Statement of Maryland NOW President
Beth Corbin
January 28, 2010
Maryland NOW condemns the mean-spirited, pro-active attack on lesbians and gays leveled by Delegate Emmett Burns, Jr. in House Bill 90 which seeks to invalidate legal marriages of same sex couples entered into in another state or country – stating that "marriages between individuals of the same sex are against the public policy of the State."
Delegate Burns must not be allowed to circumvent the legal process in his zeal to discriminate against Maryland’s lesbian and gay citizens.
We urge Maryland lawmakers to defeat House Bill 90, and soundly reject Delegate Burns’s hateful rhetoric.
We further ask that if you are sitting on the fence about marriage equality it’s time for you to climb down on the side of justice, compassion and equality!
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Senate Health Care Bill Passes With Unacceptable Restrictions on Women's Rights;
There Is Still Time To Reverse the Damage
Statement of Terry O'Neill, NOW President
December 24, 2009
The U.S. Senate sent a last-minute holiday "gift" which half the country will find difficult to accept. In a disappointing move that sets women's reproductive rights back, the U.S. Senate voted on final passage of its version of health care reform. Last weekend Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sealed the 60th vote by caving into Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-Neb.) demands with a "compromise" that would eventually do away with private as well as public insurance coverage for abortion care. This dangerous provision not only further stigmatizes abortion care but it makes it nearly impossible for any health plans to offer comprehensive coverage.
Now the bill must be reconciled with the House version, before being sent to the President's desk.
Is there a chance to fix the bill during that final conference phase? We are certainly hopeful. Our grassroots are mobilized and already working to strip the dangerous language out of the final health reform bill.
Our energies will be focused on the sweeping anti-abortion provision because it would enshrine into the country's first-ever comprehensive health care reform legislation the dangerous principle that women may be singled out for denial of legal health care.
We are not in the business of trying to ruin the prospects of health care reform. The bill's elimination of gender rating and of denial of coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions are welcome (although we worry about enforcement of these provisions). On balance, however, this bill harms women. When a small group of men set out to determine what rights women can exercise over their own bodies, it's sexism, not health care. NOW calls on Congress and President Obama to recognize women's fundamental right to the full range of health care services, including abortion care.
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Maryland NOW Thanks Senators Mikulski and Cardin on Defeat of Abortion Ban Amendment
By a margin of 54 to 45 the Senate voted to table and effectively defeat the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to the health care reform bill. Please take a moment to thank our Senators, who voted in favor of tabling the amendment. Their phone numbers are listed below.
We must now turn our focus on getting the Stupak-Pitts Amendment removed, when the two versions of the bill are reconciled in the conference committee process.
NOW President Terry O'Neill issued the following statement:
The National Organization for Women applauds the Senate for voting to table and effectively defeat the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to the health care reform bill. This victory is just one small step, however, toward enacting health care reform that recognizes health care as a human right, abortion as health care and women as deserving of coverage that meets all of their medical needs.
The Nelson-Hatch Amendment would have instituted a ban on abortion care coverage in the proposed health insurance exchanges, which are expected to serve tens of millions of people. It would have far extended the Hyde Amendment's already shameful restrictions on abortion funding. It would have betrayed the promise that no one would lose health care coverage they currently have due to reform. And, in all likelihood, this prohibition on abortion coverage would have spread industry-wide in little time.
That's why NOW is thanking all of our activists for the many messages they sent and calls they made to their senators. Our early and strong call to reject any health care legislation containing Stupak-Pitts language made its mark. Our virtual and physical presence on Capitol Hill helped send the message that health care reform should not be negotiated on the backs of women. We thank the 54 senators who listened to our concerns and considered women's health and well-being as they voted.
The bad news is that the similar Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which the House did pass last month, is still in place. When the two versions of the bill are reconciled and merged into one, abortion opponents will no doubt demand that the Stupak language be maintained in order to win their votes on the bill. We cannot let this happen.
Make no mistake, the efforts of the radical right are to outlaw all abortion. They will use whatever method is convenient, and right now that happens to be health care reform. They want women's rights supporters to compromise, but they won't budge an inch. Well, in case they haven't noticed, we're done compromising. NOW urges legislators to oppose the entire bill unless the Stupak-Pitts provisions are removed in conference. Women's lives are at risk, and our rights are not for sale.
Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine, crossed party lines to vote in favor of tabling the motion. Seven Democrats voted against tabling. You can see the final vote here.
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Get Ready! Senate Abortion Ban Vote May be this Weekend
Action Needed:
Take Action -- Please call AND email your senators one more time to tell them that they must vote against the latest abortion ban amendment that is likely to be offered (by Sens. Ben Nelson and Orrin Hatch) this weekend in the Senate.
A Stupak-like amendment could be on the Senate's agenda as early as this Saturday, Dec. 5. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is keeping the Senate at work through the weekend to expedite votes on health care reform legislation.
NOW activists and our coalition partners have gone all out on this issue: we've heard from thousands of our supporters and a whopping 1,300 activists showed up in Washington, D.C., for Wednesday's highly successful Lobby Day and Rally. We met with senators and representatives to let them know we oppose any restrictive abortion provisions in health care reform legislation. NOW activists asked members to vote against the final bill if it contains restrictive abortion language. We are sure that our meetings strengthened the resolve of abortion rights supporters in Congress to stop Stupak, but the vote in the Senate could be very close.
