Tag Archives: Jan Brewer

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

Posted on by
Reply
  • Catholic bishop excoriates Arizona’s St. Joseph’s hospital for terminating a woman’s pregnancy in order to save her life. Apparently the term “pro-life” only covers the life of a fetus and not the life of a woman. Good to know! (AZ Central)
  • Anti-choice hypocrisy must be contagious in the state of Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer: “Pro-life” when it comes to fetuses, but clearly “Anti-life” when it comes to her constituents who need life-saving organ transplants (Huff Po)
  • Teen parents talk legal, financial consequences of sex (USA Today)
  • Another state decides not to trust women: New Alaska abortion notification law takes effect (Reuters)
  • Oral contraceptives exonerated! It turns out, the pill is not responsible for the majority of the estrogen in our drinking water (Web MD)
  • Opponents of a woman’s right to choose are serving up a big helping of threatening, anti-choice rhetoric with a side of butterflies, cute puppies, smiling moons, hearts, and child-like alphabet letters. Sort of like a big unappetizing bowl of Anti-choice Lucky Charms! (Jezebel)

Arizona’s SB1309 Law Has Gutted Sex Education

Posted on by
2

In May of 2010, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law SB1309, the  so-called “Parental Bill of Rights.”  This bill requires parental consent before a child or teen can receive sex education in school.  This law also requires Arizona schools to notify parents when material regarding “sexuality” is presented in non-sex education classes, such as biology. Proponents of the law say this bill will ensure that the government does not intrude on parents’ child rearing.  The Arizona Board of Education says that it will be up to the local school governing boards to implement the law.

Before the passage of SB 1309, Arizona did not require sex education.  Local school boards decided which subjects this education would cover and the grade level in which topics are introduced.  If sex education was taught, it had to be age appropriate.  Abstinence had to be covered and stressed as the only effective protection against unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, and abstinence from sexual intercourse outside of lawful marriage was the expected social standard for unmarried school-age person.  This is from the 1996 Welfare Reform Act that had provisions added for abstinence education. The federal government then began to divert tens of millions of dollars to abstinence education programs.  Most programs were tied to religious programs, rather than traditional public health organizations.

Arizona is one of three states that now require parental consent for sex education.  The other two states are Utah and Nevada.  The Guttmacher Institute says 35 states — including the District of Columbia — mandate that students learn about sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. Arizona is also ranked last in the nation in education funding.

The result?  Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

Posted on by
Reply
  • Arizona teens are not learning about safe sex in school (AZ Daily Star)
  • Eight virus types responsible for majority of cervical cancer cases (Reuters)
  • Jan Brewer continues to fail the women of Arizona: 400,000 AZ Women Lose Health Exams to Budget Cuts (Public News Service)
  • Still no credible evidence that abortion, in and of itself, causes mental health problems for most women (Guttmacher)
  • Ten states with the highest number of teen moms- unfortunately Arizona is one of them (ABC News)
  • Abortion not the cause of the low rates of adoption in recent years (Center for American Progress)
  • IUD’s may help treat endometrial cancer, the most common cancer of the female reproductive system (MSNBC)

Jan Brewer Slashes Funding for Women’s Health Care

Posted on by
Reply

We cannot catch a break with Jan Brewer!  Her hits just keep coming!   Earlier this month we shared The 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Jan Brewer.  Well, the list continues to grow.  Last week we found out that her AHCCCS funding cuts are having far-reaching negative consequences beyond denying transplant patients lifesaving care; the cuts also eliminate well-woman care, including the vital cancer prevention care and birth control access provided to women through an annual gynecological exam.

Planned Parenthood and all medical providers who accept AHCCCS are wondering how we will serve our patients so we can help women stay healthy and assist in early detection of cancers like cervical cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.  This decision will also cost Arizona an additional $15 million of federal Medicaid funding as a direct result of the elimination of these vital services.

Thanks to Jan Brewer and a majority of state legislators, low income women in Arizona can no longer receive these services! Women make up 70 percent of adults on the Medicaid program – that is more than 900,000 Arizona women who can longer access this care.  Essentially, Jan Brewer and many in the legislature have cut out prevention care for low-income women. Check out what Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Bryan Howard told the Public Service News about the funding cuts:

Howard says a typical well-woman exam costs around $120, making it unaffordable for most AHCCCS recipients, who live on less than $1,000 a month.

Without the annual exams, Howard predicts that the eventual cost to taxpayers will be much higher, whether it’s for prenatal care and delivery of a baby a woman would have preferred to postpone, or dealing with a life-threatening disease.

“Treatment of cervical cancer, treatment of a breast mass, or breast cancer. Treatment is invariably much more expensive than the prevention.”

