Womenstake

Setting the Stage for Future Advocates: the NWLC/LSRJ Training

by Mara Gandal-Powers, Intern,
and Jocelyn Moore, Intern,
National Women's Law Center

On June 11, 2010 the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) co-sponsored a reproductive law and policy training in Washington, D.C. Sixty people attended, representing 27 different law schools and 28 different organizations.

The event was a unique opportunity for attendees to tap into NWLC’s and LSRJ’s wealth of knowledge. Mariko Miki from LSRJ provided participants with a background of LSRJ and offered support for students interested in starting or reinvigorating a chapter at their law school. Judy Waxman, Vice President of Health and Reproductive Rights at NWLC, and Beth Sousa, Senior Counsel at NWLC, explained how health care reform affects women’s access to health care, particularly abortion. It was inspiring to hear about the benefits women can expect from health reform, and that despite some setbacks, no one has given up on keeping abortion coverage in health insurance benefit plans.

Good News! Attacks on Women’s Health Halted in Florida

by Aimee Ghosh, Intern
National Women’s Law Center

Good news from Florida! Last Friday Governor Charlie Crist vetoed harmful anti-choice legislation that would have taken a devastating toll on women’s access to health care in Florida.

This bill (H.B. 1143) would have forced a woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound, even when medically unnecessary, and to listen to a description of the fetus. Additionally, it would have restricted women’s ability to purchase comprehensive health coverage by prohibiting certain private plans from covering abortion.

We asked you to tell Governor Crist to stop the attack on women’s health in Florida and fortunately, he heeded your phone calls and letters and vetoed this dangerous bill. Thank you to the people of Florida for taking action to keep politics out of women’s health care!

Oklahoma Passes Law Prohibiting Health Insurance Discrimination

by Julia Kaye, Health Policy Associate, 
National Women's Law Center 

Good news out of Oklahoma! Last week, Governor Henry signed SB 1251 into law, to prohibit discrimination against DV survivors in health insurance. The bill, which was introduced by state Senator Jim Wilson, prohibits any insurance plan issued or renewed on or after November 1, 2010, from denying, cancelling, or refusing to issue or renew coverage based on an applicant’s status as a DV survivor, denying a claim based on an applicant’s status as a DV survivor, or treating domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition. It passed both chambers of the state legislature unanimously.

This important—and long overdue—accomplishment makes Oklahoma the third state (along with Arkansas and North Carolina) to have passed a law or issued formal regulations to prohibit health insurance discrimination against DV survivors since October 2008, when the National Women’s Law Center publicized data—first reported by the Women’s Law Project and Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence—which showed that in nine states and D.C. (Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming), it was still legal for insurance companies to deny coverage to survivors of domestic violence.

Maternity Care and Health Reform: What’s the Story?

by Brigette Courtot, Policy Analyst, 
National Women's Law Center

Two recent news pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post have zeroed in on how the new federal health reform law affects women’s access to maternity care. NWLC has been monitoring this issue as part of our Reform Matters project for years, starting with our groundbreaking 2008 report on the challenges women face in the individual health insurance market, when we found that the vast majority of available plans did not cover maternity care. 

Now that health reform is a reality, we’re continuing our work to raise awareness about the many provisions in the health reform law that help women and families get the high-quality maternity care they need. Our new fact sheet “What Women Need to Know about Health Reform: Maternity Care” is just one of a series of topical fact sheets intended for anyone who cares about women’s health and wants to learn more about a specific aspect of the health reform law (other topics include the small business tax credit, making health care affordable, preventive care, and long-term services and supports). 

And if you’re wondering how women in a particular state will fare, check out our set of fact sheets on what health reform means for women in each state, from Alabama to Wyoming. Keep checking back, because we’ll continue to add new materials to these collections throughout the summer!

Why Federal Assistance to States for Medicaid Is Important for Women

by Jessica Agarwal, Legal Intern,
National Women's Law Center

In the next week, the Senate will vote on a bill that extends for six months increased federal funds for Medicaid known as FMAP—the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage—which is basically the funding that states get for the federal share of Medicaid. The bill also includes other crucial provisions, such as a continuation of unemployment insurance. The House failed to include the FMAP extension in an important vote two weeks ago. FMAP is now hanging in the balance—if it is not extended, states facing budget shortfalls will be forced to further cut Medicaid and/or lay off thousands of workers, harming many women and families.

Falling state revenue has already led many states to reduce funding to Medicaid, education, welfare programs, and programs for the elderly and disabled and to layoff state government workers. Cuts to Medicaid and state jobs affect women and families the most. Nearly 75 percent of current adult Medicaid beneficiaries are women. Women are more likely than men to qualify for Medicaid because they are poorer, on average, and are more likely to rely on Medicaid coverage because their employers fail to provide health insurance. Women also hold the majority of jobs in the state public sector.

The Check is in the Mail Today for Those in the Medicare Prescription Drug "Donut Hole"

by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

The new health reform law has many different parts. If you or someone you know is on Medicare and has fallen into the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole,” one of those benefits starts today with a rebate check for $250 in the mail. Seniors don’t have to do anything to get their rebate check – it will be sent automatically once they have fallen into the donut hole.  

