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On the agenda: anti-women legislators to take a week off
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What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
“We can hardly tell women that Planned Parenthood is an organization that will give them a choice when over 90 percent of their clients receive an abortion. Young women are coerced, are pressured, are manipulated from all angles to tell them that abortion is their only choice, abortion is the easiest choice, abortion is the best choice,” said Nicole Floetker, 24, of Columbus. (Columbus Dispatch, “New spat in legislature over family-planning aid“)We’re not sure where Nicole went when she was pregnant, but this is completely false. In reality, pregnancy termination represents 3 percent of Planned Parenthood services and is only available at 2 of 32 locations around Ohio. But let’s not let facts get in the way of laws that impact the ability of real women to receive healthcare. The Chairman also promises to go after Planned Parenthood even more aggressively, replicating a provision that was inserted into the budget and removed last month:
He (Wachtmann) also plans to introduce a substitute bill that is expected to block additional federal aid to Planned Parenthood, including money for breast- and cervical-cancer screenings, infertility prevention and other women’s health services. (from the Dispatch coverage)Because that totally sounds like a way to improve women’s health. Those changes are expected to be adopted by the committee at its hearing next Wednesday (at 9am in room 116 of the Statehouse). We’ll keep you posted if the schedule changes.
Think Tank Report Says “Gender Ratings” Force Women to Pay More Than Men
Columbus: Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Ohio, released a new report today as part of its new Ohio Women’s Watch initiative. The report finds that due to so-called “gender ratings” by insurance companies, Ohio women pay significantly higher health insurance premiums than men, “simply because they are female.” Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will prohibit gender ratings as of January 1, 2014, IO said “Ohio women shouldn’t have to wait,” and called on Governor Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly to “follow the lead of more than a dozen other states and ban the discriminatory practice now.” The think tank also suggested that insurance companies themselves could “voluntarily do the right thing and agree to discontinue the practice on their own.” The Report, “Insurance, Gender Ratings and Sex Discrimination,” was done in collaboration with the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. The report can be viewed at www.innovationohio.org/fairratesnow Among the Report’s principal findings are:-30-
Next Tuesday, Innovation Ohio will be part of a great event in Columbus to highlight legislation important to women.
Lobby Day is your opportunity to hear from elected officials about important legislation that will benefit women and meet with your representatives to urge them to take action and enact these much-needed changes to Ohio’s laws.
2nd Annual Women’s Lobby Day Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Registration @ 8:30am | Welcome @ 9am At Progress Ohio, 172 E. State Street • 6th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215 Questions or to RSVP, E-Mail: OhioWomensLobbyDay@gmail.com
Download a complete agenda and RSVP to attend on Tuesday!