Make sure you cast your ballot for candidates who will protect women’s health care access.  Visit www.advocatesaz.org and view our endorsed candidates and see our 2010 Voter Guide. All of our endorsed candidates have made a commitment to protect women’s health care access in Arizona!

Have You Seen the PPAA Voter Guide?

Posted on by
Reply

Early voter ballots arrived in the mail last week, and election day is right around the corner.  Have you checked out the PPAA 2010 Voter Guide to help you fill out your ballot?

This year’s voter guide is super snazzy, and fabulously pink!  Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has the scoop on who the pro-choice candidates are, and how the different ballot propositions will affect access to reproductive health care in the state of Arizona.

The 2010 election is one of the most important elections in Arizona’s history. For the past two legislative sessions, Jan Brewer and anti-choice legislators have launched an all-out assault on women’s health and Arizona families, by passing anti-choice laws that restrict access to reproductive health care and education. Given our experience during the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions, we expect dangerous legislation to once again have strong support in the legislature if voters allow our state representatives to be overwhelmingly anti-choice.

You can help turn the tide! Make a commitment to vote pro-choice this year, and support the PPAA-endorsed candidates in all of the races. We have the power to put a pro-choice governor back in office, as well as the other state-wide offices, such as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Check out the voter guide, fill out your ballot, and help us get pro-choice voters to the polls. To volunteer with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, e-mail advocate@ppaz.org.

10 Things Every Woman Should Know About Jan Brewer

Posted on by
4

Monday we told you about Women for Goddard, the group of community activists who are mobilizing women to vote for Terry Goddard. We told you that Terry Goddard is the candidate for women in Arizona. Here is more information that women should know about Jan Brewer.

1. Jan Brewer opposes responsible sex education, and continues to put students at risk by applying for federal funding to promote ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage in Arizona schools. Arizona has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, which makes it very clear that abstinence-only isn’t working.

2. Throughout her career, Jan Brewer has built a strong reputation and a consistent track record of opposing abortion.

3. As a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Jan Brewer prevented medical students from accessing abortion training at the county hospital.

4. Arizona’s Omnibus Abortion Bill, passed and signed into law by Jan Brewer last year put into place multiple restrictions on a woman’s right to make her own health decisions. Jan Brewer said, “In one swift signature it was all delivered, we protected women.”

5. This year, Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1309 into law, which requires written parental consent before a minor can receive any classroom instruction that may mention sexuality in any way, including biology. Continue reading →

Women for Goddard Say Goddard is For Women

Posted on by
Reply

Did you know that women are the majority of voters in the United States? In fact, there were 10 million more women voters than men in the 2008 election. Why is it, then, that women only make up 17% of Congress? And why is it that issues such as women’s health continue to be relegated to the back burner?

Arizona is an interesting state, because we actually have a long history of women serving in political office here, in particular in the governor’s seat. Who can forget Rose Mofford and her sassy beehives? The irony, however, is that having a woman in office does not always mean that women are being fairly represented. Jan Brewer is the perfect example. During her time in office, Jan Brewer has systematically set back women’s rights, especially when it comes to women’s access to reproductive health care services.

A group of community organizers called Women for Goddard is hoping to change the political climate. They are mobilizing 5,000 female voters in support of Terry Goddard’s bid for governor, and they are reaching out to voters who are registered, but who haven’t voted in recent elections. Women for Goddard recently held a phone bank, where 500 volunteers each committed to call 10 women. Each of those volunteers will remain in contact with their voters until the election to make sure that the women get to the polls. The goal is to tip the balance of the scales in favor of Terry Goddard. And they are doing it one phone call at a time. Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Book Club: Abortion In the Days Before Roe

Posted on by
Reply

For as long as people have been practicing medicine, rudimentary as it might have been for most of history, people have been performing abortions. In the United States, abortion was outlawed in the mid-1800s, the reason being that the procedure was too dangerous; before then it had been legal until quickening. This rationale dissolved as techniques improved and the procedure, when performed in sterile settings by a knowledgeable practitioner, became safer than childbirth itself, and abortion was legalized with the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. For the century or so during which abortion was prohibited, women continued to seek them out. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the injuries and deaths that could result from illegal abortions. This image was widespread during those years as well, which makes it all the more telling that women still sought illegal abortions – a woman’s need to control her own destiny could outweigh a genuine fear of death.

The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law by Rickie Solinger (1996) tells the story of Ruth Barnett, an abortionist in the Pacific Northwest who practiced from 1918 to 1968. Barnett’s success as an abortionist – she served tens of thousands of patients and never lost a single one – stands in stark contrast to the caricature of the back-alley butcher. Although incompetent, sloppy, and predatory abortionists did exist in the pre-Roe years, there were many, like Barnett, whose skilled work ensured that some women could obtain safe, albeit illegal, abortions. Continue reading →