Monthly Archive for July, 2012

At Long Last, Preventive Care Will Be Affordable for All Women, Thanks to Health Reform

Published on July 31, 2012 in Health Care, Judith Lichtman and Reform. 1 Comment

Judith L. Lichtman, Senior Advisor

The Affordable Care Act is the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation, and tomorrow one of its promises becomes reality for millions of women, who will be healthier and better off as a result.

Tomorrow, on August 1, the Affordable Care Act will ensure that new insurance plans cover preventive health care without the cost sharing and co-pays that for too long have put these critical services out of reach for so many women.  This is one of the most tangible and meaningful benefits from reform.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, no longer will women go without birth control because they cannot afford the co-pays.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, no longer will women go without the HIV and sexually transmitted disease screening and testing that they urgently need.

Thanks to health reform, no longer will cost prevent pregnant women from being tested for gestational diabetes.

Thanks to health reform, no longer will cost prevent new mothers from getting the counseling, support and supplies they need to breastfeed their infants and give them a healthier start in life.

Thanks to reform, no longer will teens and adults at risk for domestic violence go without potentially life-saving screening and counseling.

It’s about time.

Already, the Affordable Care Act has covered women’s annual breast exams, mammograms and pap tests at no cost.  Tomorrow, the list of the law’s benefits expands dramatically as cost ceases to be a deterrent to the preventive care that millions of women need.  And soon, reform will outlaw gender discrimination in pricing – at long last.

It’s hard to believe that controversy still surrounds a law that is doing so much good, that there are those who still try to argue that it should be repealed or defunded.  As more and more benefits roll out, we should all focus on implementing the law and ensuring that all women – and all Americans – can access these critical advances.

To those who try to argue that repealing reform is right for the country or its families, I say this: You can’t talk fast enough, sow enough confusion, or in any other way deceive the women of America – and the men who care about them – any longer.  Better care for pregnant and nursing mothers; screenings for HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and domestic violence; and no-cost access to birth control and other preventive services will make women and our country healthier.  And starting tomorrow, we have the Affordable Care Act and its champions to thank for that.

The Affordable Care Act improves women’s health.

Fair Pay for Home Care Workers Cannot Wait Any Longer

Published on July 30, 2012 in Leticia Mederos and Workplace Fairness. 4 Comments

Leticia Mederos, Vice President

Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed a promising new rule that would extend basic minimum wage and overtime protections to millions of women and men who provide essential home care to children, parents, grandparents and others in need. It was a welcome and overdue step for our nation’s home care workers.

But despite the broad-based support for this critical measure – made clear by the thousands of you who sent comments to the Department of Labor earlier this year – we have not yet seen progress. And millions of home care workers, their families and the people they care for are worse off as a result.

That’s why workers and advocates are redoubling support for the rule and pressing even harder for its speedy implementation. How? By joining together to circulate a petition to remind policymakers that home care workers, their families and the people they care for cannot wait any longer for fair pay. Take a minute to sign the petition today, and then spread the word to family and friends.

Nearly three million home care workers in this country make it possible for the elderly and people with disabilities to bathe, get dressed, eat, take medications and more, while remaining independent in their own homes and communities. Ninety percent of these workers are women, and nearly half are forced to rely on public assistance to make ends meet because of poverty-level wages and few benefits.

This new rule will help ensure that millions of these women and men are more fairly compensated for their critical work. It will have a profound impact on their families while improving working conditions in an industry that is growing as the country’s population ages, yet has been grossly undervalued for much too long. And it will improve the quality of care for some of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

Join us in showing your support for the invaluable care that home care workers provide for children, parents, grandparents and others in need. Sign the petition to extend to them the same minimum wage and overtime protections as the rest of the nation’s workforce.

An Energizing Event for Family Friendly Policy Advocates

Published on July 23, 2012 in Vicki Shabo and Work & Family. 0 Comments

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs

This month, more than 200 advocates from across the country were here in Washington, D.C., to discuss best practices and next steps in the effort to increase working families’ access to paid sick days and paid family and medical leave. We reflected on past victories; assessed current challenges and opportunities; brainstormed campaign strategies; heard from champions like Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator Tom Harkin, Representative Rosa DeLauro and the nation’s top labor leaders; and took our stories straight to nearly 60 congressional offices. I know I’m not alone when I say it was an inspiring and productive event.

