Phew! Yesterday we not only stood up for women’s health but we rode buses for health, we lobbied for health, we rallied for health, and we walked… A LOT! We did it to make sure our elected officials know we will do anything but remain silent in the face of these attacks on abortion access, Title X funding, and Planned Parenthood. We did it to make sure Congress doesn’t rewrite the tax code to invite the IRS into women’s most personal decisions. We did it to make clear reinstating the D.C. abortion ban or the Global Gag rule is unacceptable.
We did it for activists like Laura, who traveled eight hours from Connecticut and slept on a crowded bus to attend the rally and lobby her representatives. Laura had an abortion in 1969 when the procedure was illegal. After her abortion she experienced severe hemorrhaging and sought care at a hospital emergency room. Rather than being provided the essential medical attention she needed, Laura was interrogated and sent home. This hospital would have rather let Laura die than provide her the care she needed.
That a hospital would refuse to provide life-saving care is unconscionable, and that a woman would be criminalized for having an abortion is intolerable. But that is exactly what Rep. Joe Pitts is proposing in H.R. 358, the so-called “Protect Life” Act. This bill, if passed, would allow a hospital to deny emergency care to a pregnant woman who needs an abortion to save her life or preserve her health. No woman should have to fear that an emergency room will deny her the care she needs.
We did it for college students like Nellie from the University of Connecticut for whom Planned Parenthood is the primary source of care. If Planned Parenthood were to lose federal funding, Nellie and other students would lose access to essential preventative health care. That young women could lose access to birth control, cancer screenings, and control over their reproductive health is reprehensible.
We rallied yesterday to say we won’t stand for the attacks on women’s health that try to chip away at our rights and send us decades into the past.
Join us in standing up for women’s health by sending a letter to your member of Congress today.
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