Stop Stupak-Nelson

Note: The following is a letter to the editor I wrote that appeared in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and Madison Capitol Times (both in Wisconsin). The Stupak-like amendment was introduced in the Senate today by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and will likely be voted on tomorrow (Tuesday, December 8th) so call your senators at (888) 423-5983 now. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is open 24/7 so when you ask for your senators’ offices you may get voice mail. Leave a message!

Without further ado, let’s Stop Stupak!

Dear Editor:

On November 7th, the House of Representatives passed its version of health care reform, which included an anti-abortion amendment sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). According to the American Association of University Women, the Stupak Amendment will prohibit “women who receive federal subsidies from purchasing a comprehensive insurance plan that includes abortion services. Private plans that offer abortion coverage would be banned from receiving funding.”

The Stupak Amendment goes far beyond the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion. Insurance companies participating in the new insurance exchange who receive even one dollar of revenue from federal subsidies will be banned from offering any policies with abortion coverage. An analysis of the amendment by George Washington University found it “will have an industry-wide effect, eliminating coverage of medically indicated abortions over time for all women.”

Abortion is a currently a safe, legal medical procedure. One in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. The risk of death is less than 0.6 per 100,000 procedures here in the U.S. In contrast, 68,000 women die each year in countries where abortion is illegal. (Guttmacher Institute) The Stupak Amendment threatens to take women back to the days of unsanitary back-alley and dangerous self-induced abortions with wire hangers. The Stupak Amendment is not about “unborn” fetuses but saving the lives of women who are already here: daughters, sisters, wives, and yes, even mothers.

Stop the Stupak Amendment. Call Senators Feingold and Kohl. Tell them to vote “no” on Stupak.

Image courtesy Stupak Amendment REVOLT (Facebook)

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December 7, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Sen. Feingold Explains "No" Vote on Mikulski Women's Health Amendment, Sort Of

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Sen. Feingold’s puzzling and infuriating “no” vote on the Mikulski Women’s Health Amendment, which will require women’s preventative health services to be full funded by insurance companies. I emailed Sen. Feingold’s office, expressing my anger and disappointment in the senator’s vote. I also made some comments on Twitter, encouraging others to email and call his office.

I was not the only one who noticed Sen. Feingold’s somewhat-peculiar vote.  David Dayen over at the influential Firedoglake.com took note, as did the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Politico. By last night, Sen. Feingold’s office released this statement:

I am disappointed that the Senate health care debate has gotten off on the wrong foot.  The first amendment voted on would add almost a billion dollars to our budget deficits over the next 10 years.  We should make sure health plans cover women’s preventive care and screenings, but we should also find a way to pay for it, rather than adding that cost to the already mountainous public debt.  At a time of record deficits, Americans expect fiscal responsibility from their representatives in Congress.

I also received a reply to my email from Sen. Feingold’s aide early last evening. She assured me that Sen. Feingold is a strong supporter of women’s access to health care and preventative services and that his “no” vote was “was not about the policy of the amendment.”

I believe her. I know that Sen. Feingold is a deeply principled man who has decided to take a stand on fiscal responsibility. He recently introduced a new bill, Control Spending Now Act, the purpose of which is quite simply, “to control Federal spending now”. I also appreciate that Sen. Feingold has been an advocate for women’s health. He sponsored a resolution that the Senate support  “the goals and ideals of National Women’s Health Week”. He is a co-sponsor of Sen. Shaheen’s resolution condemning violence against women’s health (read: abortion) providers. He is a co-sponsor of the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act, which will raise awareness and provide support for young women with breast cancer.  Sen. Feingold also deserves major kudos for being a co-sponsor fo the Paycheck Fairness Act and for recently co-chairing a hearing on rape as a weapon of war with Sen. Boxer in May.

So, yeah, Sen. Feingold usually walks the walk on fighting for women’s rights. He’s definitely a male ally. He really dropped the ball on this one, though. As I told the senator’s aide, it feels like he sold women out to uphold his pledge of fiscal responsibility. One billion dollars is basically chump change in Washington. If he was really concerned about the money, he should’ve worked with Sen. Mikulski to find the money to pay for her amendment. She announced she would be introducing the amendment before Thanksgiving, over a week ago. There was time for negotiation on this one.

