Secretary of Health and Human Services UPDATED

UPDATE: She's been confirmed. Yay!

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Believe it or not, 100+ days into the Obama Administartion and we are without a Secretary of Health and Human Services. And, we are now faced with a possible pandemic. WTH?

From Planned Parenthood:

President Obama's nominee for secretary of health and human services, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, is under attack from anti-choice extremists. They want to block her confirmation, and they're doing everything they can to convince their allies in the Senate to play along.

Gov. Sebelius is a leading health policy expert, a popular governor, and a strong advocate for increased health care access. With countless women and their families struggling to afford quality health care during these difficult times, she is exactly the kind of leader we need to create true health care reform.

Perhaps Secretary Clinton needs to have a word with them...

Click here to take action.

Birth control = Abortion?

If you've been reading this blog, you know that Bush is trying to ram through a Health and Human Services "rule change" that equates birth control with abortion. Please take a moment to sign the Moveon.Org and Planned Parenthood emergency petition to HHS Secretary Leavitt. This is outrageous and there needs to be a very strong, unequivocal public response. Send the message to Sec. Leavitt that women deserve better than this back door approach to limiting our health care options. Bastards.

Here's the petition link again. Sign it. Now. Please.

Outrageous Reproductive Wrongs

Two issues today:

Ohio HB 287 - would require paternal (yes, that's right, paternal) identification and consent prior to a woman obtaining an abortion. So, basically, if the man says "No" the pregnancy cannot be terminated. The minutia of the bill is ridiculous and a very big ol' slap in the face to all women. Nice.

Bush is proposing a Health and Human Services rule change - not open to debate or subject to a vote of any kind - that will funnel tax dollars into anti-choice "crisis pregnancy centers" and, per Feministing,

The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Under the draft of a proposed rule, hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools would have to sign "written certifications" as a prerequisite to getting money under any program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The rule defines "abortion" so broadly that it could also apply to birth control pills and emergency contraception. And because the rule would apply to federal health programs, low-income and uninsured women will be most affected.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Here's how you can help:

To stop the insanity in Ohio, click here.

To give Bush a piece of your mind, click here.