The Quickie: Chaos In Congress: Senate Republicans Are Fed Up With Tommy T

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: The chaos in Congress continues, Padma Lakshmi speaks up on behalf of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and PPFA’s Sara Flowers talks about how comprehensive sex education starts at home.

CHAOS IN CONGRESS: SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE FED UP WITH TOMMY T: This week, Senate Republicans, fed up with fellow Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) holding up military promotions over his opposition to abortion, tried to force nominations through one by one. For over four hours, Sen. Tuberville rejected all 61 individual votes. Veterans groups and abortion rights groups have already spoken out against Tuberville’s blockade, calling it out for what it is: an extreme attempt to take away service members' freedom and autonomy. But the internal GOP dissent is at an all-time high, with the Senate trying to look more responsible than House GOP members. 

House Republicans still take the cake when it comes to their inability to govern. New polling this week shows Speaker Mike Johnson’s record dragging his caucus’s popularity down. Voters are concerned with his votes to cut social security/medicare/medicaid, against veterans’ health care, and against lowering prescription drug costs and insulin costs. 71% of voters are concerned with Speaker Johnson supporting abortions bans and criminally prosecuting doctors who perform abortions with sentences of 1-10 years of hard labor. 

 

PADMA LAKSHMI’S CALL TO ACTION: “THE FIGHT OF OUR GENERATION IS TO CONTROL OUR OWN BODIES”: On Wednesday, writer, activist, and host of Taste the Nation Padma Lakshmi spoke on behalf of Planned Parenthood Action Fund at Tiffany Shlain’s Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring on the National Mall. This event, presented by The National Women's History Museum, Women Connect4Good, and Let It Ripple​, included the installation of a temporary monument that chronicles women’s achievements stretching back 50,000 years. 

Lakshmi drew on her own personal experience and battle with endometriosis to highlight the ever present danger of the ongoing attacks on bodily autonomy and reproductive health care: 

“My hope is that the next milestone on this tree ring will simply be that all people — no matter who they are, where they live, or how much they have — can get the sexual and reproductive healthcare and information they need, when they need it. Privately without shame or judgment.

SEX EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME — AND IT STARTS EARLY: Unbeknownst to many, comprehensive sex education covers a lot more than sex. A solid foundation for sex education begins with conversations starting anywhere from ages two to five, using age-appropriate topics and language. 

For parents looking to initiate these conversations at home, a healthy starting point for young children includes topics like self-esteem, boundaries, and simply naming body parts and their functions correctly — all which aim to keep kids safe and lay the foundation for more in-depth sex ed later on. 

Sara C. Flowers, DrPH, the vice president of education & training at Planned Parenthood tells Essence: 

“Parents may not realize that they are setting the foundations of sex education at home when they teach their kids the correct names of body parts, but they are. Believe it or not, there are a number of other concepts kids are able to understand at young ages, including consent, setting and respecting personal boundaries, and healthy friendships.”

Dr. Flowers encourages parents to keep channels of communication open and free of shame or stigma. Ultimately, the most important thing is that children know they have a safe, judgment-free space to share and ask their questions. 

Read more from Essence here and check out PPFA’s sex education resources made especially for parents and caregivers.