively push for greater protections. New York needs Eric Schneiderman as our next Attorney General.” Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, President, WCLA – Choice Matters

Join Choice Matters in Endorsing Eric Schneiderman for NYS Attorney General – Click Here