On Monday, January 26th, BPCLC members joined Family Planning Advocates of New York State for their Annual Day of Action rally in Albany. Caucus members, reproductive health professionals, advocates, and supporters from around the state stood up for reproductive rights for women and their families, including funding for the Family Planning Grant, support for Paid Family Leave, and passage of the Boss Bill and the complete Women’s Equality Agenda. Senators Squadron, Hoylman, Stewart-Cousins, Stavisky, and Krueger, and Assemblymembers Woerner, Jaffee, Gottfried, and Barrett. BPCLC members with Family Planning Advocates of New York State in Albany
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This is just too much: for-profit employers who want to deny employees access to basic birth control. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear two challenges to contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA guarantees women access to contraceptives with no cost sharing through their private health plans. There is already an exemption for religious groups and an accommodation for other religiously affiliated nonprofit organizations. However, for-profit employers, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga, claim it violates their personal religious beliefs to provide health plans that include contraceptive coverage.
Women should be able to make their own choices about birth control – not their bosses! The dispute centers on facts about birth control that opponents are misrepresenting:
NARAL Pro-Choice NY will be organizing free bus rides to DC for the rally at the Supreme Court: My Birth Control is Not My Boss’s Business! (buses leave at 4am, 470 Park Ave., bet. 31st & 32nd St). Please feel free to spread the word! Take Action! Sign onto the “Boss Bill” (S. 6578-A / A. 8769), legislation banning employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of their personal reproductive health decisions. And thanks to all who attended our BPCLC breakfast. The presentation is available here, and feel free to follow up with us if you need more information in specific areas. Remember to join us tomorrow for the BPCLC’s legislative breakfast--Wednesday, March 5th, 8:30am-10am, Room 315, Senate Democratic Conference Room, Capitol.
Experts will be on hand to discuss pressing reproductive health issues facing New Yorkers today. In addition, Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee would like to extend an invitation to you to stay after the breakfast and join them for a 10am press conference on the “Boss Bill” (S. 6578-A / A8769), legislation banning employers from discriminating against women in the workplace on the basis of their personal reproductive health decisions. We look forward to seeing you! The House has stooped to a new low – yesterday they passed a bill to effectively eliminate abortion coverage for millions of women. This sweeping bill would permanently codify the Hyde Amendment, now subject to annual approval, to outlaw federal financing of abortions. The bill includes a host of other punishments – like denying tax credits to individuals and small businesses for purchasing health plans that include abortion coverage. The president has already threatened to veto the bill, but it is not expected to pass the Senate.
Here in New York, we must do better by women and their families. The Assembly again passed the Women’s Equality Act and ensured that the federal protections in Roe v. Wade are also guaranteed in New York law. Now it’s up to the Senate to pass the bill and further reproductive equality for women in New York. Family Planning Advocates of NYS invites all pro-choice legislators to participate in their annual Day of Action on Monday, January 27th, 2014! Pro-choice legislators will be recognized during their program in the Well of the Legislative Office Building from 11:20 am - 12:30 pm. There will also be a legislative reception at 5 pm.
See the invitation below for details! FPA-Invitation -- BPCLC 2014 We are deeply disappointed that reproductive health legislation was not passed by both houses this session. However, the BPCLC members stood strong for the women of New York – every single one of the pro-choice caucus members in the Assembly voted for the full 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda, including reproductive health. While every BPCLC member in the Senate supported an amendment to attach the reproductive health language to another bill, the Senate came up one vote short and the amendment was defeated. Unfortunately, the Senate majority coalition leaders refused to bring the reproductive health bill to the floor either as part of a 10-point package or as a standalone bill. While we have been working to protect women’s health, state legislatures across the country are working to pass unconstitutional anti-choice bills – Ohio lawmakers are hijacking their state budget process to launch attacks on reproductive health services and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling a special session to push through the radical anti-abortion bill famously filibustered by Texas State Senator Wendy Davis. As national anti-choice forces fight to move us backward wherever they are able, we must continue to fight and move our state's laws into the 21st century. The BPCLC remains firmly committed to putting ALL of Roe v. Wade's protections on the books in New York State law.
