Health Care Reform is Heating Up!
Health care reform bills are moving quickly in Washington D.C. As a trusted health care provider serving over 56,512 women a year with thousands of pap smears, breast exams, and tests for sexually transmitted infection(s), Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri (PPMO) want to make sure women’s health is a priority in health care reform.
Just this week (7/9) women’s health got a boost when Senator Mikulski’s Women’s Health Amendment passed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee! This amendment captures Planned Parenthood’s priorities in health care reform by doing two key things:
- It provides coverage—with no or limited cost sharing—for women’s preventative health care and screenings; and
- Ensures patients’ access to essential community providers, such as HIV/AIDS clinics, public hospitals, and women’s health centers like Planned Parenthood.
Right now all the action on health care reform is with the committees in Congress who are drafting the bills that will shape health care reform. While there are no elected officials from Missouri on the key committees, PPMO has sprung into action on this critical national campaign. Planned Parenthood volunteers from Missouri and Texas contacted 1,400 women in Utah urging them to contact their Congressman who is on a key committee. Working together we generated over 200 calls into UT Representative Matheson and his office got the message!
You can join in on this historic campaign by participating in one of these exciting phone banks on Monday July 20th from 1-4 or 5:30-8 at Planned Parenthood offices statewide.
Planned Parenthood is Proud to Participate in PRIDE fests
June is a tremendous month for Planned Parenthood community outreach. While enjoying local PRIDE events and the Route 66 Summer Fest in Rolla, nearly 100 Planned Parenthood volunteers got 1,736 supporters to sign onto the Prevention First petition that will be delivered to their elected officials at the beginning of the next legislative session. See fun photos of Planned Parenthood at PRIDE on the next page!
Missouri Legislator Attracts National Spotlight (Unfortunately)
Representative Cynthia Davis, Republican from St. Charles County, has received attention from national media outlets such as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report after publishing a controversial commentary on her legislative website. Rep. Davis criticizes summer food programs and suggests that allowing children to go hungry as a preferable policy approach because hunger might be a “powerful motivator.” Rep. Davis is the chair of the Missouri House committee on Children and Families and some are calling for her removal over the remarks.
Missourians and Kansans pay Tribute to Dr. Tiller
The outpouring of sadness and anger at the murder of Dr. Tiller from our communities in Missouri and Kansas and beyond, has been overwhelming. Over 400 people participated in vigils in honor of Dr. Tiller held in Kansas City, Columbia, Springfield and St. Louis. It's been hard to know what to do to comfort those who are mourning, and to make some sense out of this horrific act. The Planned Parenthood family has put our feelings into words, and we're hoping to use those words to bring us at least a few steps closer to the world of compassion and caring that Dr. Tiller sought, and that we must continue to seek. Please read our open letter, add your name, and pass it on.