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Health Reform for Latinas Should Include Not Being Shackled While Birthing

27 Oct 2009

shackles Yesterday, la Macha told us how today is the National Call in Day for Women of Color to Demand Health Care Reform (have you called yet?). And while immigrants have been used as scapegoats, not much attention has been paid to the access for immigrants, especially immigrant women who find themselves detained while pregnant, women like Juana Villegas DeLaPaz who we wrote about last year.

Seems like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who revels in terrorizing Latino communities, wants to make sure that even infants entering into this world know their place in his eyes. From Latino Politico:

During her second night behind bars, the bleeding started. On the morning of October 14, she felt contractions. Her hands and feet shackled, she was in labor and ushered into a paramedic’s van by a detention officer who restrained her to the stretcher.

“That’s not necessary,” the paramedic told the officer.

“It’s my job,” the officer responded. The guard was a Latina.

She thought she would be released from the shackles once she arrived at the hospital, but she wasn’t.

The officer chained her ankle to one leg of the hospital bed.

A nurse requested that she be freed to get a urine sample. But the officer suggested instead that her bed be dragged over to the bathroom.

Later she was changed from her jail uniform into a hospital gown.

“The officer chained me by the feet and the hands to the bed,” she said. “And that’s how my daughter was born.”

It is the lives of women above that make me keep repeating why the issues of immigration reform, health care reform, and prison reform all work together. It is why I am not a reformer because the reform movements tends to separate the issues into neat little blocks. I think of those who cried victory when Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) contract was modified to only include checking the status of those in jail, those in jail like the woman forced to give birth in chains.

Join the National Call-In Day for Women of Color to Demand Health Reform!

3:55 pm By la Macha · Health · 3 Comments

26 Oct 2009

From the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health comes this call to action. Even if you can’t call in today, calling in tomorrow will work just fine! Call in whenever you can!

On October 20, hundreds of women of color heard from the White House. If you missed it, you can hear a recording of the call here. Now, it’s time for us to take the message to Congress.

Women of color keep this country working. That means that our national health care system should work for us. But, as health care consumers, workers, and decision-makers for our families, we know that the current system is greatly failing women of color.

Right now, we have the opportunity to really do something about it.

Congress is working to finalize a health reform bill that – if passed – will improve access to quality, affordable care. But there are lots of people out there who are trying to block the process. We must add our voices to the debate. Congress must hear that women of color demand real health reform.

TOMORROW, Women of Color United for Health Reform is hosting a National Call-In Day in support of real health reform. Take action and join the call!

1. Dial 877-264-4226. Many thanks to our friends at Health Care for American NOW! for letting us use this service.

2. Ask the operator to connect you to your Senator or Representative and give the operator your zip code. Once the operator connects you to your Representative/Senator’s office, a staffer in the office will answer the call.

3. Say:

My name is _____ ________, and I am calling today to ask you to support health reform.

I work hard, and I deserve a national health care system that works hard for me. As a woman of color, I see first-hand how the current system is failing. More people in my community are likely to be uninsured or under-insured. We also have a higher rate of chronic or pre-existing conditions, and spend a greater percentage of our income on health care than others.

This country should have a health care system that ensures everybody can access affordable, quality, culturally appropriate care over the course of their lifespan.

[If you would like, insert your own story!]

Please pass a health reform bill that will work for women of color.
Thank you for your time.

4. Repeat. You have two Senators and one Representative representing you in Congress. If you can, call three times to leave this message with all three of your federal elected officials.

To learn more about Women of Color United for Health Reform and what we believe should be included in Congress’ health reform bill, click here.

Bill Moyers highlights Latino Health Access

10:32 am By la Macha · Health · 1 Comment

20 Oct 2009

PBS has been surprisingly good the past few weeks. It has highlighted Latino heritage month in a way that is relevent and interesting–usually it feels more like you get a month worth of stories about music. Not saying I have a problem with that, and I’ve really enjoyed PBS’s Latino Music series. But it’s nice to know that Latinos are beginning to be recognized in complex interesting ways that reach past ‘typical’ Latino fair (i.e. we’re all Mexicans, immigration is the only political issue on our landscape, we all like tejano music, etc). Read more…

First Dems Throw Immigrant Health Under the Bus, Now Reproductive Health

8:12 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Health| Politics| Women · Comments Off

29 Sep 2009

When President Obama presented his health care reform plan, two points made me want to throw a shoe at my computer screen. One which I discussed in depth, was the treatment of immigrants. The second was reproductive health, specifically abortion. The President said clearly that the undocumented wouldn’t be covered and that abortions wouldn’t be covered. Now that the actual legislation is being worked on, I am nearly banging my head against my keyboard this morning as I read a New York Times article that lays out how some Democrats are working their asses off to make sure my uterus can’t have access to an abortion.

Abortion opponents in both the House and the Senate are seeking to block the millions of middle- and lower-income people who might receive federal insurance subsidies to help them buy health coverage from using the money on plans that cover abortion…At least 31 House Democrats have signed various recent letters to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, urging her to allow a vote on a measure to restrict use of the subsidies to pay for abortion, including 25 who joined more than 100 Republicans on a letter delivered Monday. Monday.

Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, a leading Democratic abortion opponent, said he had commitments from 40 Democrats to block the health care bill unless they have a chance to include the restrictions.

Michael Moore Sightings

1:17 pm By la Macha · Health| Uncategorized · 1 Comment

24 Sep 2009

I already wrote that I can’t wait to see the new Michael Moore movie–the following clips show why. Especially pay attention to the Colbert video: if we had universal health insurance, we wouldn’t be in the middle of this economic crisis right now.

