by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

Yesterday the Senate dropped the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to the health care bill, which would have prevented under the public plan the purchase of healthcare policies which cover abortion.  Advocates for Youth applauds this action.

However, against science, parents' wishes, and all logic, Senator Harry Reid has also introduced a provision which would restore funding for abstinence-only programs - those same failed, misleading, and homophobic programs for which President Obama ended funding in his federal budget.

Keep an eye on this space - we will update with how you can take action against this ridiculous step back into the Bush administration. 

Read about yesterday's actions on health care in the Washington Post

by Nicole Cheetham, Director, International Department

It is hard for me to believe that it is almost 2010, we have a democratic-controlled Congress, a Democratic in the White House and a health care reform bill that may compromise women’s health. Granted, creating a health care plan that includes all Americans is daunting and requires compromises, but why is the concept of health care for all, to begin with, so difficult to embrace?  And why should fifty-one percent of the population carry the full weight of these compromises?

by Nicole Cheetham, Director, International Department

Last week I attended a World AIDS Day event that was hosted at the World Bank, with prominent global HIV/AIDS stakeholders on a panel, including Ambassador Eric Goosby, the US Global AIDS Coordinator; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Joy Phumaphi, Former Minister of Health of Botswana; Julian Schweitzer, Acting Vice President of the Human Development Network at the World Bank, and Beldina Atieno, a teacher and mother living with HIV in Kenya.

While the event was focused on linking HIV/AIDS, food security and maternal and child health, it surprised me that not once during the 1hour and 45 minute presentation did anyone mention young people.

It is no secret that 45 percent of all new HIV infections globally are among young people 15-24 years of age.  It is also no secret that complications due to pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among young women ages 10-19 around the world.  And it is no secret that infants of adolescent mothers are 1.5 times more likely than those of older mothers to die before their first birthday. 

Or wait: Are these facts in fact still secrets?? You might think so.

by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

 Have you heard of The Family?

- It is a powerful religious fundamentalist group housed in Washington, DC.
- It is a bipartisan organization with at least 20 current members of Congress, and many other high-placed government officials, as members.
- Its members act in full cooperation with one another, believing that God has chosen them as tools.
- It has been involved in a dazzling series of horrors, from anti-abortion legislation, to abstinence-only requirements, to homophobia and transphobia.

And get this:  both Representative Bart Stupak and Representative Joe Pitts, authors of the Stupak-Pitts amendment banning any insurance companies which cover abortion from receiving subsidies under the new healthcare plan, are members.

Stupak lives in the residence on Washington DC’s C Street owned by The Family – and Pitts is in even deeper.  Pitts is a “core member,” meaning that according to Family beliefs, he is entitled to a special relationship with and message from Christ that others are not privy to.