This week: the Biden administration champions paid family leave; Colorado requires insurance providers to cover gender affirmation care; Senate spending bill boosts coverage of abortion services; documents reveal further abuse of asylum seekers; and more.
Tag: Sexual and Reproductive Health
Supreme Court Refuses to Block Texas Abortion Ban, Agrees to Hear Two Cases Challenging the Law
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks, but refused to block the law while it considers the case—leaving Texans without access to safe, legal abortion health care. The Court set oral arguments for the cases on November 1.
“For the second time, the Court declines to act immediately to protect these women from grave and irreparable harm,” Justice Sotomayor wrote a searing dissent to the Court’s refusal to enjoin the law.
Remembering Dorothea Buck—Who Forced Psychiatry To Confront Its Deadly History
After being sterilized in Nazi facilities, Dorothea Buck dedicated her life to being a psychiatric activist.
“As long as we talk to each other,” she said again and again until the end of her life, “we don’t kill each other.”
The U.S. Faces Unprecedented Threats on Abortion and Contraception Access—But “It’s Not All Doom and Gloom”
In this Power Talk, Ms.’s Roxy Szal spoke with four reproductive health experts— Power to Decide CEO Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley and VP of policy Rachel Fey; PRH’s Jennifer Blasdell; and State Innovation Exchange’s Jennifer Driver—on restrictions to reproductive healthcare and how advocates and lawmakers can protect abortion and contraception access.
Pennsylvania Medicaid Abortion Coverage Ban Challenged Under State ERA: “Sex Discrimination, Pure and Simple”
Pennsylvania-based abortion providers and reproductive rights lawyers filed their brief in a lawsuit—Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services—asking the state’s Supreme Court to strike down the Pennsylvania ban on Medicaid funding for abortion as a violation of the Equal Rights Amendment and equal protection provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Democrats in Congress Lead Fight for Abortion Access: “Abortion Is Healthcare, Plain and Simple”
Democratic members of Congress like Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Cori Bush are using the platforms and legal maneuvering they have access to, building political pressure to ensure that enacted laws reflect the will of the bipartisan pro-choice majority in the U.S.
Are Women Human Beings?
On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Mississippi’s brief in Dobbs claims Roe v. Wade must be overturned because “scientific advances show that an unborn child has taken on the human form and features months before viability.”
But aren’t women human beings? The answer must be: Yes, and they must be able to control their lives, their reproduction and their bodies.
“On My Back”: A Tribute to the 2021 Women’s March
“on my back,” a poem written by Sheri Lynn, is based on and dedicated to the Women’s March for Reproductive Rights that took place on October 2, 2021.
California Law Bans “Condom Stealthing”: Removing a Condom Without Consent Is “A Grave Violation of Dignity and Autonomy”
Stealthing, the act of removing a condom during sex without consent, has been prohibited in California.
“I have been working on the issue of ‘stealthing’ since 2017 and I am elated that there is now some accountability for those who perpetrate the act,” said Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who authored the law. “This law is the first of its kind in the nation, but I urge other states to follow in California’s direction and make it clear that stealthing is not just immoral but illegal.”
Medication Abortion Is Safe and Effective—It’s Time Everyone Has Equal Access
The past few months have seen escalating attacks on abortion access, with states passing increasingly restrictive and unconstitutional laws. But policymakers can help ensure that abortion is more accessible by allowing easier access to medication abortion care.