Hard to believe we STILL have to fight the War on Women
With the Republican War on Women in full swing, including an anti-women Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, Planned Parenthood is launching a Women are Watching battleground state bus tour to educate and mobilize voters in 11 states over 17 days.
The tour with their iconic “Big Pink Bus” lands in Canton, Michigan TOMORROW, Tuesday, August 21, 2012. It’s no surprise. Women are under attack more profoundly in our state than in most others. Republicans in our state legislature are on a course to roll back nearly every gain in women’s reproductive freedoms that we’ve made.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund is hitting the road on the Women are Watching bus tour, stopping in Canton, Michigan, on August 21 to make sure voters know what’s at stake for women’s health in November.WHO:
Lori Lamerand, Board Chair, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan
Danielle Brinn, Lansing health center manager
Rosemary Linares, a patient whose life-threatening birth control choice was discovered by Planned Parenthood
Lauren LaCross, Oakland University student leader
Marcia Levigne, Michigan State University student leader
WHEN: Tuesday, August 21, 4 p.m.
WHERE: Heritage Park, Pavilion 1 – North, 46202 Heritage Park Rd, Canton, MI 48188WHY: Planned Parenthood Action Fund sees firsthand the people who are being hurt by policies that attack women’s health, so we know why this election matters so much. Through this unprecedented bus tour, voters will hear directly from women in their own communities who would be hurt by policies that politicians like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support.
This bus tour is part of Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s largest-ever campaign effort, which the organization has undertaken because so much is at stake for women’s health in this election and because women will decide the outcome of this election.
Efforts to eliminate access to birth control, cancer screenings, and basic preventive health services started in Congress 18 months ago. Now we’re seeing cuts and attacks that put women’s health at risk in states across the nation, including Michigan. This a preview of what the Romney-Ryan ticket will mean for women’s health care.
Now pending before the Michigan Senate is an anti-women’s health Mega Bill that would make the full range of reproductive health care services — including abortion care — virtually inaccessible in Michigan. Under the Mega Bill:
- Women’s health centers would have to shut down unless they could turn their exam rooms into full-fledged outpatient surgical operating rooms — even though medication abortion only involves the administration of pills.
- Certain OB/GYNs will have to carry $1 million in insurance coverage — a burden that is not imposed upon any other specialty.
- Doctors would be required to follow outdated FDA protocols when providing medication abortion despite scientific evidence that shows the commonly used evidence-based protocols are safer for women.
- HB 5711 also contains a prohibition for the use of telemedicine to provide women with medication abortion services. This includes a common form of emergency contraception known as Ella and could restrict access to this safe and effective form of birth control.
This attack on women’s health comes at a time when so many Michigan families are struggling in a tough economy. According to the Michigan Department of Public Health, for every dollar spent on pregnancy prevention, the State of Michigan saves $6.37 in Medicaid costs. That’s a real impact on taxpayers.
The Canton, MI, rally will allow Michigan women who would be hurt by the policies that politicians like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support to speak out about what’s at stake for women’s health in this election.
Planned Parenthood has had some very successful events in Michigan in the recent past. Here’s a photo of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan Board Chair Lori Lamerand with Lizz Winstead at the kick-off of Winstead’s “What’s the Fuss” tour in Pontiac:
Congressman Gary Peters was also in attendance and spoke passionately about the need to protect the gains that have been made on behalf of women’s reproductive rights.
Our report from that tour HERE.
The Big Pink Bus was also in Ann Arbor last year. Here’s Debbie Dingell, Democratic activist and wife of Congressman and Dean of the House John Dingell speaking to the crowd:
We covered that HERE.
Please join Planned Parenthood in Canton tomorrow to show your solidarity with everything they stand for and for defeating the Republican War on Women once and for all.
For more information and to RSVP, visit their Facebook page HERE.
[All photos by Anne C. Savage, used with permission.]
