Healthcare Advocacy - Reproductive Care - A View from the States
January 5, 2023
Good Day Healthcare Advocates
While the Congress gets ready for another day deciding who the speaker might be we will continue taking steps towards our goal of better, more affordable healthcare for all of us.
Many of you have suggested topics for us to research and present and several topics and for that, I thank you. Please send me a comment using the button below, to suggest topics and thank you. Today let’s talk about reproductive healthcare.
Mission
The Healthcare delivery system in the United States is a patchwork that leaves much to be desired. It is the most expensive system among the top 35 industrial countries and covers far fewer participants delivering lower levels of quality care than many of our peer nations. This blog will provide:
Current problems in healthcare
Actions you can take
References.
Current State of Affairs - Reproductive Health States Views
So many pregnancies end in miscarriage and need medical attention. Remember that denying access to reproductive health puts all these women’s lives at risk. Reproductive Healthcare is Healthcare!
January 22nd is the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision that the right to privacy implied in the 14th Amendment protected abortion as a fundamental right. On June 24, 2022 the Supreme Court overturned that decision.
Yesterday we took action calling our Federal legislators to ask them to protect abortion rights by working to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage (EACH) Act . See yesterday’s newsletter if you’d like to contact them again.
When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, reproductive rights were sent to the states to manage. Let’s see how that looks. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 44 states have some prohibition on abortion including 12 outright bans and one has ban at 6 weeks. The remaining states mostly vary between 15 and 24 weeks. You can read the type of restriction your state has here.
In my state, Washington, the state has pretty good protection for abortion rights in law. But Governor Inslee was worried that laws might be changed and so he proposed his own constitutional amendment to secure those rights. Here is a link to his constitutional amendment.
I’m not a legislator but a good start for a constitutional amendment looks like this
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM.
The state 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. This article is intended to expressly set forth the constitutional right to make reproductive freedom decisions for oneself included in a person's liberty, privacy, and equal protection rights guaranteed by our state’s laws or any other applicable provisions of the state Constitution. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to liberty, privacy, or equal protection under the law.
Here is a list of states where abortion is made legal by constitutional amendment.
Alaska
Arizona
California
Florida
Iowa
Kansas
Massachusetts
Montana
Minnesota
New Mexico
New Jersey
Vermont
Now if your state is NOT in this short list of states you can ask your governor and your state representatives to begin a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights.
What You Can Do Today Call/Email or Resistbot (not both)
Call/Email your governor and state representatives (see references below)
“My name is __________________(name) and I live in __________________(zipcode) and I am your constituent. All of us deserve a healthcare system that works. That includes women. I want you to put forward a constitutional amendment to enshrine women’s access to abortion and contraception. I will be watching.”
Resistbot
Here is an email Resistbot will send for you. Once to your Governor and once to your elected state representatives.
Governor - On your smartphone you can send an email to your governor by texting SIGN PPAZNL to 50409.
State Representatives - On your smartphone you can send an email to your representatives by texting SIGN PNJOKD to 50409
The text is:
All of us deserve a healthcare system that works. That includes women. I want you to put forward a constitutional amendment to enshrine women’s access to abortion and contraception. Please do this now. I will be watching.
Here is a template amendment for you.
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM.
The state 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. This article is intended to expressly set forth the constitutional right to make reproductive freedom decisions for oneself included in a person's liberty, privacy, and equal protection rights guaranteed by our state’s laws or any other applicable provision of the state Constitution. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to liberty, privacy, or equal protection under the law.
Thank you – you are making healthcare better for all of us.
References
Contact Your Governor Reproductive Rights
https://www.usa.gov/state-governor
Contact All Your Elected Representatives
https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/addr/
Reproductive Health References
Brennan Center - Reproductive Rights are Essential for Democracy
Center for Reproductive Rights
https://reproductiverights.org/state-constitutions-abortion-rights/
Planned Parenthood
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
Pro Choice America - NARAL
Vermont has added Reproductive Freedom to our Constitution at our election in November. The wording may be slightly different. Check it out!
Also, let's discuss the yeas and nehs for State Based Universal Healthcare initiatives which may have more of a chance of passing at the Congressional level this year.