Women’s basic health care under attack
Last week a photo from the Congressional hearing on birth control coverage struck a nerve with women across the country, including myself. Five men testified on birth control while women were shut out of the conversation led by San Diego Congressmember Daryl Issa.
To add insult to injury, Republican leaders are pushing for a vote on an extreme proposal by senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) that would allow any business or corporation to deny coverage for any service they object to.
That means employers and health plans cannot only deny access to birth control, they can deny access to in-vitro fertilization, HIV/AIDS treatment, and other essential health benefits – for virtually any reason. This proposal is so extreme it completely undermines the notion of health insurance.
The Blunt proposal is intended to eviscerate key protections built into the Affordable Care Act, including protections that ensure Americans get adequate coverage for essential health services and coverage of preventive services without a co-pay.
Birth control is basic health care and used almost universally by women. Not only does it help prevent unintended pregnancies, it is an economic issue – a woman can sometimes pay up to $50 a month for birth control – and it’s also directly linked to improving women’s health and the health of their families. I struggle to understand how the simple and straight forward issue of women´s basic health care is constantly being debated and attacked.
Estela Blanco
El Cajon
A park in Southwest Chula Vista has been promised for years
Three years ago the implementation of a new park on Orange Avenue was taken off the City Council consent calendar to substitute with the development of a proposed safer and more welcoming park next to the Southwest Chula Vista library. For years Southwest Chula Vista Civic Association has been involved with the city of Chula Vista in the planning and promise of this park for our neighbors, children, youth sports, dog park, and families. It reached the final stage, the naming of the park during the recent holidays season.
I believe if a park is finally built and used for several years, it will be the pride and joy of all the southwest. The park will make a new image for all the people of the southwest. This Library-Park Southwest Community center will reflect our rich diversity of heritage, talents, traditions, people of all ages and will increase our quality of life.
The Southwest community is a universal area with people of all colors, creed, class, gender, age. We need this park and its adjoining Library to express our welcoming spirit to all people. I believe that the southwest is on the verge of something exciting and wonderful. This Library Park has been promised for years. Please do not disappoint the Southwest once again. Please fulfill the promise of the long needed Library Park NOW.
Jerry Thomas
Chula Vista
International Women’s Day should be celebrated
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day to focus on women’s social and economic advancement. In our country and around the world, women’s health and rights have greatly advanced in the last century. Yet lately, there seem to be an increasing number of examples of that success slipping away.
Last month in Honduras, the Supreme Court upheld a decision outlawing emergency contraception. Today, any woman or doctor found using or distributing the “morning-after” pill in that country could face criminal prosecution and jail time. The law equates emergency contraception with abortion, which is barred except in life-threatening cases and even then legally restricted.
As the name suggests, emergency contraception is not abortion. It is a form of contraception. This latest ruling in Honduras, however, reflects a larger global trend of opponents of legal abortion now going after birth control.
The global debate clearly echoes the regressive conversation taking place at home. Recent deliberation over health insurance coverage of contraception without co-pays has revealed the extreme positions held by some members of Congress. Opponents of legal abortion would like to bar women’s access not only to the procedure, but to the most effective means of preventing it. And these same opponents of birth control coverage for American women routinely propose slashing U.S. foreign aid for international family planning programs.
Those of us who work in public health know firsthand the consequences of denying women access to birth control. The picture is grim.
Globally, 215 million women want to plan or space their births but lack access to modern contraception. Virtually all of these women live in developing countries. Evidence shows that when women can’t access contraception, they experience high rates of unintended pregnancy, which leads to high rates of unsafe abortion, pregnancy complications, and maternal deaths. Evidence also shows that fewer women die from pregnancy-related causes in countries with strong, publicly funded family planning programs.
Here in the U.S., we are lucky to live in a country with public support for family planning. The vast majority of women who need it have access to modern contraception. In California we have one of the best family planning programs in the country where low-income women and men are provided access to preventive care.
The president’s recent budget request to Congress stays true to these ideals and protects funding for family planning programs at home and abroad. Time will tell if Congress chooses to honor these requests in the final budget. On International Women’s Day, we should be celebrating our success, not trying to dismantle them.
Darrah DiGiorgio Johnson
President & CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest