Planned Parenthood Advocate

Women's health must be a priority in health care reform

 

by Karina
Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

Health Care Reform, Health Care Reform, Health Care Reform. Seriously though. Health Care Reform. It’s everywhere—and Planned Parenthood is doing everything it can to make sure that women’s health is made a priority in health care reform. This past Monday on MPR’s midmorning they discussed women’s health and the disparities they face in light of the health care reform legislation.

Via MPR

American women's support for President Obama's health plan has been slipping according to a recent poll. Midmorning discusses what's missing from the reform effort to reduce disparities for women in the health care system, from coverage to treatment and research.

As an essential community provider, Planned Parenthood understands just how important women’s reproductive health is to their overall health. In fact, over half of our patients consider family planning clinics, like Planned Parenthood, to be their primary form of health care.

It is critical that politicians understand how important women’s health is in the health care reform debate. Why should women’s health be made a priority? Because we don’t want it to be any worse off after health care reform than it is today.

Want to help us make that case with politicians? Well, were you ever a patient of Planned Parenthood? We are collecting stories about the importance of our reproductive health services to women’s overall health so that we can share them (anonymously) with elected officials and the public. People need to hear real stories from those who counted on Planned Parenthood as an essential health care provider.  If you have a Planned Parenthood story—whether it be receiving affordable birth control or a cervical cancer screening—we need to hear it! Click here to share your story with us and help us make sure women’s health is a priority!

Why Aren't We Talking? Issues Surrounding Teen Sexual Health Affect Us All

by Erin
Web Correspondent
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

Recently, Sarah Stoesz, the President of PPMNS, wrote a piece on the increasing need for comprehensive sex education for young adults and teens in response to the CDC publishing their initiative to reduce the prevailing statistics of chlamydia, gonohrrea, and teen pregnancy. In it, she describes Planned Parenhood's own initiatives for providing education and health care to young people in Minnesota, which is an important and necessary step to changing the way we think, talk and deal with issues around sex as a nation.

After listening to a similar report on NPR about the CDC's report and interviewing a few people who work closely with teens on sex education, I came to a pretty startling realization. I don't know any teens, and I haven't had a conversation about sex or relationships with any teenagers since I myself was in high school. We are, of course, facing major hurdles like ending abstinence-only education and increasing access to family planning. We are also facing a veritable society of non-communication when it comes to talking about sex-- a situation that is worsened by the lack of communication between generations and social spheres, which mitigates the sharing of our own experiences and mentoring of young people. Parents, Grandparents, teachers, and even pastors or religious figures are inimical to the conversation. But what about the young adults, such as myself, who are in between, who are right in the demographic that has competing rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea infections and probably needs the same, if not more, sex education than most teens? We are the product of years of closed mouths and it is perhaps more than ever our responsibility to get involved in ways that open up the communication between young people and confront the effects that sex and relationships have on our lives.

It is important that we start a dialogue between all generations and cultivate the futures of our younger generation. Sex education and teaching about healthy relationships is certainly part of this, but we need to help foster a sense of self-investment that helps people grow and take care of themselves and others.

More Troubling News from the CDC on the Sexual Health of Young Adults

by Sarah Stoesz
President
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

From the Kaiser Family Foundation:

The CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) examines the sexual health of young adults and teenagers in the U.S., Reuters reports. "The data presented in this report indicate that many young persons in the United States engage in sexual risk behavior and experience negative reproductive health outcomes," the MMWR states (7/16). For the report, CDC compiled data from several different studies involving hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults age 10 to 25. Among other findings, the data indicated that AIDS rates among boys age 15 to 19 increased from 1.3 cases per 100,000 in 1997 to 2.5 cases in 2006.

MPR Midmorning had a compelling discussion today about the report and what should be done to address this troubling trend: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/midmorning/

Unfortunately, many of the trends evidenced in the report are being seen right here in Minnesota.

Sexually transmitted infections have climbed to historic levels, with Chlamydia rates in the state more than doubling in the past thirteen years (a seven percent increase in the past year alone). In some communities of color, the situation is dire, as health care disparities have led to rates so high that the epidemic has become self-sustaining.

This is an unconscionable public health failure. It’s time for solutions. Minnesota’s young people deserve a balanced, honest approach to sexuality education in order to best make informed, responsible decisions that will preserve their health and well-being. 

It’s a complex problem that requires comprehensive solutions; including:

•    Support for parents as the primary sexuality educator of their children.
•    Medically accurate sex education.
•    Access to reproductive health care services.
•    Youth development opportunities to engage young people in their community.

