Have you heard? Planned Parenthood Action Fund is hosting a membership forum with 20 presidential candidates this Saturday! We’ll be in Columbia, S.C., talking to candidates about their stances on issues most important to Planned Parenthood Action Fund members.
Here are just a few of the topics Action Fund members are asking about:
Expanding Abortion Access
For years, we’ve seen barriers put up on access to abortion care – including more than 430 restrictions at the state level. More recently, we’ve seen laws in Alabama that outlaw abortion altogether, or in Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, Georgia, Missouri, and Louisiana that ban abortion at a point before most women know they are pregnant. We want a president who will protect and expand access to abortion.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Six-Week Bans
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: What You Need to Know About the Wave of Unconstitutional Abortion Bans in the States
Courts And Judicial Appointments
One of the most important roles a president has is nominating judges and justices to lifetime appointments on the federal judiciary, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Given how President Trump has radically reshaped the judiciary by packing the courts with anti-reproductive health judges, we’re looking for candidates with bold ideas on how to restore balance to our courts and make sure our courts protect sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Trump’s Renomination of Anti-Abortion Judges Could Dismantle Reproductive Rights
Access To Reproductive Health For People Who Are Incarcerated
2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States; that’s one-fourth of the world’s prison population. This mass incarceration, which often targets Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ people, can have devastating effects on sexual and reproductive health care. People in jail have reported being shackled during pregnancy and being denied menstrual products and regular gynecological exams. We’re looking for candidates who can bring solutions to make sure that all people have access to the care they need.
Learn More:
- ACOG: Reproductive Health Care for Incarcerated Women and Adolescent Females
- Center for American Progress: Upholding the Dignity of Incarcerated Women
- NWHN: Reproductive (In)justice: Women and Mothers in Prison
- Williams Institute: Incarceration rate of LGB People Three Times That of People in the General Population
Getting Rid Of Discriminatory Refusal Rules
The Trump-Pence administration has made it easier for health care providers to deny care to people based on how patients identify. We’re looking for candidates who will commit to repealing these rules and expand access to care for everyone.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: “Religious Refusal” Rules and Reproductive Health Care
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: I Experienced Health Care Discrimination. Trump’s Refusal Rule Makes it Worse
Removing Economic Barriers to Abortion Care
In order to make abortion truly accessible for everyone, we need to ensure that financial barriers are removed. This means repealing the Hyde Amendment, and increasing access to reproductive health care — including abortion — through programs like Medicaid.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Hyde Amendment
- The New York Times: What Is the Hyde Amendment? A Look at Its Impact
- Center for American Progress: The Hyde Amendment Has Perpetuated Inequality in Abortion Access for 40 Years
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Medicaid and Reproductive Health
Increasing Access To Contraception For All
The Trump-Pence administration has taken multiple actions to attack access to birth control and contraception. We are looking for a president who will protect and expand our access to contraception — including long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: The Fight for Birth Control
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: What You Need to Know About Trump's Birth Control Rules
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 4 Ways Trump’s Birth Control Rule Hurts Young People (and how to fight back)
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Who’s Most Impacted by Attacks on Birth Control
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: You Might Be Losing Access to Birth Control Thanks to Donald Trump
- Planned Parenthood for America: Trump Administration Takes Direct Aim at Birth Control Coverage for 62 Million Women
- Center for American Progress: The High Cost of Birth Control
- Planned Parenthood for America: Court Stops Trump’s Nationwide Assault on Birth Control Coverage
- ACOG: Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Program
- Guttmacher: Guarding Against Coercion While Ensuring Access: A Delicate Balance
- NWHN-Sister Song: NWHN-SisterSong Joint Statement of Principles on LARCs
Title X
The Trump-Pence administration has attempted to decimate the Title X program through its domestic gag rule. We want a president who will protect and strengthen this essential program.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Title X: The Nation’s Program for Affordable Birth Control and Reproductive Health Care
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Breaking: Congress Introduces “Title X Protection” to Safeguard Affordable Health Care for 4 Million People Against Trump’s Illegal and Unethical Gag Rule
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: What is the Trump-Pence Administration's "Gag Rule?”
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: The Trump-Pence Administration’s Latest Attempt to “Defund” Planned Parenthood, Explained
- Center for American Progress: What the Domestic Gag Rule Means for Title X Providers
- Guttmacher: Publicly Funded Family Planning Services in the United States
Protecting Pregnant People And New Parents
According to a study, “more American women are dying of pregnancy-related complications than [in] any other developed country.” Due to disparities in health care access and delivery, Black women, are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. We want a candidate who will commit to taking bold actions to stop this epidemic.
Learn More:
- Center for American Progress: Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality
- Center for American Progress: Limiting Abortion Access Contributes to Poor Maternal Health Outcomes
- Planned Parenthood for America: Black Maternal Health Week: Planned Parenthood Joins Call for Maternal Health Research That Centers Black Women
Lowering Health Care Costs
Health care costs are skyrocketing and putting critical care out of reach for millions of people. We want a president who will take big steps to reverse this.
Learn More:
- NWLC: Reproductive Health Is Part of the Economic Health of Women and Their Families
- Kaiser Family Foundation: Women's Coverage, Access, and Affordability: Key Findings from the 2017 Kaiser Women’s Health Survey
- Rewire: For Black Undocumented Immigrants, Cost May Be Major Barrier to Maternal Care
End The HIV/AIDS Epidemic
We have an epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and abroad. The discrimination and stigma faced by the groups most affected by HIV and AIDS — Black women, transgender people, young people, and men who have sex with men — can leave these communities without access to HIV prevention tools and lifesaving treatments. It can also leave people who live with AIDS without the care and support they need. We want a candidate who will ensure that people get the care they need and that we can end this epidemic.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood for America: Trump Talks Big Game on HIV Prevention Ahead of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day While Working to Cut Access to HIV Testing
- NPR: Trump's Redirection Of Family Planning Funds Could Undercut STD Fight
Global Access To Family Planning
The Trump-Pence administration’s global gag rule, along with other actions like defunding United Nations Population Fund, have put access to family planning and abortion care for millions of people outside the United States in danger. We want a president who will commit to expanding family planning and abortion access here and abroad — not reducing it.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: What is the Global Gag Rule?
- Planned Parenthood for America: Assessing the Global Gag Rule: Harms to Health, Communities, and Advocacy
- Planned Parenthood for America: Coalition Statement Opposing the Global Gag Rule
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Vision for the #WorldWeWant
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Protect U.S. International Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Protect U.S. Support for UNFPA
Providing Accurate Information About Health Care
There are thousands of crisis pregnancy centers (or CPCs) across the country that provide anti-abortion misinformation to thousands of people. We want a candidate who will ensure that health care providers tell people the truth — and discuss the full range of health care options with them, including abortion.
Learn More:
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund: Clergy statements on so-called “crisis pregnancy centers”
- HuffPost: What Are ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers,’ And Why Does The Supreme Court Care About Them?
- NARAL Pro-Choice America: The Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Tags: 2020 Election, We Decide