The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals issued this alert to it’s membership. Please consider following this link to easily and electronically express your opinion about this proposal to HHS Secretary Leavitt.

http://capwiz.com/nfprha/home/

Dear ARHP member,

We have an urgent matter to bring to your attention. Recently, the Bush Administration proposed new regulations under which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would redefine pregnancy as beginning prior to implantation and adopt a definition of abortion that includes many forms of contraception, including some birth control pills, IUDs, and emergency contraception. Both of these proposed definitions are alarmingly at odds with science. This regulation would also allow health care providers and facility staff to refuse to provide any medical service – if doing so would violate their moral beliefs.

If adopted, the new regulations could mean that providers of federally-funded family planning services could no longer guarantee their patients access to contraception. We cannot tolerate this last ditch attack on family planning as the Bush Administration prepares to leave office.

To make it quick and easy for you to learn more about and take action on this outrageous proposal, ARHP has partnered with our colleagues at the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA). Please click here (http://capwiz.com/nfprha/home/) to easily and electronically express your opinion about this proposal to HHS Secretary Leavitt.

Thank you for your quick response on this critical issue.

Sincerely,
ARHP Policy Team

Dear Secretary Leavitt:

The undersigned medical, public health, religious, advocacy, and research groups committed to women’s health strongly oppose the Department of Health and Human Services’ draft regulations that could significantly limit women’s access to basic reproductive health services, including some of the most common forms of birth control. If implemented, these regulations may preempt state laws that protect women’s access to health care and undermine the nation’s fragile network of safety net providers that serve low income women. We strongly urge the Department to immediately abandon its effort to bring about these ill-conceived and harmful policy changes.

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From their website…

In 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Forty years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women, men and young people.

This year’s World Population Day reaffirms the right of people to plan their families. It encourages activities, events and information that will help make this right real – especially for those who often have the hardest time getting the information and services they need to plan their families, such as marginalized populations and young people.

When people can plan their families, they can plan their lives. They can plan to beat poverty. They can plan on healthier mothers and children. They can plan to gain equality for women. Plan to support World Population Day this year!

This is part one, of a two part podcast, next week we will have part two.

We first hear from James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth in Washington DC.  We had the chance to talk at length with James about his work, and the politics that surrounds an issue like Abstinence Only Education.

After James we speak to Jennifer Heitel Yakush, from Catholics for Choice.  Jennifer was at the Silencing Sex Ed panel discussion on April 24th, representing SIECUS at the time.  She has since moved on to Catholics for Choice.

We welcome your comments, and posts about this issue.  You can also find our Podcast on the iTunes Music store.

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