“Hands Off Women’s Health” Rally
Thursday, February 23, from noon to 1pm
Outside Sen. Scott Brown’s office
John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston (next to City Hall Plaza)

Tell Scott Brown “Hands Off Women’s Health”

Important that we understand the current attack on women’s health.
In Congress, they are discussing a proposal that would allow any employer to drop any provision in insurance they don’t want to cover — simply by saying it’s against their moral code.    In Virginia, they are considering a proposal to require an invasive ultra-sound procedure if women are considering terminating a pregnancy. 

Rally on Thursday to tell Scott Brown this proposed Congressional legislation is an unacceptable attack on women’s health.

Join ACLUM, NARAL, JALSA, and other groups to tell Scott Brown we do not accept this. Birth control is not your boss’s business. Make sure Senator Scott Brown gets the message loud and clear.

Senator Brown has sponsored extreme legislation that would allow any employer to deny insurance coverage for any health care service–from contraception to cancer screening–by citing “religious beliefs or moral convictions.” Allowing CEOs to impose their religious views on their employees is not religious liberty. It’s discrimination, plain and simple.

Important that we understand the current attack on women’s health.

JALSA Office, 18 Tremont Street, Suite 320, Boston

Thursday’s hearing reflected the position of the US Catholic Bishops and Religious Right.
Join us at CLSA for the perspective of the multiple religious groups that belong to the Religious Coalition on Reproductive Choice and support government positions that allow individual women to follow their own consciences as they make reproductive and health decisions. What do we need to do to assure that women’s health is not sacrificed during this political season.  We know that religious freedom and reproductive rights can be maintained simultaneously.

Feel free to bring lunch.  Just come or save your seat by emailing jalsaoffice@gmail.com.

The announcement that the Susan Komen Foundation was not going to fund Planned Parenthood was of great concern to all of us who care about the efforts to find a cure for breast cancer, the efforts to support reproductive rights, and the broader issue of the health needs of women. The outpouring of support for Planned Parenthood and women’s health needs was heartwarming.

However, much remains to be seen at both the Susan Komen Foundation and in the country at large. Will women across the country tell their congressional representatives that they will not be quiet or passive in the face of congressional de-funding of women’s health services? Will women and men who care about their wives and daughters tell prospective political candidates that they will not put up with new restrictions on health services, birth control, and abortion (83 state laws in 2011 restricting access to abortion services “Guttmacher Institute” via Sarah Kliff, Washington Post’s Wonkblog. Eight states now prohibit private insurance plans from covering abortion. )   Will the advice of the Food and Drug Administration to allow the morning-after pill Plan B be directly available at drugstore and supermarkets continue to be thwarted by the Administration?

No wonder the Susan Komen Foundation thought no one would pay attention.

Here is the link to Contagion: Not Just a Movie, a powerful look at how the common sense policy of paid sick days can prevent a real-life contagion. Five worker activists share their stories of having to go to work sick because they can’t afford to stay home or aren’t allowed to take off.

Here in Massachusetts, almost 1 million workers do not have a single paid sick day.

We all have a stake in paid sick days. KNOW THE FACTS:

·        More than 44 million workers do not have paid sick days – almost 1 million of whom are Massachusetts workers.

·        Workers earning low-wages are the least likely to have paid sick days. Only 19 percent of low-wage workers have access to paid sick days.

·        Many workers with a significant interaction with the public do not have paid sick days. This includes three in four food service workers, three in five personal health care workers and three in four child care workers.

·        1 in 6 workers have been fired or threatened with being fired for taking time off work to care for a personal or family illness.

Sustainable Food and Lower Healthcare Costs

Paid sick policy could save Mass. $22m

Click here for Hearing Update and Media Coverage3

Updated: Thursday, 14 Jul 2011, 8:54 PM EDT

• Christine Lee, 22News State House Correspondent

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – In the spring, state Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Joanne Goldstein said paid sick leave is a workers’ “basic right.” Now lawmakers are responding with legislation that could make it law.

The Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hearing Thursday for a pair of bills that legally require businesses in Massachusetts to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

“The workers who cannot afford to take a sick day, those are the ones who don’t have it, the ones who are working for minimum wage,” Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville), a lead sponsor of the bill.

“It’s about healthcare for all, it’s about social justice, equitable justice,” said Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield), who serves as House chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.

In a research study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), results show that the Commonwealth could save $22.7 million dollars in emergency room costs with a paid sick leave policy.

Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton), another lead sponsor of the bill, adds that her legislation will encourage a healthier work environment.

“I know I encourage people to stay out of my office if they’re ill because we don’t want to infect the entire office,” said Rep. Khan.

But small business owners insist that financially speaking, they’re already at the end of their rope. They’re struggling with mandatory health insurance, the recession and other employee obligations they can’t afford.

“This paid sick leave bill is one more high cost and small businesses have nothing left to give to this,” said William Vernon, the Massachusetts director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Small business advocates add that the government shouldn’t interfere with private business and “one-size” paid sick leave legislation, “doesn’t fit all”.

“A lot of small employers have part-time employees, seasonal employees,” said Jon Hurst, the president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “A lot of those employees are not looking for benefits. They’re looking for higher pay per hour.

Opponents of the legislation express concern that sick benefits could be abused on a nice sunny day in Cape Cod, but supporters say it’s the workers who are being abused when they must choose between working while sick or taking a pay cut.

Mandatory paid sick laws are active in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C.

After an exciting series of First Friday speakers through the winter addressing the issue of food access as a health and environmental justice issue, JALSA leaders and staff have had a busy spring meeting with key leaders on this topic.  Gus Schumacher, former Undersecretary of Agriculture, has been working with us to explore the role that Doctors and Health-Insurers can play in promoting greater access to healthy resources and lifestyles for poorer communities struggling with lack of access to fresh food and places to exercise.
–Access to fresh healthy food is an important issue of equity.  Join us in our efforts in this preventative health measure to help increase such healthy food availability.    Call Annie Fox at JALSA: 617-227-3000 or email annie@jalsa.org