STOP The Provider Conscience Rule

STOP The Provider Conscience Rule
5:00pm (sharp)
TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 3rd
Worcester City Hall

Our Community Speaks Out

On January 20^th, the Bush Administration instituted a midnight regulation known as the Provider Conscience Rule. This rule allows workers in any federally funded health care facility to refuse to do work that offends their religious or personal beliefs – such as providing treatment to transgender people, bisexuals, lesbians, or gays. It may allow providers to deny services such as basic birth control and HIV tests, or even emergency procedures for certain people, if doing so would offend their beliefs.

WE demand the Obama Administration immediately reverse the Provider Conscience Rule.

A brief skit by community members will be followed by a speak out
Confirmed speakers include
Joe O'Brien (Representative James P. McGovern's Office)
Rev Judith Hanlon (Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC)
Sara N. B. Connor (Nurse Practitioner, UMASS Care Mobile)
Jesse Pack (Mass Transgender Political Coalition)

Ron Madnick (American Civil Liberties Union)

The White House - Blog Post - Statement released after the President rescinds "Mexico City Policy"

The White House - Blog Post - Statement released after the President rescinds "Mexico City Policy"

Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Statement released after the President rescinds "Mexico City Policy"

Yesterday, President Obama rescinded the "Mexico City Policy" and released the following statement:

It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.

For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.
It is time that we end the politicization of this issue. In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.
I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies. They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls.
In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund. By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries.

Sources: Obama may quickly reverse abortion policy - CNN.com

Sources: Obama may quickly reverse abortion policy - CNN.com

This is a very interesting story about Obama's decision to reverse the "Mexico City Policy" set by Reagan in the 1980s. If you remember, this is the policy that prevents any organizations that are receiving funds from the US to offer or even discuss abortion.

As with most women's health, this is a contentious issue that is highly politicized. For example, this policy was initiated by Reagan, reversed by Clinton, and then reinstated by Bush.

It will be very interesting to see what the reaction will be.

Here's an interesting statement here "Obama's second full day as president falls on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States."

Change for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Partners In Health
and
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

invite you to

Change Haiti Can Believe In
with Matt Damon, Paul Farmer, Linda Dorcena Forry, and Brian Concannon, Jr.
moderated by Amy Goodman

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 p.m. 

John F. Kennedy Library
Smith Center
Boston, MA

Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who recently visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world's poorest nations, and discuss how changes in U.S. policy can help to build strength and prosperity. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, moderates.

To register for the event, please visit the Kennedy Library Forums website.
Live webcast will be available at www.pih.org.

Visit the Health and Human Rights Prison Project page to learn about the joint work of Partners In Health and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive - CNN.com

In today's news is a story about a woman in Papua New Guinea who was bound, gagged, tied to a log and burnt alive because she was accused of witchcraft. Scapegoating typically takes place when someone is accused to be the reason for someone else's, or her community's, misfortunes. In many cases, if not most, the scapegoatee is a woman.

In Papua New Guinea, the coroner has reported that last year, over 50 people were killed because they were accused of witchcraft.

The article cites this horrifying account:

In a well-publicized case last year, a pregnant woman gave birth to a baby girl while struggling to free herself from a tree. Villagers had dragged the woman from her house and hung her from the tree, accusing her of sorcery after her neighbor suddenly died.

She and the baby survived, according to media reports.

The most telling part of this story lies in the following quote:

In recent years, as AIDS has taken a toll in the nation of 6.7 million people, villagers have blamed suspected witches -- and not the virus -- for the deaths.

According to the United Nations, Papua New Guinea accounts for 90 percent of the Pacific region's HIV cases and is one of four Asia-Pacific countries with an epidemic.

"We've had a number of cases where people were killed because they were accused of spreading HIV or AIDS," Mauba said.

When people are desperate, they will do some crazy things, including torturing and killing people.

Where have we seen this before?

You can read the full article here: Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive

The Sustainable Development Paradox

Just received this notice from one of the mailing lists I am on. Thought it might be of interest.

The January 2009 issue of the E-Journal of Solidarity, Sustainability, and Nonviolence has been posted. As always, it is open access. Simply click the following link:

The Sustainable Development Paradox
http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv05n01.html

A series of articles on "dimensions of sustainable development" is being published. The January 2009 issue shows the impossibility of integrating the social, economic, and political dimensions of sustainable development unless homo economicus becomes homo solidarius.

Please post and/or forward this notice to friends and colleagues who might be interested in the complex issues of human development, international solidarity, and environmental sustainability.
See the archive for links to previously posted issues (annotated with content outlines):

May 2005 to December 2008
http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisust.html

The current economic and environmental crises confirm the importance of the issues we are researching. Any feedback is deeply appreciated.