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to this effort! Texas, Ohio Latest Symptoms of National Backslide on Women's Rights and Freedoms; Underscores Need for Pro-Choice State Legislators to Organize and Fight Back
New York – The New York State Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus issued the following statement in response to recent developments in Texas and Ohio, and the dramatic increase of anti-woman and anti-choice bills moving in state legislatures across the country: "Ohio lawmakers are hijacking their state budget process to launch attacks on Planned Parenthood and reproductive health services while funneling money into deceptive so-called 'crisis pregnancy centers,' and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling a special session July 1 to push through the radical bill famously filibustered by Texas State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth) that would put truly extreme restrictions on Texan women's access to abortion and reproductive health services. "These are just the latest developments in the most dramatic backslide in more than a generation for women's rights and reproductive freedom in this country. In 2012, 19 states enacted at least 43 new provisions to restrict access to abortion services, many of which facially violate the standards established by Roe v. Wade. "As anti-choice forces fight to move us backward wherever they are able, we must fight back and move our laws into the 21st century everywhere we are able. "The 88 members of the NYS BPCLC remain firmly committed to putting Roe v. Wade's protections on the books in New York State law. We are unified in our commitment to updating New York's outdated statutes to ensure no woman is denied the choices and the care that she is entitled to under federal law. "Complacency is not an option. Pro-choice legislators must organize and demand action to protect women everywhere -- starting here in New York." The mission of the New York State Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus (BPCLC) is to protect reproductive rights across the state, and provide a voice for pro-choice state legislators in policy debates at both the state and national level. The caucus is co-chaired by Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee, Senator Liz Krueger, and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
BPCLC members recently sent this joint letter to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, regarding proposed regulations for no-cost access to contraceptives. You can download it here, or view it below! Thanks to all members who signed on.
BPCLC Letter to DHHS on Contraceptives, April 2013 Finally, some good news!
After a decade of ongoing legal battles to improve access to emergency contraception, or Plan B, a federal district court ruled that the F.D.A. must make Plan B available for sale to all women within 30 days without restrictions – this means over-the-counter, without identification or a prescription, and with no age limitations. We will keep you updated on developments and outreach efforts. Read more on the ruling. However, the news in other states is beyond bleak – North Dakota recently passed an extreme bill that prohibits most abortions after 6 weeks. Arkansas’s legislature passed a law, over the veto of Gov. Mike Beebe, banning abortion after 12 weeks. Lawsuits are sure to follow these clearly unconstitutional bills. These are just a few reasons why New York needs stronger reproductive health laws now. Great news -- a new Siena poll (PDF) shows 80% of New Yorkers support a reproductive health act and two thirds call themselves pro-choice.
From the Siena poll's results: By an overwhelming 80-16 percent margin, voters support the Governor’s reproductive health act, ‘aimed at protecting reproductive freedom for women, ensuring a woman’s right to make private health care decisions regarding pregnancy.’ At least two-thirds of voters from every party, region and demographic group support it, with the exception of self-identified conservatives who support it 64-29 percent. 66 percent of New York voters describe themselves as pro-choice – including more than two-thirds of Democrats and independents and a majority of Republicans – compared to 27 percent who describe themselves as pro-life. Meanwhile, a recent op-ed from Dr. Steven Chasen forcefully made the case for the RHA in the Daily News, and debunked some of the swirling rumors and exaggerations RHA's opponents have been spreading: Opponents have been caricaturing what Gov. Cuomo calls his Women’s Equality Agenda as a radical liberal expansion of abortion rights in a state that already has far more abortions than the national average. As a doctor who specializes in maternal-fetal health, I need to explain why they’re wrong — and why we need to update New York abortion law to make it consistent with federal law and current medical standards. Read the full piece at the Daily News! |
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