RJ100: Reproductive Justice and Obama’s First 100 Days
Are your reproductive rights more secure today than they were 100 days ago? How about the human rights of women around the world? Are we making progress toward universal access to basic sexual and reproductive health services, comprehensive sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment here and abroad? Rewire evaluates whether Obama is making the grade.
Are your
reproductive rights more secure today than they were 100 days ago? How
about the human rights of women around the world? Are we making
progress toward universal access to basic sexual and reproductive
health services, comprehensive sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention
and treatment here and abroad?
On the 100th day of the Obama Administration, Rewire
evaluates whether the Administration makes the grade on these and many
other critical sexual and reproductive health issues. After 8 long
years of attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights here and
abroad, it is clear that the Obama Administration intends to – and indeed
already has begun – to take women’s rights and sexual and reproductive
health seriously. Even in the first 100 days, progress has already
been made in several critical areas. We recognize that this period
represents only one-tenth of the entire first term of the Obama
Administration and many changes are in process. For that reason, this scorecard should not be viewed as definitive either in regard to the ultimate outcomes on some of the issues in progress, nor on the issues covered here overall. We also recognize that
Congress plays a critical role – whether positive or negative – in changing
policy and funding streams. Nonetheless, we feel it is critical to
measure whether campaign and Administration rhetoric on these issues is
backed up with concrete actions, and how effectively the administration pushes Congress to make good in these same areas.
Toward that end, this scorecard is
the first in a series being launched by Rewire. We will
continue to evaluate these same issues in coming months and throughout
the course of the Administration.
Access to Contraception: Grade = A-
- Obama moved quickly to begin the process of reviewing the Bush administration’s health care denial regulation, which would have dramatically expanded
the ability of health care professionals to
deny their patients critical health information and services (including
contraceptive methods and information
about safer sex) – with no obligation to refer or inform patients
about services the provider refused to deliver. - Access to affordable
birth control for low-income and college women has been increased, thanks to the Affordable
Birth Control Act,
supported and signed into law by President Obama as part of the 2009
appropriations bill. A loophole in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006
had resulted in skyrocketing prices for prescriptions at safety net
providers. - The FDA has announced
that emergency contraception (Plan B)
will now be made available to 17-year-olds without a prescription.
Under Bush, the FDA stalled over-the-counter approval for the drug and,
once approved, limited OTC access to women over 18. - Obama’s 2009 omnibus
budget increased funding for Title X, the federal family planning assistance program, by $7.5 million. - After a false start
in the stimulus package, Obama has included language
expanding access to Medicaid-funded family planning services in his 2010 budget.
We are looking for progress on…
- Access to
EC for women in the military.
Military health care facilities are not required to stock EC, even on
remote bases. Obama should direct Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates to make EC available to servicewomen immediately. - Full funding of Title X. Planned Parenthood Federation of America cites a $400 million gap in
Title X funding, arguing that the for this program budget needs to be increased from
$300 million to $700 million. In 2006, only about half (54 percent) of those in need of publicly funded birth control actually had access to services provided by Medicaid, Title X and other sources of government funding. - The FDA needs to make Plan B available over the counter to all women at risk of unintended pregnancy, irrespective of age.
- The Administration needs to fully rescind the HHS health care denial regulation, an issue we will monitor closely.
Sexuality Education and Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Grade = C
- Obama’s 2009 omnibus budget bill
cut $14 million from abstinence-only-until marriage
programs, leaving $95 million
of taxpayer money supporting useless programs.
We are looking for progress on…
- Zeroing out abstinence-only funding. There is no reason to continue funding these programs, which have been
shown to be wasteful, ineffective, propagate harmful gender stereotypes
and marginalize LGBT youth. Obama’s 2010 budget should zero
out abstinence-only funding and create line-item funding of
comprehensive sexuality education. - Passing the Real Act. The Obama administration must put some muscle
behind the REAL Act,
which would for the first time allocate federal money to comprehensive
sexuality education. - Clarification on the role of the White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The US has the highest
teen pregnancy rate of all industrialized countries – it’s a public
health issue that needs the White House’s attention. But is
the White
House Advisory Council on Faith-Based Initiatives really the best place to formulate solutions? Without more information, we remain skeptical.
Women’s Economic Equity: Grade = A+
- The Lily Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act was the very first bill Obama signed into law. The Act, which restores women’s rights to
bring pay discrimination complaints up to 180 days after each discriminatory paycheck, undoes the Supreme Court’s earlier harmful
ruling that women could only file up to 180 days after the first
instance of pay discrimination. - On March 11, Obama established
the White House Council on Women and Girls. The Council will assess
how programs of various government agencies will affect women and girls. It will also focus on pay equity and challenges faced by working
parents. - On February 4, Obama provided crucial support to low-income children and families when he signed into law the expansion of SCHIP, the federal children’s
health insurance program, to extend coverage to 11 million children. - At least 42% of
jobs created by the stimulus should go to women.
