The Quickie: Planned Parenthood Provider and Patient Advocate Testify Before Congress
For Immediate Release: Sept. 30, 2022
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.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD PROVIDER AND PATIENT ADVOCATE TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS: Yesterday, Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and trans care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, and Kelsey Leigh, a Pennsylvania-based patient advocate, testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Along with National Partnership for Women & Families President Jocelyn Frye and Physicians for Reproductive Health Fellow Dr. Nisha Verma, they detailed the devastating consequences of abortion bans for millions of people across the country since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Dr. Kumar explained the devastation his patients experience every day.
At her 20-week ultrasound, Kelsey received a devastating diagnosis in her wanted pregnancy and made the decision to have an abortion. After some lawmakers used their questioning time in yesterday’s hearing to discuss fetal development, including repeating misinformation about abortion, Kelsey explained, “it’s really difficult to sit here and hear that and then not actually be looked in the eye and asked about my experience."
Watch some of her powerful testimony here.
Read more from the Houston Chronicle, Mother Jones, and the Penn Capital-Star.
ROMANCE FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Looking for your next book? How about picking up a romance novel from one of the many authors coming out in support of reproductive rights? Bustle highlighted how authors and booksellers across the country are using their huge publishing power — nearly a quarter of the overall fiction market — to raise money for abortion access this year.
“Choices, access, self-empowerment. These are themes that return again and again within romance novels,” says author Eva Leigh. “When legislators are making decisions about whether you have a choice about the course of your life, it’s deeply impactful. And that makes people want to mobilize, especially within the romance community, because this is what we’re [writing about].”
It’s clear that romance readers are bringing their love to support reproductive freedom, too. Earlier this summer, Meet Cute Romance Bookshop’s Romance for Reproductive Justice auction raised more than $46,000 for the National Network of Abortion Funds, while Books Are Magic’s recent panel featuring superstars like Jasmine Guillory, Jenny Han, Emma Straub, and Taylor Jenkins-Reed raised more than $10,000 for several abortion funds nationwide. And the best-selling anthology Dissent, released in September, has already raised more than $25,000 for a romance anthology whose sale benefits the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood. Who’s joining us in reading this weekend?
Read more at Bustle.