Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/30780
Oklahoma Recovery Wichita Threats Wisconsin Protests 3Activists in Virginia rally against proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood. April—the U.S. Congress will imme- diately have to deal with the fiscal year 2012 budget that President Obama has proposed. While Obama’s proposal for 2012 supports a number of programs signif- icant to women, the GOP House has shown that, for them, women and chil- dren are just budget millstones. As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put it, “We must ask ourselves…is it a statement of our values to deprive women of primary care? When it comes to health and education, Repub- licans put women and children last.” Following is a rundown of some of the harsh cuts proposed by House Republicans that particularly affect women and children. Keep in mind that these deal with just 12 percent of the overall federal budget; Republi- cans have not yet put forth their plans for Social Security and Medicare, al- though they have proposed an $8 bil- lion boost in military spending. If H.R. 1 were to go into law, it would: —In the (false) name of prevent- ing abortions, zero out nearly all family-planning funding support, nationally and globally: The House voted to defund Title X, which pro- vides comprehensive family-planning and preventive health-care services to low-income people. This penny-wise, pound-foolish strategy—a federal dollar spent on family planning actual- ly saves the U.S. $4 in later expenses— could mean disaster for 4,500 health clinics around the nation. The House also voted to prohibit Planned Parenthood—which runs about 800 of those clinics, providing HIV screenings, basic checkups, pap smears, contraceptives and other services to millions each year (only 3 percent of its work is abortion relat- www.msmagazine.com highlights 14 15 16 ed, and abortions are not federally funded)—from getting federal funds. That likely means no Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement for Planned Parenthood visits, either (sorry, eld- ers and low-income folks). Also, the House took out funding for UNFPA, the international agency that does no abortions but does provide vital re- productive health care to women in developing nations. —Defund the health-care reform law: The House passed multiple amendments to choke off funding for putting in place the new health-care system. Said Marcia D. Greenberger, copresident of the National Women’s Law Center, “Women could once again be denied insurance coverage if they have had cesarean sections or have survived rape or domestic vio- lence, under the guise that these are preexisting conditions. Women could once again be charged higher premi- ums than men, pricing many women right out of their ability to secure af- fordable, comprehensive coverage.” —Take food from babies’ mouths: The House GOP targeted WIC (the Women, Infants and Children Pro- gram), which provides federal money to states for supplemental food, health-care referrals and nutrition education for low-income women and at-risk kids under 5, for a $747 million cut from 2010 levels. Ironi- cally, WIC was the single new, bipar- tisan social program approved by the Reagan administration. —Kick out 218,000 kids from Head Start:That’s what would happen if the proposed cut of $1.1 billion to the pre- school program goes through. It would also lead to 55,000 potential layoffs— and 97 percent of preschool and kindergarten teachers are women. H.R. 1 included a huge amount of cuts to other education programs as well. —Help keep kids overweight and teens pregnant: In what looked sus- piciously like a swipe at Michelle Obama’s healthy eating campaign, the House cut $50 million from the maternal and child health block grants, which fund model programs to combat obesity in women and chil- dren. Community grants for teen pregnancy prevention were also axed, to the tune of $110 million. —Zero out funding for Title IX compliance: H.R. 1 would eliminate the Women’s Educational Equity Program, which helps schools meet their obligations to maintain gender equity under Title IX—including, most famously, in sports programs. And H.R. 1 goes on and on, cutting funds for food safety, occupational safety, the environment, training and employment grants (while we’re in a job recession, hello!), disease control and prevention, global AIDS fund- ing—even funding for flu shots. Long-time feminist members of Congress weren’t fooled by the smoke screen of “deficit reduction.” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), past chair of the Joint Economic Committee, put it bluntly: “The truly drastic na- ture of their budget cuts, the back- ward nature of their abortion legislation…and the regressive nature of their repeal of health-care reforms reveals the true face of their agenda.” Added Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), “These actions by the majority would severely hurt women’s rights.” The war over federal spending cuts for fiscal year 2011 will continue, and once the budget is passed, the GOP may then insist on even more women- bashing cuts for fiscal year 2012. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation (and publisher of Ms.), makes our challenge clear: “If the feminists of this country cannot stop this outrage, who can?” —MARTHA BURK SPRING 2011 | 13 JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES