Concerned citizens of Miami County banded together to find a solution for the all male county commissions decision to strip low income women of that community of their access to low cost contraception. They independently raised $9,000 and presented one oversized check to the Miami County Commission.
The current backlash against women is falling under the creative new smokescreen of "religious liberty." Religious arguments against contraception have been used for 50 years, but women, public health officials, and legislators generally favored common sense and personal religious freedeom over ideology from an earlier century. In this election year, however, common sense seems a distant memory.
The current attacks on women’s health, sexuality, and self-determination — in states, GOP debates, on the airwaves, and beyond — are appalling enough. But it’s only part of the story.
Boycotts and harassment tactics have an impact, even if it’s not the impact the anti-choicers would like. When businesses submit to antiabortion browbeating, it forces clinicians to scramble to find new suppliers, diverts attention from the provision of care, and exacerbates tensions and anxieties.
The same Governor who signed the “fetal pain” bill will be using the same pen to veto the legislation reversing the policy whose effects will hurt wanted, pain capable infants. The mothers of these wanted infants will experience their baby’s deaths prior to their first birthdays, as American infants residing on American soil.
Weekly global roundup: Burmese democracy activist wins historic Parliament seat; the UN investigates honor killings in India; Open source rape tracking in Syria; and female condoms make a comeback in Nigeria.
As we hold our breath to see how the Court will decide the fate of the ACA, now is a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of health care reform for women living with HIV and affected by HIV.
