women

Last week in the House of Representatives the House Energy and Commerce Committee made some important votes regarding the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.  Two amendments were introduced in Committee.  One which would extend abstinence only education - a program which has been proven to be ineffective in preventing abstinence and unintended pregnancies.  Congressman Terry Lee (R-NE) submitted the amendment to fund the program through 2012.  The amendment failed by a vote of 29-26.

Congressman Lois Capps (D-CA) submitted an amendment to include a Healthy Teen Initiative to the bill.  The Healthy Teen Initiative would expand the limited scope of the President's original language which excluded information about the prevention of spreading sexually transmitted diseases.  The  amendment passed by a vote of 33 to 23!

Both of these votes are a great leap forward in improving the Health Care Reform bill.  This is a big win for teens and the uninsured.

President Obama has appointed Alexia Kelly as the Director of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Kelly was the co-founder and executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), which supports reducing access to abortion care and services.  While in the leadership at CACG Kelly characterized abortion to war and torture.  This is not the same message the administration sent when they appointed Kathleen Sebelius!

As Catholics for Choice points out, Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for providing and expanding access to key sexual and reproductive health services. As such, we need those working in HHS to rely on evidence-based methods to reduce the need for abortion. We need them to believe in men's and women's capacity to make moral decisions about their own lives. Unfortunately, as seen from her work at CACG, Ms. Kelley does not fit the bill.

I am loath to compare our supposedly pro-choice President to our very anti-choice last President, however, this reminds me of Bush appointing Karoak as HHS deputy assistant secretary of population services back in 2006, an equally anti-choice appointment to what needs to be a department that serves women's health, not chips away at it.   True, it will be our saving grace, that Kathleen Sebelius is no Mike Leavitt and that Kelly must report to her, however after the Sotomayor appointment and now this, I fear in what direction our administration is heading when it comes to choice and women's health.

This week New America Media released a historic poll by NDN's good friend Sergio Bendixen that reveals how the face of immigration is changing and it's face is now a woman's.  The major finding of the poll is that a majority of immigrants are now women, mothers and workers, whose main challenges are helping their children succeed and keeping their families together.  The results, some of which I have highlighted here, are incredibly interesting and important.

79% of Latin Americans, 73% of Vietnamese, 70% of Korean and 63% of Chinese acknowledged speaking little or no English. They also confront anti-immigrant discrimination, lack of health care and low-paying employment. Asked about their income during the first year of working in the United States, 67 percent reported salaries under the poverty line. "This is just another sacrifice women make when they come to America," Bendixen said.

The aspirations of immigrant women are remarkably similar as 90 percent of Vietnamese, Arab, and Latin American women all said they want to become U.S. citizens. However, there are disparities in legal status among the ethnic groups. Asians, for example, naturalize faster because immigration laws allow them to bring in more relatives. Only 46 percent of Latino women polled are U.S. citizens. The increased cost to obtain citizenship has made the prospect of becoming an American more even difficult, especially in a recession.

Among other findings the poll showed that the roles of immigrant women change within their households. The overwhelming majority—Latin American (81%), Chinese (71%), Vietnamese (68%), African (66%) and Arabic (53%)—said they had become more assertive at home and in public after coming to the United States.

Possibly one of the most important things about the survey is the finding that immigrants share the same traditional values as the rest of Americans.  It does not take much research or an expert to point out that Bendixen is correct, any American mother surveyed would agree, helping her children succeed is certainly amongst her highest priorities.  I hope this important poll can help Americans better understand our immigrant friends who are women and mothers with the same values and concerns as the rest of us.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed yesterday as health and human services secretary.  After many attempts from anti-choice Senators to block her nomination failed, the Senate finally confirmed her in a vote of 65-31 after the Democrats urged a quick vote in order to put Sebelius to work on the swine flu crisis. 

Republicans have been delaying the vote because of concerns over Gov. Sebelius's pro-choice record as Governor of Kansas for the past six years. Prior to her vote a group of conservative leaders sent a letter to Senators calling Sebelius a politician with a "serious lapse of conscience and integrity" and urging them to oppose her nomination.  Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and Focus on the Family called on Senators who "claim to uphold the sanctity of life and the responsibility of the office of HHS" to vote against her, calling her an "abortion radical". 

While the conservative movement pulled out all the stops to block Sebelius's nomination, she was confirmed with the support of every Democrat on the floor, both independents, and six Republicans.