Stupak-Pitts All Over Again: An amendment similar to the House-passed Stupak-Pitts Amendment will be offered by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Sen. Nelson has also said that he would not vote for the entire bill if it lacked restrictive abortion provisions. While the exact language of the Nelson-Hatch Amendment wasn't available early Friday, we know that Nelson has vowed to offer a provision as close as possible to Stupak-Pitts.
We must TAKE ACTION NOW!
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Urge "NO Stupak-Pitts Amendment" in Senate Health Care Reform
Call Senator Barbara Mikulski and Senator Ben Cardin right away and let them know how disgusted you are by what happened in the House, and ask for their leadership to insure that no similar provision is included in the Senate bill.
Senator Barbara Mikulski - 202-224-4654
Senator Ben Cardin - 202-224-4524
On December 2, MD NOW activists joined with hundreds of reproductive justice advocates to lobby Senators and House members to "Stop Stupak!"
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment was brought to the House floor after a late-night, backroom deal with religious zealots, and as a result, women could be facing the most serious challenge ever to our constitutionally protected reproductive rights.
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment was unnecessary: The Hyde Amendment already ensures that no federal funds will be used to pay for abortion -- regardless of whatever health care bill becomes law.
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment would, for the first time, make it difficult or impossible for women spending even 100% of their own money to cover abortion through private insurance plans … if they happen to have purchased insurance through a health insurance exchange.
This is unconscionable! Urge Senators Mikulski and Cardin to take a strong stand against any similar measures. NOW will not support health reform that harms women.
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TAKE ACTION NOW!
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Maryland National Organization for Women
For Immediate release
Maryland NOW Thanks Senators Mikulski and Cardin for their Leadership In Pushing Heath Care Reform that Benefits Women
The Maryland Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) wants to recognize Senator Barbara Mikulski for her exceptional leadership in drawing attention to the many inequities that women face under our current health care system. Senator Mikulski organized nine female legislators to speak on the floor of the Senate on this important topic that has received too little attention.
In her statement Senator Mikulski called attention to the reality that women “pay more” for health insurance and “get less” -- here is more of what the Senator had to say:
Today our health care system offers women skimpy and spartan coverage. It often doesn’t cover basic women’s health care like maternity care and O.B. services, or preventive care like mammograms and pap tests. Women are denied coverage because of “pre-existing conditions,” including C-sections, past pregnancies and domestic violence. We don’t believe in battered women, whether it’s in the home or in the insurance market place.
We women pay more and we get less. A 25 year old woman is charged up to 45 percent more than a 25 year old man with the same health status for the same policy. And once she reaches 40, it can be up to 140 percent more.
We women are here to fight for change - to end the punitive practices of insurance companies that discriminate on the basis of gender and pre-existing conditions. We want to protect and strengthen Medicare, to emphasize quality and prevention to save lives and save money, and to expand access to health care reform in a well-paced, phased-in and affordable way. … [we want] to improve women’s access to affordable, quality health care. … [and stop] insurance companies from charging women higher premiums or refusing to cover victims of domestic violence. [We want] insurance companies to cover basic health care - like maternity care… [and] coverage for screening and preventive services, like mammograms and pap tests, at minimal or no cost. … [W]e are fighting for - equal benefits for equal premiums.
Maryland NOW would also like to thank Senator Ben Cardin for addressing this important issue in his public statements.
Denying women maternity care or charging women more money for the exact same policy is simply unacceptable. I want to be assured that my wife, daughter and granddaughters can get the type of care they need, when they need it. Every woman in America deserves that same confidence.
For too long the health insurance industry has gotten away with discriminating against women through higher costs, lower benefits and unacceptable exclusions. Consumer protections like these are at the very heart of the health care reform legislation working through Congress. We have a responsibility to act where the private insurance companies have refused.
Women in Maryland and across the country deserve affordable, quality health care that covers ALL our health care needs.
** UPDATE: Senate Passes Mikulski's Women's Health Amendment! Read more about it here.
MD NOW Officers
Go to the About section and click on the officers link to contact any of them via email. You may use the contact form or call the MD NOW phone number.
Our Founding Mother's Scholarship Fund!
In 2006 we lost a Maryland NOW member who clearly left her mark on each of us and our organization. Dolly Yvonne Packard was an extraordinary feminist who graced our NOW world for 40 years. In 2007, a former Maryland NOW President and Maryland NOW Council Member, Dot Howze, lost a battle with cancer. We also lost a leader in our Frederick Chapter, Sandra West, who over the years had been Maryland NOW Treasurer and PAC Treasurer as well a leader in her own community.
We created a scholarship fund for contributions that were made in honor of Dolly three years ago, and we plan to move from this to create an ongoing fund from memorials we've received from members and friends honoring all these women. We hope to pass the torch in this way for others to benefit from the honors others gave in these womens' names. Please contact our President for more information if you are interested in applying for a grant from this fund. Contact our Treasurer if you'd like to donate.
