Tag Archives: Reproductive rights

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Watch Our New Video: Will You Get the Life-Saving Care You Need?

04/18/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Do you think our nation’s leaders would allow a hospital to refuse to perform an emergency abortion on a woman — even if it means she would die? Unfortunately, if some leaders have their way, the answer would be yes. The House of Representatives actually passed a bill that would allow hospitals to turn away women needing emergency abortion care. This bill is just one example of the recent onslaught of attacks at both the federal and state level that aim to deny women’s access to reproductive health care.

Getting the emergency care a woman needs should not depend on the hospital to which she is taken.

From this bill and others on the spring agenda of the U.S. House of Representatives, to state bills that would mandate transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortion care or that would shut down provider clinics, anti-choice lawmakers continue to take aim at women’s health care at every level. We can’t stand by and wait to see what their next attack brings — watch our new video and tell your leaders to stop the attacks on women’s reproductive health care by saying: My Health is NOT Up for Debate™!

Thank you for continuing to stand up for women’s health.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center

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Help Us Protect the Contraceptive Coverage Decision …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

02/01/2012 Nativegrl77


	Help Us Protect the Contraceptive Coverage Decision



	Please donate today to help us protect the contraceptive coverage decision and fight for other issues vital to women.

	WWW.NWLC.ORG

We recently told you about an important victory for women: the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a final rule providing contraceptives without co-pays AND without an expansion of the religious employer exemption.
But contraception opponents aren’t giving up, even though there is a religious exemption: they’ve launched a full-court press to try to overturn this crucial decision. They’ve filed court cases, they’re pressuring politicians and they’re taking to the airwaves and editorial pages in a coordinated effort to try to turn back the clock on contraceptive coverage. They don’t want you covered, and we can’t let them win.
Please help NWLC push back, by making a generous donation to support this fight on contraceptive coverage and our other fights to protect women and women’s health.
Over the summer, HHS deemed birth control a necessary preventive health service, thus requiring insurance plans to cover it without co-pays under the Affordable Care Act. This month’s announcement affirmed that momentous decision, and your work was vital in assuring that it happened. Since the summer, you sent over 100,000 comments in favor of the policy, and HHS listened.
The agency’s decision did allow a narrow set of religious employers to deny this critical coverage to their employees. But opponents of contraception aren’t satisfied: while they’d prefer the coverage to be dropped altogether, for now they’re trying to find alternative routes to expand the exception to include religiously “affiliated” hospitals, universities and other organizations. More than 1 million employees and the women in their families would be affected if they were to succeed.
We can’t let them win — help us work to keep this vital advance in place.
For many years, the National Women’s Law Center has advocated for equity in health insurance coverage, including working to ensure that women have access to affordable contraception and other preventive services. And, with support from friends like you, this year the hard work paid off. Please don’t let this victory be temporary — help us protect the contraceptive coverage decision and fight for other issues so vital to women.
You helped before and we won. But the struggle isn’t over, and I know you’ll do your part once again. Thank you.
Sincerely,

Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please help today by making a generous donation to support NWLC’s work on contraceptive coverage and other fights vital to women and women’s health.

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Breaking News: Access to No-Cost Birth Control Secured …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

01/23/2012 Nativegrl77


	ALL Women Need Birth Control without a Co-Pay



	Thank Secretary Sebelius for standing firm and issuing a final rule providing women access to birth control with no co-pays.

Because of you, many women will not lose access to no-cost birth control under the health care law.

WWW.NWLC.ORG
For months now, we’ve been updating you on a new “interim” rule that would provide women across the country access to birth control with no co-pays. This morning, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it was issuing a final rule providing contraceptives without co-pays and refused to expand the religious employer exemption.
Over the summer in its temporary rules, HHS deemed birth control a necessary preventive health service for women, thus requiring coverage without co-pays by the Affordable Care Act. It also would allow a narrow set of religious employers to deny this critical coverage to their employees. But that didn’t satisfy opponents of contraception.

