Tag Archives: health care

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Putting Women’s Health First


Q: Is it true that women in the Philippines now have free access to contraception?

A: Yes, it is true! Millions of Filipinos will finally have universal, free access to contraception—as well as expanded reproductive health education. After a decade of political debate and year-long a Supreme Court battle, the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, also known as the RH Law, will be going into effect. Read more > In the News Mississippi Governor Bryant Signs Dangerous and Unconstitutional Ban on Abortion…read more > Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Severely Restricting Access to Medication Abortion…read more > Health Care Providers Ask Full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to Reconsider Texas Law that Blocks Abortion Access…read more >   RW, April 2014

  In The NEWs

Mississippi Governor Bryant Signs Dangerous and Unconstitutional Ban on Abortion…read more >

Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Severely Restricting Access to Medication Abortion…read more >

Health Care Providers Ask Full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to Reconsider Texas Law that Blocks Abortion Access…read more >

RW, April 2014

Putting Women’s Health First

RW, April 2014

A Dallas hospital has chosen to discriminate against two good doctors rather than protect women’s health. Recently, the hospital revoked the doctors’ admitting privileges, specifically because—and they said as much—they provide abortion services. That’s illegal, and our partners are fighting against the hospital’s decision in court. Here’s what the hospital told them: “[Your] practice of performing [abortions] is disruptive…[and] creates significant exposure and damages to [our] reputation within the community.” It’s insane for a hospital to deny women care because it believes performing abortions “damages” its reputation. This lawsuit will remind the hospital—and the Texas government—that it must put women’s health first. Read More >

Victory in North Dakota and Arkansas

RW, April 2014

When Arkansas banned abortion at twelve weeks of pregnancy last year, we thought the state was redefining the word “extreme.” But just weeks later, North Dakota set a new low by banning abortion at six weeks—before most women even know they’re pregnant. We immediately challenged both of these laws and, with help from supporters like you, we’ve secured resounding victories from the courts. It’s essential that we’re prepared to challenge dangerous and unconstitutional restrictions like these, but the truth is women should not be forced to go to court, year after year in state after state, to protect their constitutional rights. We need Congress to pass a law that will stop these bans before they get passed. Please urge your senators and representatives to support the Women’s Health Protection Act. Take action today >

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The First 100 Days


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The New GOP Congress’s First 100 Days Doesn’t Look Good

While the rest of us take down our holiday decorations, newly elected Congressional Republicans are hanging decorations in their new Capital Hill offices. Now with control of both the House and the Senate, the GOP is kicking off the year with a list of priorities that are sure to please right-wing extremists and special interests. Let’s take a look at a few things to expect in the first 100 days of the 114th Congress, now that the GOP controls the House and the Senate:

Keystone XL Pipeline
Instead of tackling climate change head-on and focusing their efforts on investments in clean and renewable energy, Republicans are looking to pass a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline within the next few weeks. Building the Keystone pipeline threatens America’s credibility as a climate leader and would create only 35 permanent jobs.

Health Care
Despite the near-constant evidence that the Affordable Care Act is working, Republicans will only double down on their opposition now that they control both chambers of Congress. One of the first things they’ve pledged to do is pass a repeal bill that they know the President will veto. And while they’ve promised to try to repeal the ACA, they still don’t have any semblance of a replacement. Instead, they’re waiting on the Supreme Court to hear a case in March that, if the Court rules the wrong way, could effectively take affordable health care away from millions of Americans.

Deadlines
Department of Homeland Security: After removing most of the Department of Homeland Security’s budget from last year’s budget deal, Republicans now have to figure out how to fund the department and please their far-right anti-immigrant base. Expect proposals opposing President Obama’s immigration executive action and cracking down on child migrants looking to reunite with their family.

Debt ceiling: The next debt ceiling deadline is March 15. As economy improves and confidence rebuilds, will GOP brinksmanship again threaten economic collapse?

Leadership
Despite these priorities, what’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) goal in this session of Congress? Don’t be scary. “I don’t want the American people to think that if they add a Republican president to a Republican Congress, that’s going to be a scary outcome,” McConnell told the Washington Post. Meanwhile: Congressional Republicans, from leadership to freshmen, have closed ranks behind the House’s number 3, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), in light of reports that Scalise addressed a white supremacist group headed by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan in 2002.

States
The GOP not only took over the U.S. Senate in 2014, the party also gained record majorities in state legislatures across the country. That appears to be leading to widespread GOP plans to wage wars against labor and workers, women’s reproductive health, education reform and clean power regulations.

Happy 2015.

BOTTOM LINE: The first 100 days of the new Congress is a marker for the priorities of the new GOP leadership. And from the looks of it so far, that means more attacks on working people, more favors for special interests, and more catering to the extreme right-wing.

 

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Official Google blog …


Often the hardest part of traveling is navigating the local language. If you’ve ever asked for “pain” in Paris and gotten funny looks, confused “embarazada” with “embarrassed” in Mexico, or stumbled over pronunciation pretty much anywhere, you know the feeling. Now Google Translate can be your guide in new ways. We’ve updated the Translate app on Android and iOS to transform your mobile device into an even more powerful translation tool.