As National Partnership President Debra L. Ness said of the gathering in her opening remarks, “We are a room full of people for whom it is in our DNA to constantly test and reach beyond boundaries. The spirit, energy, wisdom and experience we share over the next couple days will, without question, help us reach a time when our country recognizes as a given that 21st century workplace policies must enable all workers to thrive as responsible workers and responsible family members.”

The 2012 National Summit on Paid Sick Days and Paid Family Leave, co-hosted by the National Partnership and Family Values @ Work, launched with an impressive discussion moderated by Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The panel, which included Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Mary Kay Henry, Lake Research President Celinda Lake and National Domestic Workers Alliance President Ai-Jen Poo, discussed the current policy and economic climate and the significant opportunities and challenges it provides. The panelists’ emphasis on the power of diverse and well-coordinated coalitions and the need to embed our issues in a broader social justice narrative was especially inspiring.

But that opening panel was just the beginning. From there, we talked about best practices and lessons from paid sick days campaigns with leading advocates in New York, Florida, Oregon and Massachusetts. We heard the heart-wrenching story of Carolyn Pinkston, a 9to5 member from Atlanta whose family struggled without access to the paid time off they needed to help her recover from brain surgery. Latifa Lyles, acting director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, told us about the department’s efforts to improve workplace policies for working families. And we broke into 12 small groups to focus on specific aspects of our campaigns and develop new skills.

We closed out the day with another memorable and thought-provoking panel featuring Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans, Color of Change Executive Director Rashad Robinson and Florida Immigrant Coalition Founding Director Maria Rodriguez. This panel’s emphasis on recent wins provided inspiration and highlighted best practices for moving progressive issues in the current climate.

That evening, many of us attended an event generously hosted by SEIU, the AFL-CIO and the Labor Project for Working Families. We heard moving stories from workers across the country and from great labor leaders and allies Mary Kay Henry, Gerry Hudson, Liz Shuler and Netsy Firestein. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D – Conn.) closed out the evening with rousing remarks about the need for paid sick days and paid leave and a strong call-to-action for Congress. It was the perfect way to end a full and energizing day.

The next day, we took our enthusiasm to the halls of Congress. The morning kicked off with a tribute to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D – Calif.) for her 25 years of service and commitment to improving the lives of women and families. Senator Tom Harkin (D – Iowa), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, rallied the crowd with his words of support. And workers and business owners from Oregon to Illinois told their inspiring stories.

After that, 133 of us went straight to the Hill to talk to lawmakers and staff at nearly 60 congressional offices about the need for the Healthy Families Act and the state paid leave fund. Along with our partners from Working Mother magazine, MomsRising, Ultraviolet and Family Values @ Work, we delivered the signatures of more than 46,000 people who signed a petition in support of a national paid leave program to key members of Congress.

Overall, the event was a tremendous success. With the great energy, dedication and expertise of all of the advocates, policy experts, workers and business leaders who attended the Summit – along with the hundreds who couldn’t make it – more victories for working families are certainly on the horizon.

To get the latest news on paid sick days efforts throughout the country and new research and resources on the importance of this basic labor standard, visit PaidSickDays.org. For more information on paid family leave, check out our paid leave research library.

Check out photos from the petition deliveries and a “day in the life” of one group of activists.

Violence Against Women Should Not be a Partisan Issue

Published on July 23, 2012 in The National Partnership. 0 Comments

HERvotes Groups Rally for VAWA

Women’s groups in the HERvotes coalition rallied in the blogosphere last week to call for the extension of the Violence Against Women Act’s lifesaving programs and services for another five years. The U.S. Senate has already reauthorized the bill with bipartisan support, but key provisions addressing safety on campuses and protections for LGBT, immigrant and Native American survivors of violence were removed in a version passed by the House of Representatives.

As Feminist Majority Foundation Vice President and General Counsel Kim Gandy writes, “Eliminating violence against women is not… must not… be a partisan issue.”

It’s time for the House to join the Senate in fully reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

Read all of the HERvotes blogs on the very real problem of violence against women in this country and the critical need for reauthorization here.

AIDS Memorial Quilt Month-Long Display Begins Saturday

Published on July 20, 2012 in The National Partnership. 0 Comments

AIDS Quilt Comes to D.C.

Starting this weekend, those in the Washington, D.C. area have a rare chance to view a powerful and poignant reminder of the impact of HIV/AIDS.  The AIDS Memorial Quilt is returning to the city after more than 15 years. The event marks its 25th anniversary.