Women should be seen and not heard?  How about neither according to two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers who photoshopped the Inaugural photograph of Israel's new Cabinet, on which two women serve.  One paper blacked the women out, while the other replaced them with images of men. Women in politics being made invisible.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently acknowledged in a new GQ article that women have the right to choose an abortion (GASP!!) and some anti-choice extremists and fellow members of the Republican party are none too happy about it.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but women DO have the right to choose abortion, it is still legal in this country, Roe v. Wade still stands right?  Steele also said "We are a party that values life, born and unborn", sounds pretty anti-choice to me.  However pundits have called his acknowledgment of the law "straight out of Planned Parenthood's messaging playbook" others went so far as to say he has proclaimed himself pro-choice! 

When asked by GQ if he'd want to overturn Roe v. Wade Steele very clearly stated that it is a wrongly decided matter and should be turned to the states.   It doesn't get much clearer than that.  Yet Mike Huckabee still feels that Chairman Steele has abandoned the Republican party platform as well as basic human rights.  Seriously?  Did he read past "women have the right to choose" and then stop reading and give his quote?

I'm quite certain that the former Catholic seminarian will uphold the Republican platform, including any anti-choice sentiments that may be required of him.  However,  if he is going to enrage the religious right and Rush Limbaugh along the way while stating pure facts, this may be a little more fun than we originally thought.

Today - International Women's Day  - President Barack Obama signed an executive order to establish a White House Council on Women and Girls.  "The purpose of the Council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy" said the President. 

This Council comes after many women's organizations sent then President-elect a letter in December urging him to create a Cabinet level office on women's issues.  While this is not a Cabinet level council, nor a permanent office with staff devoted to women's issues full time, it is a step in the right direction and an excellent way to kick off National Women's History Month.  

The New York Times recently had an interesting graph which illustrated the gender wage gap.  The graph brakes down wages by profession to show how women compare to men across professions.  While it is interesting to note the professions where women make more than men (special education teachers and postal clerks) versus those where the gap is the largest between men and women in favor of the men (largely in the medical sciences), I found it more intersting how Hannah Fairfield explained the gap by faulting women for their "personal choices"...read having children.  She also attributed part of the gap towards men having more experience and logging more hours...also read not making the "personal choice" of taking time off to have a baby or lossing work hours to take care of the baby.  Fairfield ignores the federal goverments statistics breaking down wages and the fact that single, childless women logging just as many hours as their male counterparts in the same professions are still experiencing  pay discrimination due to no fault of their own.

Advisers are saying that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas may be President Obama's top pick for secretary of health and human services.  Despite being a Roman Catholic, Sebelius is endorsed by Planned Parenthood and consistently votes against anti-choice legislation, a fact that may be concerning the White House.  They may fear a backlash from the anti-choice community, mostly centered around Sebelius's conflicts with Kansas District Attorney, Phill Kline.  Sebelius has decreased the abortion rate in Kansas 8.5%.  Kline on the other hand subpoenaed the medical records of patients from abortion clinics and leaked them to Bill O'Reilly.  Planned Parenthood of Kansas sued and Kline was forced to return the medical records, however, his antics have made him a hero of the anti-choice community in Kansas. 

It is long past time that we had a qualified, pro-choice candidate in the HHS position after years of anti-choice, anti-women secretaries coming through.  It would be a shame if someone like Kline could keep Sebelius from this very deserved position.

You will have to search to find out about it; however it is true, the U.S. Senate has recognized the necessity for a subcommittee dedicated to global women's issues!  The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues will be led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has been a champion of women's issues in the Senate.  This is the first-ever subcommittee mandated to empower women, which is a huge step and over due to say the least. 

During her swearing in, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced "as Secretary of State, I view these issues as central to our foreign policy.  Not as adjunct or auxiliary, or in any way lesser than all of the other issues we have to confront...And it will be my hope to persuade more governments...that we cannot have a free, prosperous, peaceful, progressive world if women are treated in such a discriminatory and violent way."

Somehow, the impact of this massive step by the Senate has not been felt, um, anywhere.  The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee fails to mention it on their website as does Senator Boxer's website.  Despite the black hole of information to be found on this exciting advancement, I find it very hopeful that the plight of women around the world will finally have some light shined upon it.  Now if Congress would just do more the help the women here at home we'd really be getting off on the right foot.