DDeguzmanAmerican Governments Many women within the United States are worried about the availability of birth control and emergency contraceptives coming in the near future. There are many ways a woman can gain access to birth control: this includes going to your primary care provider, a clinic such as Planned Parenthood, or your local drug store. However, with the laws wanting to be passed by the Trump Administration, the access to birth control and emergency contraceptives, may become very limited.
Based on the data shown on National Center for Health Statistics website, the United States have shown a significant amount of improvement with the decreasing rates of teen pregnancy between the ages 15-19. However, our current elected officials want to put a stop to this. Non-profit organization or small businesses that help provide birth control for the community such as Planned Parenthood systems, are weakening due to the lack of support by our elected officials, especially with funding. Although birth rates have significantly decreased throughout the years of 2005-2015, because of the decisions that are being made by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and the guidance of the Trump Administration, these rates can escalate quickly. In general, health related topics have always been relevant during elections throughout the years, including birth control. During the current term of President Trump, he has been working towards limiting the access and insurance coverage for birth control. During 2018, Trump Administration finalized two rules that were issued by the U.S Department of Human and Health Services that generally exempts non-profit organizations and small businesses from complete access and coverage to birth control. Additionally during the midterm election, Trump provoked the rule created during Obama’s term on employers having to pay for female birth controls. Total Birth per 1,000 Females (Age 15-19) 2005 2015 17.9 - 34.9 21 States 9.4 - 19.3 20 States 35.2 42.4 10 States 19.4 - 25 11 States 42.5 - 61.6 20 States 25.3 - 38 20 States Figure 1. Teen Pregnancy Rates (source CDC.gov) From the presidency of George Bush to Barack Obama, we can entail that the teen pregnancy rates have significantly decreased. The data information on Figure 1 was derived from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website. As we can see from Figure 1, when comparing the time of presidency during Bush and Obama, we can recognize the significant decrease within teen pregnancy. This data table can offer valid evidence of teen pregnancy rates within the span of 10 years under two different presidencies. During my research, I found an article with the headline, “FDA Commissioner Crawford, No More Stalling! Plan B belongs on Drugstore Shelves!” (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2005). This article was written during the term of President George Bush and former FDA Commissioner, Lester Crawford. Based on the title of this article, we can already assume where President Bush stands towards birth control and emergency contraceptive accessibility. The article explains how the FDA has failed to make Plan B available without a prescription for plenty of years, which explains why the rates from Figure 1 are so high during 2005 compared to 2015. We would have hoped for the future presidency to improve on this issue with President Bush making it hard for us women to be able to attain birth control or emergency contraceptive. As President Barack Obama became president, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) lessened the worries for those who needed birth control and/or emergency contraceptives. The ACA required employer private health insurance plans to cover birth control. Teens were positively affected with this ruling, due to the fact that many teens are usually under their parent or guardian’s health insurance plan. Countless teens rely on birth control access hence the fact that they are still young, under the roofs of their parent or guardian, and unable to provide for a child. Trump’s Administration are trying to make it difficult for women to gain access to birth control and emergency contraceptives. As I’ve mentioned before, many people were protesting against Former FDA Commissioner Crawford, who wanted to keep Plan B as a prescription only status. Similarly, Trump’s Administration wants to apply restrictions on birth control/Plan B by defunding clinics that provide these sexual services and/or medications and also wanting to limit the coverage from public and private insurances, such as employer’s insurance. Teen pregnancy is affected within this issue since most teens are still covered under their parent or guardian’s insurance. However, as stated on the official New York Times website, “A federal court issued a nationwide injunction on Monday that prevents the Trump administration from interfering with women’s access to free birth control guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act,” (Pear, 2019). With the similarities of Bush’s aspects and Trump’s aspects towards the access of birth control, we can anticipate teen pregnancy rates to increase. Since the Trump Administration wanted to restrict and limit the access women have for birth control and emergency contraceptives but didn’t succeed, we can only hope the best for the 2020 midterm elections regarding this issue. Many women would want the next president to keep the ideas and morals of the Affordable Care Act in regards to sexual health services and/or medications.
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DOWOCalifornia Politics Free tampons and pads should be accessible to students at schools and also youth centers. I believe that if men can get free condoms at schools to promote healthy, safe sex and to prevent teenage pregnancy, then women should get free pads and tampons in schools and youth centers to promote periods and clean vaginal health. I also think that this should be not only for women in schools, but it should also apply to homeless women as well. We should make feminine products available in community centers, firehouses, police stations, and most importantly women’s shelters and homeless shelters. It is every woman's right to have access to these products because we can not help having a period. It’s a natural thing that happens and we really should not be spending so much money on it every year. Unlike men who can control the urge to have sex by abstaining, women don’t have a choice because we can’t control our periods. Periods usually come every month for about 5-7 days, so the amount of money that women have to spend per year is ridiculous. If women have access to feminine products in schools, then the amount of money they can save is huge.