The iconic quilt was first displayed in October of 1987 at the National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights. Then just 40 panels, the quilt was the project of a group of friends, family members and loved ones who wanted to memorialize those lost to AIDS. After that inspiring first display, the quilt grew rapidly. As it travelled around the country, people added their own hand-sewn squares with the names of family members and loved ones. A reading of the names on the quilt soon became part of the tradition.

The quilt now contains 48,000 panels and is too big to be displayed all at once. Instead, for this special event, it will be shown in segments at more than 50 locations throughout the area through July 25th. The opening ceremony is this Saturday, July 21st, at 9:00am on the National Mall.

Viewing the quilt is an opportunity to honor and celebrate those who have died from AIDS and to strengthen efforts to eradicate a disease that devastates millions of families worldwide. To learn more about the quilt and the events in the city, check out the links below:

Yahoo Sets an Example by Hiring a Pregnant CEO, But There’s More to the Story for Working Mothers

Published on July 18, 2012 in Sarah Crawford, Work & Family and Workplace Fairness. 0 Comments

Director of Workplace Fairness

Ever since the news broke this week that Yahoo has hired Marissa Mayer to be its new chief executive officer, the media has been abuzz about the fact that she’ll be the first-ever pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It seems Yahoo leaders had no concerns about Mayer being six months pregnant when they offered her the job, setting a promising example for employers across the country.

The news is great for Mayer as a woman and a mother and, we hope, good for the company too. It’s encouraging to see a pregnant woman, who will soon be a working mom, in that kind of position. She is now one of only 19 female CEOs in the Fortune 500. But we know that not all employers have adopted such “evolved thinking” (as Mayer described it) when it comes to pregnant workers or the family friendly policies they need.

Despite the fact that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed in 1978 to end blatant discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace, pregnancy discrimination claims are on the rise. They have increased by 35 percent in the past decade, often because employers do not make minor accommodations for pregnant workers, even though they regularly make minor accommodations for workers who have had heart attacks or other health issues.

For those pregnant workers who do get a fair shot, like Mayer, too many struggle tremendously after their child arrives because most employers haven’t adopted family friendly workplace policies that enable new parents to take the time they need for their own health and the health of their children. Even Mayer admits she will be working through the short three weeks of leave she plans to take after her child is born. Three weeks may be Mayer’s choice, and that is OK; women need to be able to do what is right for them. But many women need or want more and don’t have that option.

Mayer is in the rare minority (11 percent) of private sector workers who have access to paid leave through their employers. Most depend on the up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave provided through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but more than half of the workforce isn’t even eligible for that. Millions who are eligible under the FMLA can’t afford to take the unpaid leave it provides. That puts the majority of working parents in an untenable situation of having to constantly choose between work and family.

That’s why efforts to ensure family friendly workplaces and curb pregnancy discrimination are so important. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would effectively prevent employers from forcing pregnant women out of the workplace and help ensure they provide reasonable accommodations to women who want to continue working. The Healthy Families Act would guarantee workers the right to earn paid sick days to use to recover from illness or care for a child. And a proposal for a federal paid leave insurance program currently being developed in Congress would make it possible for all workers to receive a portion of their pay when they need to take leave for the arrival of a new child or to deal with a serious illness.

Marissa Mayer is fortunate to have an opportunity and choices many mothers do not. She will be able to afford high-quality child care, and she will almost certainly receive pay while on leave and paid sick days to care for her child. Yahoo has set an example by choosing to hire Mayer based on her merits. With Mayer at the helm, we hope that Yahoo aims to set an example as a family friendly employer in every sense to set the pace for other companies and motivate lawmakers who are far behind in adopting the policies working families need.

The Women of D.C. Deserve Better

Published on July 18, 2012 in Debra Ness and Reproductive Health. 2 Comments

Debra Ness, President, National Partnership

For decades, Congress has unfairly restricted women’s access to reproductive health services in the District of Columbia in ways it is unable to do in the states.

For example, every state has the right to fund abortion services for its residents – and 17 states do – yet Congress prohibits the District of Columbia from funding the same care.

Today’s actions by the House Judiciary Committee continue this abysmal tradition. A bill introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and passed by the committee would ban abortion in the District after 20 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of how the abortions are funded. Not only does this bill blatantly violate Supreme Court precedent, it is harmful and disrespectful to women.