Instant translation with Word Lens
The Translate app already lets you use camera mode to snap a photo of text and get a translation for it in 36 languages. Now, we’re taking it to the next level and letting you instantly translate text using your camera—so it’s way easier to navigate street signs in the Italian countryside or decide what to order off a Barcelona menu. While using the Translate app, just point your camera at a sign or text and you’ll see the translated text overlaid on your screen—even if you don’t have an Internet or data connection.

This instant translation currently works for translation from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and we’re working to expand to more languages.

Have an easier conversation using the Translate app
When talking with someone in an unfamiliar language, conversations can… get… realllllllly… sloowwww. While we’ve had real-time conversation mode on Android since 2013, our new update makes the conversation flow faster and more naturally.

Starting today, simply tap the mic to start speaking in a selected language, then tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will automatically recognize which of the two languages are being spoken, letting you have a more fluid conversation. For the rest of the conversation, you won’t need to tap the mic again—it’ll be ready as you need it. Asking for directions to the Rive Gauche, ordering bacalhau in Lisbon, or chatting with your grandmother in her native Spanish just got a lot faster.

These updates will be coming to both Android and iOS, rolling out over the next few days. This is the first time some of these advanced features, like camera translations and conversation mode, will be available for iOS users.

More than 500 million people use Google Translate every month, making more than 1 billion translations a day to more easily communicate and access information across languages. Today’s updates take us one step closer to turning your phone into a universal translator and to a world where language is no longer a barrier to discovering information or connecting with each other.

Posted by Barak Turovsky, Product Lead, Google Translate

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YOU fought for the Amazon!


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As we enter this exciting New Year, we’re so grateful for your continued support! Thanks to partnerships with so many of you across every continent the global movement to protect the Amazon is thriving and growing. Thank YOU!

Every donation you made is a powerful statement about who you are and what you stand for. You believe in justice. You support indigenous rights. You work to defend the Amazon and to protect our global climate. Thank YOU!

Thanks to this growing support Amazon Watch continues to meet and surpass our online fundraising goals and 2014 was wildly successful. You shared our stories, promoted our work and inspired others with your support. Thank YOU!

2015 is going to be a tough one:

  • Investments from China in Ecuador are increasing pressure to expand oil drilling into the most ecologically sensitive parts of the Amazon
  • The newly re-elected president of Brazil has made terrible choices already by naming the “Chainsaw Queen” as Minister of the Environment and a climate change denier as Minister of Science & Technology
  • Five separate oil spills still plague the Marañon River in Peru, a country who continues to chop up its Amazon into oil concessions

We know we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we can’t thank you enough for helping us ramp up capacity to take on these challenges. If you haven’t yet made an investment in the future of the Amazon or you are able to make another, the time is now. What better way to start the new year than to invest in a greener, healthier and more just planet?

Join Amazon Watch as we work together to defend the rainforest and advance the rights of its indigenous guardians in 2015!

Your partnership truly means the world to us. Thank YOU!

For the Amazon,
– The team at Amazon Watch
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A Benefit To Businesses


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Health Insurance Giant Aetna Is Raising Wages For Its Lowest Paid Workers

A common refrain from some in the business community who oppose a minimum wage increase is that higher wages for low-income workers will be costly enough to either force businesses to raise prices for consumers or cause them to lay off workers. Aetna, a Fortune 100 company with nearly 50,000 employees, just made a decision that sharply rebukes that argument. The health insurance giant has announced it is raising the minimum wage for its workers to $16 per hour. In doing so, the company specifically cited the business benefits, not the costs, of the move.

The raises, which comes on the heels of similar wage increases by big name companies like Starbucks and Gap, are significant. An estimated 5,700 Aetna employees will get a pay bump — an 11 percent increase on average and up to 33 percent for some workers. And it won’t be free: the company expects the move to cost an estimated $14 million this year, and $25.5 million in 2016.

Nonetheless, Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini laid out the business case for raising the wages of low-income employees. Here are a few of the reasons he cited, in an interview to the Wall Street Journal:

  • Adapting the company for the future: “We’re preparing our company for a future where we’re going to have a much more consumer-oriented business.”
  • Workforce development: “[Aetna wants] a better and more informed work force.”
  • Reducing turnover costs: According to the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Bertolini said Aetna hopes to reduce its turnover costs of around $120 million a year and improve the quality of job prospects and the engagement of workers who interact with consumers and health-care providers.”

And then there is a broader reason that factored into Mr. Bertolini’s decision: “It’s not just about paying people, it’s about the whole social compact,” Mr. Bertolini said, adding, “Why can’t private industry step forward and make the innovative decisions on how to do this?”

BOTTOM LINE: The decision by Aetna to raise wages for their low-income employees demonstrates one of the business imperatives for raising wages. Simply put, investing in workers pays off for companies in more ways than one. We’d thank Aetna for it’s decision, but we know that the company didn’t made this move because of groups like ours. It made the move because it cares about its workers, and it cares about its bottom line.