As parents, teachers and those working in public health, we have an obligation to simultaneously protect and empower youth by providing them with accurate, age appropriate fact-based sexuality education.

For the past two years, PPMNS has led the effort to advance legislation that would help to reverse this trend. Addressing this public health issue through common sense public policy, accessible health care and community relevant/responsible fact-based education is our priority.

PPMNS is proud to offer 10 education programs across the state of Minnesota for parents, teens, and community members that are grounded in research.

Our Parent-Child Programs support family communication and connectedness; our Teen Councils and Youth Peer Education Programs empower young people with the skills they need to make healthy choices, and our Adult Lay Health Advisor Programs teach adults how to be health care experts in their local communities.

We provide culturally relevant education and outreach services among Latino, Asian and African immigrant communities specifically designed to respond to cultural and linguistic barriers that often keep members of our communities from seeking the health care they need.

The latest report from the CDC underscores what many already know: teens need to know how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections. They need medically accurate and age appropriate information and access to preventative health care to build healthier, brighter futures.

Planned Parenthood will continue its work at the legislature, in our clinics and in communities across the state to address this public health and education imperative. Our young people deserve nothing less.

Health Care Reform Action Camp!

Health care reform is just all the rage lately, and who really knows the difference between “single payer” and “public option” and well, any of it?  It’s all incredibly confusing, to be sure.  And where does Planned Parenthood fit into all of this?

Attend our Action Camp on health care reform to figure it all out!  We’ll spend the morning simplifying the health care reform debates so that everyone can understand exactly what Congress (and everyone else) is talking about and how proposed reforms will affect the women and families that Planned Parenthood serves.  After we get a good education, we’ll be jumping on the phones and calling our fellow activists and volunteers in North Dakota and encouraging them to contact their Senators about health care reform.

Why are we calling North Dakotans?  Well, North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad is a key person in Washington, DC as he serves as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and as a veteran member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has already begun work on negotiating the shape and scope of health care reform legislation.  We need to make sure that he hears from Planned Parenthood supporters in North Dakota about prioritizing women’s health!

Health Care Reform Action Camp  will be held on Saturday, July 25th from 11am-3pm at our Uptown Clinic (1200 Lagoon Avenue, Minneapolis)

To sign up for this skill-building Action Camp, email shassell@ppmns.org or RSVP on facebook!

Planned Parenthood takes women's health message directly to Congress

Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund (PPMNSAF) along with the national organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), hosted a Capitol Hill day on Thursday, July 16. Several local representatives joined more than 300 other Planned Parenthood staff, board members and volunteers from across the country to discuss with members of Congress the importance of making women’s health a priority in health care reform.

PPMNS Public Affairs staff met with members of Congress from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“We are fortunate to have so many elected officials that support of women’s health, and we look forward to working with each of them on meaningful health care reform,” said Sarah Stoesz, President of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund (PPMNSAF).

“More than 60,000 women and men count on us for basic, preventive health care every year,” said Stoesz. “We know firsthand the importance of health care reform, and that is why we are taking our case to lawmakers. It’s time for Washington to learn what so many Minnesota  women have known for a long time — women’s health care is basic health care. More than 95 percent of what Planned Parenthood health centers do is preventive and primary care. Planned Parenthood health centers are essential community health care providers,” said Stoesz.

Today’s lobby day was a huge success. Planned Parenthood staff, board members and volunteers made nearly 250 visits to members of Congress and delivered two main messages: any health care reform effort must include access to comprehensive reproductive health care, and women’s access to essential community providers must be protected. This ensures that basic prevention care, such as contraception, Pap tests, and other cancer screenings are covered and that women are able to access trusted health care providers in the communities where they live.  

“Women must not be worse off after health care reform than they are now,” said Stoesz. “That means we need commonsense proposals that give women access to comprehensive reproductive health care and the opportunity to go to their provider of choice,” Stoesz said.

With the worsening of the economy, more and more women have turned to community health centers such as Planned Parenthood as a source of high-quality health care at costs they can afford. For many of these women, Planned Parenthood serves as their primary or sole health care provider. A recent Guttmacher Institute study found that more than six in 10 patients who receive care at a women’s health center like Planned Parenthood consider it their primary source of health care. These community health centers are an integral part of the nation’s health care system.

Today’s lobby day is a part of the Planned Parenthood 2009 Policy and Organizing Summit, a three-day event with a focus on PPFA’s ongoing campaign to ensure that women’s health is a priority in health care reform.  Other events include organizing and advocacy workshops, panel discussions, and the presentation of the PPFA Maggie Awards and Barry Goldwater Award.