Organizations such as Planned Parenthood – who are already banned from using government money to provide abortions – are falling victim to inflammatory pro-life rhetoric. No matter how you feel about the issue of choice, it is true that organizations such as Planned Parenthood provide basic women’s health services to many of our community members who have no other access to health care.

The conversation has become so extreme that a new GOP bill which would allow ‘women to die before having an abortion’.

We can help cooler heads prevail. Join Planned Parenthood and members of MYD’s Women’s Issues Committee for a rally to support women’s health.

RALLY FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH!
Saturday, February 26th
Foley Square, Across from the Court House in Lower Mahattan
1:00 – 3:00pm

Sign up HERE

So Anthony Weiner retracts his statement, and then goes on to say (this is at about the 2:25 mark in the video):

Make no mistake about it, every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.

Awesome.  My favorite moment is when the Republican asks that his words be taken down the first time, and Weiner just crosses his arms and tells him “you really don’t wanna go here.”  The Video:

St. Vincent’s is the only full-service hospital on the lower West Side.  And, according to the Advocate, was a major player at the epicenter of treating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980′s.

A phonebank to prevent the closure is scheduled for 5pm today at 101 6th Avenue.

Spoken word artists (even a limited open mic in the beginning) will speak out about health care and attendees will be signing hospital scrubs to send to DC lawmakers in support of the Every Patient Matters campaign.

Should be a blast, and incase you’ve never been to a spoken word event – let me just tell you they are totally cool. Hope you can swing by!

Tonight (Thurs): 7-10 pm
Habana Outpost (Lowpost)
757 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY
Map It

When it comes to the cost of our health care, then, the status quo is unsustainable. Reform is not a luxury, but a necessity. I know there has been much discussion about what reform would cost, and rightly so. This is a test of whether we – Democrats and Republicans alike – are serious about holding the line on new spending and restoring fiscal discipline.

However, before Obama even finished his remarks to the AMA, Rep. Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia and the minority whip, issued his own statement:

Democrats are touting a government-run health care option that creates an unlevel playing field leading to the destruction of the private market, reducing choice and putting Washington bureaucrats in charge of family health care decision . . . It’s time for the administration to end the happy talk and get down to the difficult decisions ahead.

And it may be time for the GOP to stop fear-mongering the general public with a government-run health care plan, as the majority of Americans will keep the insurance and doctors they already have and like, and hopefully see reduced costs and better health outcomes across the board. It’s early in what is sure to be a vicious fight, and this is just the beginning — expect to see nastier and increasingly misleading panic attacks from those opposed to health care reform in the upcoming months.

For an illuminating reality check on the problems with our health care system, check out Atul Gawande’s New Yorker article, a White House ”must-read,” which Obama mentioned again in his speech today.

Marisa is the Chair of MYD’s Healthcare Issue Committee.