November 2006

New Head of Family Planning Services Anti-Choice

Last week President Bush named Eric Keroack as the new chief of the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Population Affairs (OPA), or rather, the office for family planning services.

The office provides funds for birth control, pregnancy tests, breast-cancer screening and other health services for millions low-income people annually. So Keroack, who has a record of opposing birth control and abortion, is not the best candidate for a position that will affect many Latinas in the U.S.

Lawmakers Making Waves Read more »

House Passes Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act of 2005 (Johanna's Law)

On November 14th the House voted to approve bill HR 1245. The Bill authorizes $16.5 million over two years to create prevention education materials for gynecologic cancers. The bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use the funding to create public service announcements and written materials about the symptoms and early detection of gynecologic cancers. Read more »

Conservatives Argue that Legalized Abortion Encourages Illegal Immigration

Are they serious?

Evidently yes. Some Missouri Congresspersons have declared that abortion is to blame for illegal immigration and have signed a committee report to that effect. They argue that the number of women getting abortions since its legalization has decreased the labor supply, and therefore undocumented persons are encouraged to cross borders illegally to fill the demand for labor in the U.S. market.

Anti-Choice, Anti-Immigration: The Link Read more »

Legal Challenges to Nicaragua's Proposed Abortion Ban

On October 26, 2006, the Nicaraguan Congress voted to ban ALL abortions, even those that could save the life of a woman. The Nicaraguan Congress passed the bill and President Enrique Bolaños is expected to sign it into law in order for the ban to take effect. Prison terms for seeking an abortion, or assisting a woman seeking one, can be up to 6 years. The Nicaraguan abortion ban if signed into law will have reverberating effects on Latinas’ access to reproductive healthcare here in the U.S. Why? Because we understand that it is these very obstacles that influence Latina immigrants’ perception of reproductive healthcare in the US which impede their access to the available services here.

Read more »

Election 2006: Big Wins for Reproductive Rights

1. Hope for the Future

NLIRH would like to thank all of you for getting out there and voting!!! The Democratic Party is now in the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate after almost 12 years of Republicans claiming the majority. More importantly than which Party is in power, we now have more pro-women, pro-health and pro-choice members. This is an important win for reproductive health advocates.

What does this mean for the next two years? Read more »

News: November 7, 2006

1. Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Argument in U.S. Supreme Court TODAY!

On November 8, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court will review Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. Carhart and Planned Parenthood are two challenges to the Federal Abortion Ban, also known as the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003."

How did these two cases get to the U.S. Supreme Court? Read more »

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