The Quickie: Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Take Aim at Sexual and Reproductive Health Care in Funding Bills
For Immediate Release: July 14, 2023
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: congressional anti-abortion politicians attack sexual and repro funding in appropriations and NDAA, IA Gov to sign abortion ban at GOP campaign event, and exposure to racism may be causing early menopause.
DEJA VU: ANTI-ABORTION RIGHTS POLITICIANS TRYING TO SHUT DOWN PLANNED PARENTHOOD, SEXUAL AND REPRO HEALTH PROGRAMS IN FEDERAL FUNDING BILL: This morning, politicians on the House Appropriations Committee who are hostile to sexual and reproductive health care advanced legislation that aims to shut down Planned Parenthood in their proposed annual Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill. The bill would cut off access to Planned Parenthood health centers for people who access care through federal programs funded by the bill.
“Politicians are still trying to control people's bodies. By attacking sexual and reproductive health care they're proving that they refuse to learn from, or listen to, their constituents…Now lawmakers opposed to sexual and reproductive health care want to take away birth control, cancer screenings, and other critical health care from millions of people. And they are seeking to shut down Planned Parenthood — again.” Alexis McGill Johnson, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF), said.
“Politicians who oppose reproductive freedom, along with their allies, are also trying to sue Planned Parenthood out of existence — using a federal court case in Texas before the very same judge who tried to end FDA approval of mifepristone. Make no mistake: out-of-step and alarming attempts to eliminate patients' access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers will continue.”
Read more from the Washington Post here, and more about what the bill includes here.
HOUSE VOTES FOR NDAA: This morning, members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included several harmful amendments attacking access to health care for service members and their families. Alexis McGill Johnson, PPAF President, responded to their votes:
“For years, anti-abortion House members have shown that they will stop at nothing to push their unpopular and dangerous agenda to control our health and bodies — including sneaking harmful amendments into legislation at every turn. Everyone deserves access to abortion, including service members and their families. These lawmakers were elected to represent the American people, who overwhelmingly support abortion rights and access to sexual and reproductive health care, not to play games with our rights. Planned Parenthood Action Fund will continue to call these members out for their reckless votes.”
IOWA GOVERNOR TO SIGN ABORTION BAN AT GOP CAMPAIGN EVENT: This afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign Iowa’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy at the Family Leader summit, an anti-abortion event where GOP candidates for president will be celebrating the destruction of reproductive freedom in the country.
While these candidates make a political spectacle out of Iowans’ rights, Planned Parenthood North Central States and other plaintiffs will be before a Polk County district judge seeking to block the abortion ban. If the judge grants the request for a temporary injunction, abortion will remain legal in Iowa while litigation continues.
We can’t believe we have to say this again: Gov. Reynolds and the candidates appearing at Family Leader are out of touch with the 61% of Iowans that support abortion rights. If we learned anything from the 2022 elections, it’s that voters are fired up and will turn out in droves to protect abortion rights.
Frankly, anti-abortion politicians are corny — voters will roast them at the polls. 🌽
RACIAL WEATHERING MAY BE CAUSING EARLY MENOPAUSE IN BLACK, HISPANIC WOMEN: According to a new study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, Black and Hispanic women reach menopause age around 1.2 years earlier than their white counterparts. The study attributes the difference to “racial weathering,” described by Word in Black as “a concept that argues that chronic exposure to racism causes early health deterioration.” The data came from a cohort of more than 3,000 participants as part of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), an ongoing research project.
Because Black and Hispanic women reach menopause earlier, age requirements associated with menopause studies must be considered carefully to ensure that research is representative of all demographics of people starting or experiencing menopause.
“The implications of these findings are incredibly important to understanding the true burden of racial disparities in women’s health and indicate that researchers need to be more thoughtful about eligibility criteria and the potential for underestimating racial disparities in longitudinal health studies,” Siobán Harlow, senior author of the study, said.
Read more at Word in Black.