During the recent election, our current president, Donald Trump, sparked an a major outrage because he accused Fox News host, Megyn Kelly of giving him harder to answer interview questions because she was on her “time of the month.” Because of his comment, women all over the world started to talk about menstruation and even started a hashtag called #periodsarenotaninsult. Former President Obama didn’t even know that tampons were being taxed as a luxury item until it was brought up in an interview in 2016. President Obama also agrees that it is an issue and said that he doesn’t understand why it’s being taxes as a luxury item and said “I suspect it's because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed.” What Trump said at the time really shocked the entire country and women from all over the country started rebelling and participating more in women’s marches. Personally as a fellow woman, it’s inspiring to see all these women with different backgrounds come together for the same goal. I believe these supplies should be provided by the local government and sponsored by big name companies that sell feminine products like Always, O.B, and Kotex. It does not cost these companies that much money to make these products, so why are they charging women such high prices? Even the United Nations declared menstrual hygiene a global, public-health, gender-equality and human rights issue so why aren’t we providing free feminine products? I’m not saying that women should have access to free feminine products all their lives, but I believe that it should be available for them from middle school through college. I think that this time period is important for young women in particular because their bodies are going through changes and they feel the most uncomfortable. This period can be kind of awkward so having free feminine products at school would avoid unwanted accidents. Another reason why I think that feminine products should be accessible to teens and young adults is because it also saves the parents a lot of money. Think about it, parents are saving up for their children’s college tuition so not paying money for feminine products would really help them save up. According to Statistica, in 2016, Tampax Pearl generated nearly 289 million dollars in sales alone. These numbers are from one company alone talking about their tampon sales. Imagine how much it would be if other companies like Always, O.B, and Kotex were added in. After what Trump said in the recent election, topics like free feminine products as well as the tampon tax have been more talked about. In a way, I’m glad that Trump sparked that outrage because it became such a huge topic when it wasn’t before. In conclusion, I believe that feminine products should be free and available to all women in schools and colleges, as well as homeless shelters and women’s shelters. If these products were accessible to women, I believe that women would achieve much greater things in life as well as become more confident to do things. It would also bring comfort to young women all around and give them more self confidence. In the upcoming elections, more and more women are running for office and these women who are running are so inspirational because they aren’t afraid of speaking their minds or “letting the man do the job.” The future is female so let’s give these young women some inspiration. SJAmerican Government In 1973, the landmark ruling for women’s rights in U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman’s right to an abortion. Ever since, individual states have adopted and changed the ruling to fit their agendas, especially Texas. However, the decision in Roe v. Wade didn’t set clear cut rules, which has allowed debate to consume the nation ever since. Rather than establishing a legal ruling of what life is, or is not, the Supreme Court has remained silent on the issue. Without the agreement determining when life begins, the court has allowed state legislators the authority to shape a state’s policy on abortion. Meaning, across the nation, all states can bring legislation and input severe limitations on when and how a pregnancy may be terminated. Since then, in recent years state lawmakers have passed some of the toughest anti-abortion measures in the country, essentially making the procedure almost inaccessible for many Texas women.
2013 marked the closure of many reproductive centers across Texas and resulted in the topic of accessible abortions being a heated discussion for many state citizens. Within that year, a new state law has brought on many abortion restrictions resulting in lowering women’s reproductive rights due to decreasing access to abortion care (Al-Arian). The House bill, HB2, set forth provisions that would result in the closure of most abortion clinics in the state of Texas. State legislature, both passed HB, 3994 as a law after receiving Governor Abbott signature. This law complicated access to abortion services for many minors and for those who do not possess a Texas identification card. In HB 3994, it had four requirements of the bill that would explicitly hinder minors. The first provision, the bill will make it harder for a minor to demonstrate that she needs a judge to approve her for an abortion because the level of evidence that the minor must acquire is much more encompassing. Secondly, it revises the requirement that a judge’s rule must be made immediately, expanding the decision time from two days to five which prolongs the process (planned parenthood). The third provision withdrawals the requirement that in the case the judge cannot make an immediate rule, then the minor’s case was automatically granted. This third provision along with the extension of the ruling time, could lead to a number of rules not being made and to the possibility of the minor’s application being denied. Fourthly, the new bill brings limits on who can have their appeals heard. With both Republican representative in the State Senate and the State House, this bill has become increasingly hard to overturn resulting in women being denied access to center in over a 100 miles radius. This included the Texas abortion provider, Whole Woman's Health, which ran a clinic in Beaumont until 2014. This center was the only place to get an abortion between Houston, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Racheal Jones and Jenna Jerman, author of “Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health” recorded that “In 2014, some 96% of Texas counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 43% of Texas women lived in those counties”. This number shows a 29% decline compared to the numbers of clinics available in 2012. Additionally, in 2017, Texas lawmakers have filed at least 17 “religious refusal” bills that would permit discrimination against LGBT in many factors in their life such as healthcare, welfare services, and employment. In healthcare, Senate bill 17 allows “health care providers to use their religious beliefs as reason to deny any medical treatment to LGBT people and others included within that community” (Guttmacher Institute). Providers are also able to deny family planning services such as birth control, counseling, miscarriage management and abortion care to patients because of their sexuality and gender identification. This is an issue on many different citizen’s minds, especially those who live in the state of Texas. The new laws are forcing many women to have to cross state lines in order to receive an abortion and medical care. This includes woman who needs abortions due to preexisting medical conditions and those who are carrying fetuses which are diseased and are expected not to be born as healthy babies (Planned Parenthood). The Texas Governor Rick Perry and Senator Ted Cruz are leading the fight for the abortion laws to become permanent, laws that are considered the strictest abortion laws that this country has ever seen. Overall, this debate has divided many Texas citizens into two categories, prolife and prochoice. Pro-life supports the idea that every child has a right to live. Meanwhile, prochoice believes in the right to privacy and the idea women should have the choice to do what she pleases with her own body. With a strong pro-life presence in the Texas state government, it will remain difficult for the overturn of these policies and the reopening of many abortion clinics within the state. |
AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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