WWW.NWLC.ORG

They wanted the coverage to be dropped, or at least to expand the exception to nearly 1.5 million employees and the women in their families. HHS stood firm, taking a giant step forward in protecting women’s health.
Join us in thanking Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for standing firm and issuing a final rule providing women access to birth control with no co-pays.
It is crucial that women have access to affordable birth control to prevent unintended pregnancies, plan the timing and size of their families, and protect their health. The reality is that nearly all sexually active women in the U.S., regardless of their religious beliefs, use contraception at some point in their lives. Contraception is a preventive health service that should be covered, as HHS has determined. While any exception is unwarranted, an expansion of the exemption would have meant that nearly 1.5 million employees and the women in their families would lose the right to no-cost birth control.
For many years, the National Women’s Law Center has worked to get contraception covered in all health insurance plans, and we won’t stop now. Over the past few months, you’ve joined our effort and sent over 100,000 messages as part of our birth control — we’ve got you covered campaign. And we need your help again — thank Secretary Sebelius for the basic coverage now provided, and urge her to work to make sure that those women whose employers fit into the exception get access to contraception.
Thank you for all that you do to support women’s access to reproductive health care.
Sincerely,

Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your support allows us to continue to improve the health care of women and their

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Last Chance: Make the Health Care Law Work Better for Women …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

10/21/2011 Nativegrl77

Over the past few months, you helped us send nearly 15,000 messages to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make sure ALL women get birth control without a co-payment through the health care law.

We need your help again. HHS is deciding how key parts of the health care law will work and is accepting comments from the public until the end of the month. Join us in telling HHS how to improve the way the health care law works for women!

There are three things HHS can do right now that are crucial to women’s health:

: Include strong consumer protections to make it easy for women to enroll in high quality, affordable health care plans that meet their needs.
: Simplify the rules for insurance plans that cover abortion so women can choose the health plan that’s right for them.
: Maintain strong, enforceable standards to protect women against discrimination.

We need your help! Tell HHS to move women’s health forward by including these three important provisions in the implementation of the health care law.

The new health law has already helped millions of women: insurance companies are prohibited from dropping patients when they become sick and can no longer limit the amount of money they will pay for benefits over a woman’s lifetime, and women can get no-cost preventive health care like mammograms and pap smears.

We will continue to work with you to make sure that we keep this important law strong for women and their families.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your support allows us to continue to improve the health care of women and their families, as well as work on many other critical issues. Please consider making a contribution today.

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Tell Them What They Did Was Wrong …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

10/17/2011 Nativegrl77

Speaker Boehner and his allies in the House of Representatives acted shamefully: they passed H.R. 358, a dangerous bill that would undermine women’s health and even put women’s lives at risk. As we told you earlier this week, H.R. 358 is so extreme that some women facing pregnancy complications could die as a result.

The bill is not expected to pass the Senate, and President Obama has promised to veto it even if it does, but this vote was more than symbolic — these provisions are likely to surface again, either as standalone legislation or as amendments to other bills.

Put your Member of Congress on notice. Find out how she or he voted, and let’s express our thanks to those champions who stood up for women’s health and make clear our disappointment with the others.

WWW.NWLC.ORG

It’s obvious that Americans want Congress to work on creating jobs and helping our ailing economy, yet Speaker Boehner and his supporter STILL focus their energies on attacking women’s health. H.R. 358 would:Prevent purchase of health insurance in the new Exchanges that includes abortion care, meaning that millions of women would either be prevented from purchasing insurance plans that cover abortion or would lose the coverage they currently have.
Allow hospitals to refuse to perform emergency abortions, letting them deny emergency abortions to women whose life or health could be saved by the procedure.
Take away existing health insurance coverage, opening an enormous loophole in the new health care law that would allow states to broaden refusal laws so that insurance companies in their state could deny women the access to contraception without co-pays that we secured, with your help, over the summer!
Please thank the leaders who stood against this dangerous piece of legislation, and put the others on notice that we’re watching in case these provisions surface again. With your help, we’ll make sure that H.R. 358’s shameful assault on women’s health does NOT become the law of the land.

Thank you for everything you do to protect women’s access to reproductive health care.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your support allows us to continue our work for women and their families. Support our work today!