Health Care Reform - Medical Abortion At Risk in Texas
February 8, 2023
Good Day Healthcare Advocates - State of the Union
The president’s speech yesterday mentioned some improvements to health care. He identified allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, capping insulin costs for Medicare enrollees, capping drug prices for seniors beginning in 2025, and that an additional 16M signed up for the ACA when it was made more affordable for them. He had the right phrase, “Let’s finish the job”. For us that’s universal healthcare, not all of the individual bandaids applied along the way.
Current State - Court Cases that Matter
There are a lot of health care issues that need our attention and our voice. My wife and daughter are now treated by many in this country as less than full citizens because they are not allowed the self-determination of full health care rights, reproductive rights, over their own bodies. This past week I met with a friend of ours and she described how during her second pregnancy she began to hemorrhage. Had not abortion been an option she would have died. Haven’t we had enough of this rolling back our society. We can’t let the Know-Nothings run our lives.
According to the Kaiser Health News (Link) There are a number of threats to abortion rights around the corner. Let’s remember that more than about ⅓ of all pregnancies are not viable and often need an abortion to prevent serious life threatening complications. The drug combination Mifepristone and Misoprostol, are used in more than half of all abortions. They have been demonstrated to be safe to use for the last 20 years and are, in fact, so safe to use that the FDA has authorized telemedicine consultations for a prescription.
There is a lawsuit in federal court in Texas brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right wing anti-abortion group, seeking to revoke the decades-old approval of Mifepristone, claiming it is dangerous. This in the face of 23 years of safe and effective use. The case is underway in the Amarillo, Texas court of Trump appointed U. S. District Court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. He is well known for conservative views regarding same-sex marriage and abortion. A ruling is expected this week and would be appealed in the right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and could ultimately be presented to the anti-abortion U. S. Supreme Court.
What would stop this nonsense? A federal law enshrining a woman’s right to an abortion. Let President Biden, Vice President Harris, and your elected officials know with the email below.
What You Can Do - Today
You can cut and paste the text below into an email to your representatives and the White House or use it in a phone call to them (feel free to personalize it) or use RESISTBOT to send an email to the White House, and your representatives in Washington D.C.
RESISTBOT Text the phrase SIGN PMHXIO to 50409
I am your constituent. More than ⅓ of all pregnancies are not viable and many of those require abortion to save the woman’s life. Mifepristone and Misoprostol are used in more than ½ of all abortions safely and effectively for more than 20 years. So safe that telemedicine can be used to prescribe them.
But now a federal lawsuit in the court of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas could end that and demote women’s status further by making medical abortion illegal. YOU CAN FIX THIS AND RESTORE WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND STATUS AS FULL CITIZENS.
I want you to support and pass legislation that says
“The United States shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom decisions, which includes the individual's fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and the individual's fundamental right to choose to use contraception”. I promise I will watch what you do.
Resources
Contact Federal Representatives
Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Senators
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
White House
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
References
Kaiser Health
NARAL/Pro Choice
https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/
Planned Parenthood
Done!