We are looking for progress on…
- Pay equity. While Ledbetter
is an admirable achievement, it only restores pay discrimination law
to where it was prior to the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling. Even
before Ledbetter vs. Goodyear was decided, women earned only
$0.77 on the dollar that men earned and needed better pay discrimination
protections. The White House should urge Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness and Fair Pay Acts, which close loopholes and stiffen penalties for wage discrimination.
Global Reproductive
Health: Grade = A+
- Shortly after taking
office, Obama overturned
the global gag rule,
which prevented US foreign aid recipients from counseling women about
the availability of safe abortion services and from advocating for the
liberalization of abortion laws. - The Obama administration restored US contributions to the United Nations Population Fund,
providing $50 million to the UN agency that funds family planning
assistance internationally. - Obama’s 2009 budget
allocates $150
million over 2008 levels
for international family planning.
We are looking for progress on…
- The international
family planning community has
asked for $1 billion in family planning funding,
arguing that that amount is necessary to fulfill unmet need for contraceptives. Five former directors of the USAID Office for Population
and Reproductive Health have argued that the USAID population budget be
increased from $457 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2010, growing
further to $1.5 billion in 2014 because of the "enormous pent-up and
unmet growing need."
Domestic AIDS Response: Grade = B
- The White House has
unveiled Act Against AIDS,
a plan to "put the HIV crisis back on the national radar screen,"
says Domestic Policy Council director Melody Barnes. The five-year
communications campaign will partner with African-American community-based
organizations to promote education, prevention and treatment. - The White House named longtime HIV/AIDS health care advocate Jeff Crowley to head the Office of National AIDS Policy, which is charged with developing a National AIDS Strategy. Crowley’s appointment was widely praised by HIV/AIDS advocates.
We are looking for progress on…
- A National AIDS Strategy. Despite campaign
promises to do so, Obama has not yet articulated a National AIDS Strategy,
even though 1) the US requires that each PEFPAR focus country have one
and 2) HIV continues to spread among vulnerable populations lacking
access to prevention information and services, and many
of those infected still lack access to treatment. - Evidence-based prevention for intravenous drug users. Obama must work to ensure that effective needle exchange programs receive federal funding.
- Universal access to prevention education and methods, including for prison inmates.
Global AIDS Policy: Grade = Incomplete
- Obama’s 2009 budget added
$498 million to US global AIDS programs. - Obama has nominated Dr. Eric
Goosby, a longtime
AIDS advocate and medical doctor, to the post of Global AIDS Coordinator.
We are looking for progress on…
- Effective prevention strategies. Both the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must instruct the Global AIDS Coordinator to overhaul prevention strategies. Under the Bush Administration,
a large share of funding for prevention of sexual transmission went
to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs which are just as ineffective
internationally as they are here at home. These and other restrictions – such
as the so-called prostitution pledge – have left women, youth, and marginalized
populations at higher risk of new infections. Moreover, PEPFAR
programs are not effectively integrated with broader reproductive and
sexual health strategies, a mistake in an epidemic that is largely driven
by sexual transmission. These and other aspects of PEPFAR policy
and funding need to be changed as soon as possible. - The administration has sent mixed signals on needle exchange, an area in which it promised evidence-based programming.
- Increased attention to long-term sustainability of the health-care work force, access to affordable drugs and other essential components of effective prevention, treatment and care strategies.
Global Women’s
Rights: Grade = A+
- Under the Obama
administration, global women’s rights issues are getting attention
like never before. On March 6, Obama
created the post of ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, naming Melanne Verveer to the position. - Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton spoke forcefully
for the role of safe, legal abortion services in comprehensive reproductive
health care and in women’s equality when testifying before the House
Foreign Relations Committee. - At the UN Commission
on Population and Development, US State Department Acting Assistant
Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, Margaret Pollack, told delegates that
the US once again
supported "universal access to sexual and reproductive health."
Pollack also affirmed that the US is committed to ratifying CEDAW. - U.S. anti-trafficking
policy is headed in the right direction under Luis deBaca, newly named
head of the State Department Office of Trafficking in Persons. DeBaca recognizes that sex trafficking is only one aspect
of human trafficking, that raids don’t work and that harm reduction
does.
We are looking for progress on…
- Integration of women’s rights within and across all areas of development policy and funding.
- Strong attention to gender equity, women’s rights, and reproductive and sexual health concerns within foreign aid reform legislation.
- Efforts to respond to and reduce violence against women, and to secure women’s social and economic rights.