After all is said and done, here’s what I think happened: I think Sen. Feingold knew there were sixty votes to pass the amendment. Sen. Snowe was a co-sponsor (way to go, Olympia!) and Sen. Collins probably made her intentions to vote for the amendment known as well. Sen. Feingold probably had political cover to vote against the amendment and went for it.

He still should’ve done the right thing, though.

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December 4, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments »

Sen. Feingold Votes No on Mikulski Amendment to Save Women's Lives

Today was a great day for women’s health. The Mikulski Women’s Health Amendment passed the Senate 61-39. However, in a move that shocked and infuriated me, one of my senators, Russ Feingold, a Democrat, voted against the amendment.

Because Sen. Feingold told my health care story as part of a speech advocating for a strong public option in June, I have the email address of one of his staffers and just sent them an email expressing my outrage over the senator’s vote. You can read it below.

I encourage you to contact Sen. Feingold yourself and tell him his “no” vote against women’s health was not acceptable. Call him at (202) 224-5323 or email his office here.

Here’s my letter:

Ms. xxxxx,

As a woman and one of Sen. Feingold’s constituents, I am extremely angry  he voted against Sen. Mikulski’s amendment for women’s health today. This vote was not about money (the only reason I can think of that Sen. Feingold would vote no), but about saving women’s lives. This was a vote about morality, not money.

Sen. Feingold was elected to serve the people of Wisconsin. That includes the women of Wisconsin, all 2.8 million of us (from 2008 census estimates). Sen. Feingold needs to explain this vote to his female constituents. He needs to explain it to me, my mother, my sister, my aunts, my cousins, my friends and my neighbors.

Senator Feingold needs to explain this vote. He should apologize because it was morally reprehensible and wrong.Sincerely,
Danine Spencer

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December 3, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Getting Overwhelmed

I can admit it. I’ve been overwhelmed lately. I’m on disability and trying to become self-employed through freelance writing. Because of my disabilities and health problems, I’ve thought long and hard about what kind of work I can do, what I’m physically able to do. (If you’re going to comment on this post, please don’t judge me or make crappy comments. You don’t have to live life in my shoes so you can’t possibly know what it’s like. I do the best I can. On that note, any unsupportive comments like “get a job” will be deleted.)

I decided to pursue a writing career late last winter. I began by practicing writing articles (like this one). I started submitting columns (like this one to Bitch). In the spring, I started building up my website and building up my online presence, including using Twitter. In June, I got a few big breaks. First, Bitch picked up my piece on Meghan McCain.

Also, on June 9th, I sent a letter to my congressional delegation, Rep. Dave Obey, Sen. Russ Feingold and Sen. Herb Kohl, telling them about what I’ve been through and asking them to support the public option. A week later, Sen. Feingold’s office called and asked to tell my story in a speech he was going to give in support of the public option on the Senate floor.

After the speech, which was humbling and awe-inspiring, I used the moment to do some major networking, which led to my semi-regular contributions to the Women’s Rights blog at Change.org. Since then, I have guest-posted on other blogs and networked with other feminists, but I am feeling kind of stuck.  I’ve built up something of a portfolio but how do I make a living at this writing thing?

The long and short of it is that I’ve been beating myself up lately. I’ll figure out the money thing. I’ve already got some ideas for what to do next but I freely admit that I’ve been frustrated lately. Why is this writing/self-employed thing so hard? Will I ever be able to make a living at it? Why did this illness/injury happen to me? And there we go, now I’ve overshared.

But here’s the reason for this post: I’ve got to take a deep breath and give myself a break. I took a four-day mini vacay this weekend and basically didn’t let myself think about anything at all. (You would not believe how many games of Bejewled Blitz I played on Facebook yesterday as I listened to the football games in the background.) I’ve got to remember that this will all work out. I will figure this writing career thing out. I just need to be nicer to myself.

Ashley over at the Small Strokes blog has been going through a rough time herself lately and has also decided to give herself a break. In fact, she’s declared today Love Myself Day and encourages everyone to do the same. Here’s her new mantra:

I am going to love myself enough to know and respect my limits, and to not talk myself into feeling worthless when something takes a little longer to get done than I expected. I am going to feel great about all of the good things I am doing, and I am going to make time in my life for the things that are important to me.