So I made this movie to do a number of things. One, to just go head on at this system. I’m not a reformer. I’m not looking for Congress to pass a few new regulations, which, by the way, it’s been a year since the crash, and they haven’t passed one of these things, which is what they said they were going to do right away, right? “All we need is a few rules. Don’t get rid of capitalism, just a few rules, and we’ll get everything back in shape.” Of course, they have no intention of doing that, and the banking industry has lobbied them successfully over the last year to leave them alone so that they can keep doing their crazy schemes. That’s one reason.

The Colbert Report

Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Capitalism’s Enemy – Michael Moore

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

I wonder what the politicians (and my Libertarian friends) response to that assertion is.

Please…think of the insurance companies

4:38 pm By la Macha · Health · 1 Comment

22 Sep 2009

The following video is making the facebook/twitter/blog rounds. Um, instant classic?

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Light the Night in honor of Richard Aponte

12:16 pm By la Macha · Health · 1 Comment

22 Sep 2009

I got the following from fellow blogger, BFP.

Long time Latina blogger and much admired Angry Brown Butch is raising funds to fight cancer in the name of hir father, who is fighting cancer with grace and style.

Please head over to Jack’s donation page and send some love (and maybe a little cash!) their way!

My family, my partner Margarita, and I are walking on October 3, 2009, to honor my Dad, to show him our support and our love and our gratitude for his spirit, his fight, his humor, and his heart. We are walking with the hope that he might still find a treatment that will help him feel better, get healthier, and have more time to spend here with us. My dad makes friends wherever he is and in whatever state he’s in, and he’s made many friends at his cancer center. We’re walking for them and their families too. Margarita and I are also walking for her friend and coworker, Yajaira Mercedes, a young mom of three who is also battling leukemia. We’re walking for all of the other MDS, leukemia, lymphoma and cancer patients and survivors out there; for their families and friends with whom we empathize. We’re walking in the hopes that with more research, there will be more survivors who will live better, longer, happier lives.

I’m asking all of you – my friends, colleagues, acquaintences – to donate whatever amount you can spare so that we can truly honor my Dad and his fellow cancer patients and survivors. I’d also encourage folks to sign up for the national bone marrow donor registry and to donate blood if you’re able to; both are very important and potentially life-saving things to people living with MDS, leukemia, and other blood cancers.

Obama on Letterman: How long have you been a black man?

7:26 pm By la Macha · Health| Obama · Comments Off

21 Sep 2009

Obama gave an interview to David Letterman earlier–and the follow has a few preview clips of the interview. Among some of the questions Obama faces: how long have you been a black man? A funny quip–what gets me, however, is the answer. Which seems to be “coded” remarkably well.

He’s saying what we all know–99% of the screaming teabaggers at the town hall meetings are white folks. And that there’s pretty much nothing he personally can do about it. So he might as well just go on about his business.

I can’t help it. I know that Mamita and others have said that they’ve gone their separate ways with Obama. And that’s a position I respect–but maybe it’s because I never had any hope for Obama to begin with that he still has my interest. I don’t see him doing anything amazing, I don’t see him changing the world, hell, I don’t even see him fixing immigration. But it is really interesting to me how he is negotiating racism. And it makes me wonder if his negotiating (rather than his policies or legislation) will make a difference for average people of color.

Health care debate gets worse and worse

11:38 am By la Macha · Health · 3 Comments

17 Sep 2009

Mala already pointed out the horrible way this health care debate has turned on immigrants–even the “good” immigrants here legally that we all “don’t have a problem with.” Now, news if floating around about how the proposed legistlation that is most likely to pass through both houses of Congress just so happens to not have the public option, AND imposes pretty harsh fines on those who don’t have insurance:

With some exceptions for very low-income individuals and those with religious objections, the Baucus proposal would require that individuals buy health insurance every year.

The penalty for not buying insurance would be a fine running as high as $3,800 a year for a family that makes more than 300% of the federal poverty level. For families that forgo coverage and make less than that, the fine would be $1,500. The fines for individuals would be, respectively, $950 and $750.

I feel like I’m in bizarro world. At one time within the past few weeks, I desperatly wanted this health thing to pass. I very rarely get involved in mainstream politic-y type organizing because I feel it accomplishes so little–but health care for all? Even my oh, so, radical butt has been signing petitions and talking with family members about why they need this.

But now, as more and more bad news keeps coming in, the only thing I can think is that my family can’t afford to buy ANY insurance–we’re living on a shoestring budget as it is. We also can’t afford to pay any of those fines–and what’s more, we shouldn’t have to. This is where I am just libertarian enough to say, if I don’t won’t to buy fucking health insurance, ain’t no government on earth gonna make me.

Living in a state that has unemployment around 15% (and when you figure in underemployed and those who have stopped looking for work, it’s closer to 25%), that any elected official is even considering a bill like this is laughable–no, actually, it’s more criminal.

Because we all know who is benefiting off of requiring health insurance–with no public option. And I’ll give you a clue, it’s not me, it’s not you, and it sure isn’t the Grandma we were all so concerned about a week ago.

Health Care Reform : New and Improved Formula With More Barriers for All Immigrants

10:38 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Health| Immigration · 2 Comments

17 Sep 2009

LaClinica President Obama’s original health care reform proposal was bad enough, but now the Democratic party is bowing to racist rhetoric and immigrant bashing by creating more barriers to access for immigrant families, even the “legal” ones with the Senate Finance Committee’s draft legislation.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be on a press call regarding health care reform and immigrants. What I heard gave me disturbing background on how undocumented immigrants were thrown out of the debate by fellow Latinos from the get because of politics as usual and how now Obama is showing himself all too willing to sacrifice immigrants (browned as Latino) as pawns in negotiations, instead of as humans.
Read more…

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