Planned Parenthood Advocate

New fact sheet on Obamacare to educate Minnesotans on life-saving benefits

A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that half of Americans don’t know how the Affordable Care Act will benefit them. Moreover, 42% of Americans don’t know that the ACA is an effective law.  

In our efforts to educate Minnesotans, we’ve assembled a go-to guide on the reproductive healthcare services that will be covered under the ACA. Find our fact sheet here


Under the Obamacare legislation, 900,000 Minnesota women will have expanded access to preventive health services –including well-woman visits (annual exams), family planning, and breast-feeding support –with no co-pays. The nearly 500,000 Minnesotans who are uninsured will gain access to the healthcare they need.

Thanks to the ACA, women will have improved access to birth control. And insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against women.

The Affordable Care Act: Improving Women’s Health in Minnesota for Years to Come.

 

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

 

Senator introduces bill to cover abortion for Peace Corps volunteers

On Thursday Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced a bill that will expand healthcare coverage for Peace Corps volunteers to include access to abortion. The Peace Corps Equity Act will ensure that abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment will be covered.

Of all Peace Corps volunteers, 62 percent are women. Many work in countries where quality health care is not readily available. Unfortunately, hundreds of cases of rape and sexual assault have been perpetrated against volunteers over the last decade.

For many years, Congress has barred the Peace Corps from providing abortion coverage to its volunteers without exception. A similar ban for military servicewomen existed until 2012, when President Obama signed a bill broadened their coverage to include abortion in cases of rape or incest. The Peace Corps Equity Act would expand upon that policy, allowing Peace Corps volunteers the access to healthcare most women under federal government health plans already have.

We applaud the efforts of Sen. Lautenberg in speaking out for Peace Corps volunteers as civil servants.

 

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

Planned Parenthood: Obama Reelection, Minnesota Triumphs Are ‘Resounding Victory For Women, By Women’

President Obama’s reelection – and the state-level successes in Minnesota – are a historic victory for women’s health, according to the Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund (PPMNSAF).

“This is a resounding victory for women – and by women. More than ever before, women’s health was a decisive issue in this election. Minnesotans voted to ensure that women will have access to affordable health care and be able to make their own medical decisions,” said Sarah Stoesz, President of the PPMNSAF.

Minnesota Same-Day Voter Registration Information - It’s Not Too Late!

All the discussion about voter registration and voter ID laws can be confusing. The Minnesota deadline to pre-register to vote was October 16. It’s not too late to register to vote. Minnesota allows voters to use same-day registration to vote. According to the MN Secretary of State, over 500,000 people used same-day registration in 2008. In fact, around 61% of voters in Minnesota have used same-day registration at some point.

Minnesota allows voters to register on Election Day at their polling place. Same-day registration isn’t just for new voters. If you were previously registered to vote but have moved, changed your name or have not voted for four consecutive years you will need to use same day registration. Also, if you received a notice of late registration from your county auditor or city clerk you will need to use same day registration. Minnesota provides a helpful voter registration lookup to check your registration.

Find out if you're registered here. 

If you need to use same day registration, you will need to provide proof of residence. There are a variety of ways through which you can do so.

Here's what to bring.

In addition, if you live in a nursing home, veterans home, group housing, homeless shelter, battered women’s shelter, or transitional housing you can still register to vote! An employee of the facility you live in can vouch for your residency through a written form.

Are you worried about getting to the polls? For some facilities (like nursing homes) the law allows you to designate someone to bring you a ballot. You will need to fill out a request form and the links are provided below.

Residential Facility Registration

Residential Facility Voting

So what’s all this about voter ID? The ballot for the 2012 election will include a proposed amendment to change the Minnesota Constitution. Voters will decide whether to change the constitution or to leave the constitution the way it currently is. Voting registration and procedures will remain the same for the 2012 election. However, if passed, these changes would severely impact future elections, including ending same-day voter registration. It would change how you vote, who can vote, and increase the financial cost of elections.

Voter Restriction Amendment Impact On Future Elections

What's at stake with Voter ID?

While groups all across Minnesota fight against the Photo ID Amendment, an amendment that would require government-issued photo ID before voting and would disenfranchise thousands of voters, a larger battle over voter registration and suppression rages on at a national level.

On September 12^th, Elisabeth MacNamara, the president of the League of Women Voters of the United States, testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and spoke about the importance of maintaining and protecting voters’ rights.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization that was founded in 1920, six months before the ratification of the 19^th Amendment. Since literally the beginning of women’s right to vote in the United States, the League has been there to advocate for voters’ rights and make sure that everyone has the opportunity to have their voices heard in the elections. The League does not endorse any parties or candidates, but strives to provide equality and advocacy for all voters.

In MacNamara’s statement, she brought forward accounts of disenfranchised voters all over the country, victims of voter registration laws: elderly men and women unable to provide the needed paperwork to apply for government identification; college students sent vague, threatening letters from government officials, implying that they would have to un-register as voters because their cars were not registered in-state; disabled veterans unable to afford the time and money needed to procure the proper documentation of their identities. These harrowing personal accounts were just snapshots in the wave of numbers, as a study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that as many as five million eligible voters may be disenfranchised by new state voting laws. Compare this to the fact that not one case of voter fraud has been definitively found.

MacNamara ended her testimony with a plea to the judiciary to step in and held defend voters’ rights in the United States: “Our message, Mr. Chairman, was simply put by President Lincoln during the Civil War.  The United States must be a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Restrictions on the right to vote limit the role of citizens in our democracy and are simply unacceptable.  So too are the decisions that have turned special interests loose to dominate our elections and distort our democracy.  We have a lot of work ahead” (MacNamara 11).

So while we fight to stop the voter restriction amendment in Minnesota, we are part of a larger movement to ensure suffrage for all Americans, as has been the law since women fought hard for those rights, 92 years ago.

To read the entirety of MacNamara’s testimony, visit http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/9-12-12MacNamaraTestimony.pdf.

To learn more about the voter restriction amendment in Minnesota and how to fight back against its attempt at voter suppression, visit http://www.ourvoteourfuture.org/.

To find out more about voter registration and pledge to vote, visit http://womenvote2012.blogspot.com/.

 

Citations

MacNamara, Elisabeth. United States. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. STATEMENT BY ELISABETH MACNAMARA, PRESIDENT LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ON THE CITIZENS UNITED COURT AND THE CONTINUING IMPORTANCE OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. Washington DC: , 2012. Web. <http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/9-12-12MacNamaraTestimony.pdf>.