I’m going to try to do these things. I may not always succeed but I’ll try. Rome wasn’t built in a day, right?
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October 26, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Re: public option – I'm so mad I could spit

I woke up this morning at 5:00 AM, two hours before my alarm was set to go off and couldn’t fall back asleep. Why? I am so furious about the supposed demise of the public option I could spit, or scream or both. I don’t care if it’s not lady-like. It’s true.

Why the hell is the public option even up for negotiation? How many times have we heard President Obama say he wants a “uniquely American solution” to the health care crisis? I understand not wanting to dismantle the health insurance industry, if only because of the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people it employs. Still, the health insurance industry is currently failing at least 46 million people who don’t have insurance. Those are the ones we know about. Then there are the underinsured. Don’t forget the illegal immigrants who emergency, stabilizing treatment in emergency rooms, which hospitals are required to do and adds to all of our health care bills. (Not mine, obviously. I’m one of those “socialized medicine” Medicaid leeches. Yes, I’m that furious today. The sarcasm meter has been broken it’s so high. It’s either that or just have this entire post be a string of @#%&*(!)

Her’s what Howard Fineman had to say about Obama appearing to back away from the public option last night on Countdown:

“My sense of it is, and it has been for a long time, even going back to the rhetoric on the campaign, that Barack Obama has been much more interested in the idea of universality and in making history that way than in the public option, per se”

Thankfully, the fight doesn’t appear to be over. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senators Russ Feingold and Jay Rockefeller all pushed back in a Washington Post article this morning. Rep. Anthony Weiner has been on the offensive over the last 24 hours. Finally, this morning, the White House seems to gotten their act together – sort of. From Thehill.com:

Gibbs reiterated that the president’s preference to create competition and quality in health insurance is through a public option, but Obama is willing to listen to other ideas that would achieve the same outcome.

I’m not asking for a handout. In fact, just the opposite. I’m asking for help in getting off Medicaid, off the government programs. I want to be self-sufficient. I want to buy my own insurance.

Why is this so @#$!@%! difficult?

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August 18, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Seriously? No Public Option?

Today is one of those days where my body is laughing at me saying, “Ha! You really think you could ever work a normal full-time job? Seriously? Are you out of your blooming mind?!” I won’t go into the details but suffice it to say that mobility returned to the extremities but not all of the internal organs. You figure it out. In any case, my full-time job over the last few days has simply been taking care of my physical needs.

I guess that’s why I’m on disability. I really wish I weren’t and I am working hard towards the day when I won’t be. As I’ve said before, I need low-cost health insurance (and a living wage) to get off SSI and Medicaid. That’s why I’m in favor of the public option.

But what the heck, President Obama? Over the past 48 hours, the Obama administration appears to be backing away from the public option. At Saturday’s town hall, President Obama gave a long-winded, three-point answer in response to one question on the public option. Later, while discussing whether or not a private plans could compete with a public option, he said:

This is a legitimate debate to have. All I’m saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.

Then, yesterday HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told John King on CNN that the public option is “not essential.” Watch:

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was on CBS’ Face the Nation, where he where he said, “the bottom line for this for the president is, what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market.” He did say that the president favored the public option “thus far.” Watch:

On the one hand, I can live without a public option. My only main objective is that health insurance is affordable for low-income people like me. On the hand, seriously?! What the hell have we gone through all of this crazy B.S. for if there won’t be a public option. I’ve shed tears over this. Last week, I stood on a picnic table in front of strangers and briefly told my story. I let Sen. Russ Feingold tell the entire world my story on the Senate floor, all the freakin’ hope that maybe someday I will be financially independent again.

If Obama was going to cave on the public option, why bother even talking about it in the first place?  This country has been torn even further apart because the Fox News crowd  is using “socialized medicine” to stir up racial tensions. Members of Congress have gotten death threats. In my personal life, I fear I have lost or damaged at least one relationship with a loved one over this issue.

If Obama was going to cave on the public option, why did any of us even bother? Why did we elect him in the first place? I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary and I’m really proud I did. Where is my fierce advocate in the White House?

Progressives, if you believe in the public option, now is the time to get busy. Call, write, email, fax or tweet your representative and senators. (Find your representative here and your senators here. See top of page on both websites.) Last night on Twitter, Melissa Harris-Lacewell (@harrislacewell) suggested that everyone contact the White House demanding they support the public option. You can do that here.

The time is now. We need health care reform. We need a public option.

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August 17, 2009 | danineAdmin | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »