Women's Health and my Senator's Response

I opened my email this morning to find a message from Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In it, she let's me know that women's ability to manage their own health care is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology of the Bush Administration.

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Joseph,

At 2:00 this afternoon, the Bush administration launched an attack on women's health care and reproductive rights that has put Planned Parenthood and the people we serve in the fight of our lives.

We need your help today — and over the next few weeks — to fight back. Thank you in advance for standing with us during this critical time.

For the past month, we have been aware that the Bush administration was planning to release a rule that would limit the rights of patients to receive complete and accurate reproductive health information and services. With your help, we did all we could to stop the president from going through with the threat to release the new rule. But Bush was intent on delivering this "gift" to his extreme anti-choice supporters before he left office. Today was their lucky day.

You can bet that anti-choice activists are thrilled that President Bush made good on his promise to them. This rule will allow them to receive federal funds for so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" — anti-choice facilities whose purpose is to deceive and dissuade women from accessing birth control and abortion information and services. Click here to help us fight back.

A woman's ability to manage her own health care is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology. The new regulation complicates rather than clarifies the law. It lets health care providers define abortion, which could threaten access to birth control and broader reproductive health care. This is just one more instance of the Bush administration putting politics in the exam room.

We've got a fight on our hands — and it's a big one. We have 30 days to dispute the rule with everything we've got. That includes you, Joseph. It is during crises like the one happening today when your support for Planned Parenthood and the people we serve is most needed. We need your emergency contribution. We're launching a massive campaign immediately. Click here to help.

When more and more families are uninsured and have difficulty accessing health care at all, implementing a rule that will limit access to health services is utterly perplexing. The Bush administration's outrageous actions never cease to amaze me, but this one is beyond belief. It will hurt the women who most need help at a time when they are most vulnerable. It's unconscionable, and it is wrong. And, once again, it's our job to stop it.

Thank you, thank you, for your help today and during the next few weeks.

Sincerely,
Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

The news release from Health and Human Services can be found here.

Perched in the pre-Alps of Switzerland, I composed an email to my congressman Dave Obey, my senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, as well as to Barack Obama. Thanks Planned Parenthood for providing me with a template letter that I copied and pasted, then modified!

I received a response from Senator Feingold that makes me proud to be from Wisconsin!

His email reads like this:

Dear Mr. Halaas,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Bush administration's draft proposed regulation regarding women's access to health and family planning information and services. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As you know, the draft proposed rule would require hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools to certify that they will not refuse to hire medical providers who object to providing care related to abortion or birth control in order to receive federal aid. The proposal also defines abortion so broadly that some contraceptives could be included under this definition.

On July 23, 2008, I joined 27 of my Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt asking him to abandon plans to promulgate this rule. I have included a copy for your review.

You may be interested to know that on March 17, 2008, I also joined a number of my Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Specter of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education asking for $400 million for Title X for fiscal year 2009. I have included a copy for your review, too.

I believe educating individuals about pregnancy prevention and contraception, prenatal health care, parenting, and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases results in healthier families and a healthier society, and I strongly support efforts to provide all Americans with the high-quality health care they deserve.

Thanks again for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me in the future regarding this or any other matter of concern.

I will post the letter he and his senate colleagues (including Obama) sent to Leavitt in July. You should be able to click on the images of the pages of the letters to see larger, more readable versions.

I urge you to contact your elected officials to let them know that this rule would greatly undermine women's health by depriving women of accurate information and services.