WoMN Focus

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Washington, DC – Today, Organizing for America released a new web video of Cathy Miller, an Apple Valley, MN resident, telling a health care story that is emblematic of the need to reform health care this year, as President Obama has pledged to do. OFA, a project of the Democratic National Committee, has collected hundreds of thousands of personal health care stories over the last several weeks. Today’s video, entitled “What Happens” is OFA’s latest “The Faces of Health Care Reform” web video. OFA plans to release additional web videos and to highlight more health care stories as the debate over reform heats up in Congress.

Via RHReality Check

We know from our work in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, that the more we engage in substantive discussion about the issues that affect the health and safety of women, the more people understand and honor the complexity of the abortion issue and recognize the need to leave these personal decisions to women and families.

The truth is that many people have some level of moral ambivalence about abortion. Most South Dakotans, for example, self-identify as “pro-life” and are opposed to abortion, but they have defeated statewide measures to ban abortion in two elections. Even the most conservative Americans want to keep abortion safe, legal and rare. Why? Because abortion is a morally complicated issue, which is precisely why woman are entitled to think it through and come to their own conclusions.

It’s high time that the rest of the country follow South Dakota’s lead and stop using the divisive language of the past and start acknowledging and respecting the internal conflict felt by many voters on this issue. Acknowledging moral conflict is not something to fear, but rather, a measure of respect for an individual’s capacity to make the best decision for themselves and their families, rather than being left at the whim of government decision makers.

Read the rest of the article here.

From Elect Women Magazine

Maria Shriver, who leads the California Women’s Conference—the pre-eminent forum for, by, and about American women—is launching a multifaceted project in partnership with the Center for American Progress and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. TIME magazine will also be involved in research and reporting, as well as co-presenting discussions and roundtables around the country.

The project, A Woman’s Nation, will take a new, empirical look at American women who for the first time in our nation’s history make up fully half of all workers and are becoming the primary breadwinners in more families than ever before.

Read more about the project at Elect Women Magazine.

Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher was on MPR’s Midday radio program today with Sen. Larry Pogemiller. On the show she discussed the state budget crisis and what legislature intends to do to address it. Click here to listen to the full broadcast.

For more information on upcoming appearances, be sure to follow her either in Facebook or Twitter.

(From the office of Rep. Jim Oberstar)

Today the Obama Administration announced that the following funds will be awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
….
The Obama Administration will make $2.3 billion available for crucial health and human services programs that help to provide care for children and prevent disease. States will receive $2 billion in Recovery Act funding to support child care for working families. The Administration also plans to make $300 million in vaccines and grants available to ensure more underserved Americans receive the vaccines they need.

$2 billion in Recovery Act funds for the Child Care and Development Fund will allow states across the country to support child care services for more families whose children require care while they are working, seeking employment or receiving job training or education. The funds will be used by states to provide vouchers to families for child care or to provide access to care through contracts with child care centers or invest in quality improvements. Recovery Act dollars will support a wide range of child care providers, including child care centers and home-based programs.

(Via MOMocrats)

1. Issues are important, but there are still plenty of us invested in seeing a woman president before we die. Really. But she has to be qualified.

2. We’re tired of candidates who mix religion and politics. Please don’t pander. Some of us are devout and others are still sorting out our spiritual lives. But we’re smart enough to know when you cross the line and try to combine the two.

3. We want all mothers to have quality, affordable child care. You’re not giving it to us and we will elect people who feel the same way we do.

See the rest here…

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See more youtubes of Clark on her channel here

(via Alliance for a Better Minnesota)

The 2008 Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Statistics includes summary of surveillance data for Minnesota’s reportable STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and chancroid. In Minnesota, STDs are the most commonly reported communicable diseases and account for over 60% of all notifiable diseases reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). In 2008 the number of reported bacterial STDs reached their highest level ever with 17,650 cases reported. This represents an overall increase of 3.5% from the previous year and is part of a continued trend observed over the past ten years. The change in incidence rates varied by disease, with chlamydia increasing by 7%, primary/secondary syphilis doubling, and gonorrhea decreasing by 12%.

Read full report here

(Via RH Reality Check)

In states across the country this spring, the mounting evidence condemning abstinence-only programming — studies that reveal it is ineffective and half of states rejecting federal funding for it — is having an effect on legislatures. Some states are introducing bills that would compel schools to teach comprehensive sex education, and many are stipulating that curricula be “medically accurate.” While some of the states are the usual blue state suspects, including Hawaii, New York, Minnesota, and Oregon, others are more surprising: the Indiana, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Utah legislatures have all introduced bills that are taking a big step toward teaching comprehensive, medically accurate sex education in schools. About 19 states total have introduced such legislation.

Read full post here

Read more from RH Reality Check here

(Via Planned Parenthood)

Yesterday, I attended Minnesota’s Pro-choice lobby day, which reiterated to me how important and vulnerable access to health care can be. These services especially benefit those who are worse off in our society and may not be able to voice their opinions. We must not forget the critical importance of choice for all, not just those who can afford it. We must speak up for those who lack a voice and write to your representatives. Appeal to their nature to lift up our society and help those who are most in need. Write and tell them how important access to affordable women’s health care and family planning is to their voters and districts. Share a story of when access to affordable and open women’s health care was important to you. Your representatives are there to represent and promote your needs. It is easier to care and fight for a cause when you have a personal story you can relate to it. Make sure your representatives know those stories too.

Read full post here