As with all abortions, a woman is in the best position to make the right decision for herself and her family. Prohibitions on abortion after 20 weeks are cruel and dangerous. They force women whose health is endangered or whose fetus will not survive to continue to carry a pregnancy to term no matter what the physical and mental ramifications. The bill provides no exceptions for the health of the mother and only very limited exceptions to protect her life.

All members of Congress should agree that these extremely personal medical decisions should be made by a woman and her doctor, not by elected officials who don’t even represent her. The women of the District of Columbia deserve better.

Still Fighting for the Women of Mississippi

Published on July 11, 2012 in Cristen Hemmins and Repro Health Watch. 8 Comments

Cristen Hemmins, Activist

I am a Mississippian. My parents are both from the Delta. My Dad was Archie Manning’s offensive guard at Ole Miss (this means something in Mississippi). I grew up going to public schools in Jackson, Mississippi. I have three kids under the age of 11, and I assume I will raise them here in Mississippi. And last year, Mississippi forced me to become a political activist.

I was a plaintiff in a lawsuit to keep Initiative 26 off of the ballot. Initiative 26, otherwise known as the Personhood Initiative, would have defined a person as beginning at conception. When the lawsuit was unsuccessful, I became an unofficial spokesperson against Initiative 26. I became obsessed with making sure that Mississippians understood the implications. The only way I could see to do this was to use the media.

Because I had a compelling story, I knew I could get people’s attention. When I was 20, exactly 20 years ago this past October 25th, I was abducted, raped, and shot twice by two teenagers on a car-jacking spree. I did not get pregnant, thank goodness. But if I had, and something like Initiative 26 had been in place, I would have been forced, by the state of Mississippi, to bear that child. Giving birth might have killed me physically (the gunshot wound to my lower back was life-threatening), if not emotionally.

I was not afraid to tell this story over and over. Voters needed to know the stories of real people, like me, who would have been affected by the passage of Initiative 26. Because of my story and the stories of many others like me, we defeated Initiative 26 last November.

Now we are fighting to keep the one abortion clinic in the state open. Under the guise of protecting women’s health, a new law creates a standard that no abortion clinic in Mississippi can meet: every abortion provider must have admitting privileges to the local hospital. Not only is this standard unreachable, it is medically unnecessary.

Jackson Women’s Health Clinic is just a few miles from the house I grew up in. I count the woman who owns it as a great Mississippi hero. She is one brave woman. I am thankful for her, and her will to fight the battle she is fighting to keep that place open, because there will always be Mississippi women, who for one reason or another, need abortions. And if Jackson Women’s Clinic shuts down, many of those women will not be able to afford to go to the next state, and pay to stay in a hotel (our neighboring states have waiting periods), to get an abortion. Sure, if you’re wealthy enough to have access to a private doctor who’s a friend, maybe they will help you out…but not the poor women of Mississippi. And we sadly have no shortage of those.

Along with being one of the poorest, sickest and least-educated states in the nation, Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate, the highest teen pregnancy rate and the highest poverty rate in the country. Most public schools continue to offer abstinence only sex education, despite the fact that Mississippi also has some of the highest rates of STDs and HIV/AIDS in the country.

I don’t want Mississippi to be the state to bring back the horrors of back alley abortions. In describing the position of women’s health advocates who oppose this law, Mississippi State Representative Bubba Carpenter said, “They’re like, ‘Well, the poor pitiful women that can’t afford to go out of state are just going to start doing them at home with a coat hanger.’ That’s what we’ve heard over and over and over.But hey–you have to have moral values.”  When the people who are supposed to be representing us are speaking like this, we know we cannot be silent. Representative Carpenter should know — there is nothing moral about letting women die, or denying them the right to control their own bodies and health.

So here we are. Initiative 26 galvanized thousands of us into action-and if the legal battle to keep our one clinic open fails we will continue to fight this new law. Legislators seek to deny Mississippi women the same medical options other American women have (and deserve!), but my friends and I will do everything we can to make sure we keep our rights, our bodies, and our choice.

Cristen Hemmins has emerged as a leading advocate for reproductive justice in her home state of Mississippi. Hemmins was a plaintiff in the lawsuit that tried to keep Proposition 26, better known as the “personhood amendment,” off the ballot in Mississippi. Although the lawsuit was not successful, Mississippians ultimately rejected Proposition 26, voting “no” on personhood. She currently resides in Oxford, MS with her husband and their three children.