The “donut hole” describes the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap. Put most simply, under Medicare, the senior pays 25 percent of the cost of prescriptions for the first $2,830 of prescription drugs; but then the senior falls in the donut hole – where the senior has to pay the entire cost of prescription drugs out of pocket, until the senior has reached $6,440 for prescriptions that year, when Medicare coverage picks back up again.

Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice: Stop Scapegoating Women

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

This post is the first in a series about the intersections between reproductive justice and other social justice movements.

Recently the anti-choice movement has been pushing the message that the real progressive position is to oppose abortion and birth control. The most recent iteration of this strategy to create divisions among social justice advocates is the argument that birth control is harming the environment. This was promoted by a coalition of anti-birth control groups last Saturday at "Protest the Pill Day." The groups claim that the "Pill Kills the Environment." The protest organizers say that "Studies in the United States, from California to Maryland (including the Potomac River), have revealed that some male fish have been feminized by the vast quantities of synthetic estrogen in the water." We all know that birth control contains female hormones...so, birth control must be killing the environment, right?

Um...not really. Birth control pills barely contribute to the amount of estrogen in the environment. First of all, 99 percent of the estrogens excreted by humans have nothing to do with contraceptives. Second, human excretion is not the main source of estrogen in the environment. Far more synthetic estrogen in the environment can be traced to industrial farming practices than to medications of any kind, let alone hormonal birth control specifically. 

Tell Your Senators to Support Struggling Families

The last time we checked, our economy hasn’t fully rebounded, state budgets are still in dire straits, too many families are living from paycheck to paycheck ― if they are lucky enough to have a paycheck at all ― and the health of too many families is at risk.

So we must ensure that our Senators support legislation that extends a lifeline to struggling families. We need legislation that allows jobless workers to continue their health insurance coverage through COBRA, supports funding for states to prevent families from losing Medicaid, and extends vital unemployment insurance benefits and cash assistance to low-income families through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Make sure your Senators get it. Tell them to support critical extensions for at-risk families today.

States are running in the red. Without these funds, many states will make deeper cuts to health care, emergency assistance and other vital services for children and families. Don’t let our Senators short-change our country ― tell your Senators to pass legislation that helps America grow and families thrive.

Anti-Choice Activity in the States Implores You to Act

by Grace Lesser, Program Assistant,
National Women's Law Center

The health care reform bill has given way to a flurry of anti-choice activity in the states, in an emboldened attack on women’s reproductive health. Health reform energized the far right, and anti-choice forces have added eliminating insurance coverage of abortion to their roster of efforts to limit women’s control over their reproductive lives. State laws making abortion services less affordable, less accessible, and less respectful are being pushed across the country.

A particularly dangerous form of recent anti-choice activity has come in the form of insurance restrictions on the state level. Federal health reform included a provision that allows states to prohibit coverage of abortion on their exchanges, even though no federal or state money goes towards abortion coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Arizona, Tennessee, and Mississippi have recently passed bans on abortion coverage in their health insurance exchanges into law, and other state legislatures have introduced similar legislation.

How ironic that a national bill that was designed and crafted to increase access to non-discriminatory, fair, equitable, and quality health care has energized anti-choice forces to push for just the opposite on the state level. The fact that anti-choice forces have activated to strip women of their freedom to choose is no reason to sit back and watch. In contrast, it means that those of us who care about women’s autonomy and choice must organize and push back. We must fight to restore access, funding, and ownership over our reproductive health freedoms in every state and across the nation. If ever there were a time to act, it is now.

We Asked, You Answered: This is How "the Pill" Changed Women’s Lives

by Stephanie Drahan, Outreach Associate
National Women's Law Center

Back at the beginning of May, we requested that you share how access to the birth control pill impacted your lives. And thanks to your incredible participation, we got some incredible responses.

To finalize an incredible month of celebration of the golden anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the birth control pill that has featured numerous blog posts, tweets and a survey of your stories, we are now releasing the final compilation of the 50 ways “the Pill” revolutionized women’s lives.

There were happy stories:

When I was 16, my mom took me to the doctor to get the pill. It was one of the best things she ever did for me. I was the first in our family to graduate from college. Now, I'm married and pregnant and plan to do the same for our daughter when she's ready.

Scary stories:

The pill treated my horrific cramps and wildly irregular menstrual cycle. I also have partial complex seizures that are affected by my cycle and the medicine I take for them is estrogen-sensitive, so the pill also helped keep my estrogens at a stable level. For me, a happy side-effect is no unwanted pregnancies!

Triumphant stories:

Thanks to BC I was able to have one planned child, able to leave my batterer and not be kept barefoot and pregnant. I defeated rampant job gender discrimination stating I would NOT be pregnant in five years. It saved my life.

And even funny ones:

The Pill ensures that my Aunt Flo always shows up when she’s supposed to and never sneaks up on me unexpectedly!

So thanks again for making sure we heard how the pill impacted your life, and don’t forget to check out the final list!