Safe Storage and Universal Background Checks are LAW!
On April 13, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that will start safe storage requirements for firearms and universal background checks for gun sales. Thank you to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan legislators, community and gun reform advocates like End Gun Violence Michigan and all of you who did SOMEthing to move us in the right direction.
Governor Whitmer confirms rights for Women in Michigan
Events
Monday, April 24. Learning about Black Maternal HealthJoin Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan and the League of Women Voters Washtenaw for an educational webinar about Black maternal health. Joining us to present on the topic is Shanayl Bennett from Mothering Justice. Shanayl is a Detroit-based doula and Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice Organizer. Black Maternal Health Week is recognized each year in the US from April 11-17. Click here to register for this Zoom webinar! 6-7 pm
Tuesday, April 25. School Funding Advocacy Day in LansingJoin the Michigan Education Justice Coalition to get commitments from legislators for more funding. RSVP here. Central United Methodist Church, 215 N. Capitol Ave, Lansing, 48933. 9 am – 4 pm
Tuesday, April 25. Legislation Action Teams Part I (VIRTUAL)The Story of Self, Us, and Now is the first training for LAT members, which will help prepare you to talk to legislators. Please register to attend! Even if you have experience working with legislators, this will be a great refresher, and it will be a great introduction to the Legislative Action Teams in your area. Click here to register. 6–7 pm
Ongoing through April 30. Art Exhibition: Jon Onye Lockard
Founding faculty member of the Department of Afro-American and African Studies at UM, John Onye Lockard, had a career that spanned more than a half-century of painting, teaching, mentoring, and exhibiting. On loan from the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County, the exhibit of John Onye Lockard’s work is on view in the Social Hall of First Presbyterian Church now through April 30. (M-F 9-5)
Visit the PEG Events Page for all upcoming events at www.equalityingov.org/events!
Things to do, read, watch, and listen to
Medicaid Jeopardy for Michigan Residents
Hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents could lose their Medicaid coverage if they ignore their mail! The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services this week dropped into the mail a second batch of letters — this time to 154,315 Michiganders — alerting them that their coverage could end soon. It’s the second time in as many months of letters as the clock winds down on a special COVID-era rule that allows people to stay on Medicaid without proof they’re eligible.
That rule, in turn, has allowed Michigan’s Medicaid, including the MI Child and Healthy Michigan Plan, to balloon in Michigan to more than 3 million beneficiaries — the largest it has ever been. Now the state is paring back. And with that comes the worry.Who to contact: For beneficiaries, the first step is updating addresses through the MiBridges portal or calling their local MDHHS office.
Some fear risks of Abortion AccessAbortion access expands with Online Prescriptions in Michigan.
“It’s about getting care to people in a way that works best for them,” said Planned Parenthood of Michigan CEO Paula Thornton Greear and virtual abortion services will increase health equity, cutting down the need for some patients for transportation, childcare and even overnight accommodations. Telehealth is especially important, she said, for those with disabilities, who can’t access transportation, who can’t easily leave jobs during clinic hours, who have small children at home without childcare, or live in remote or rural locations.
Access to abortion in Michigan is widening, after the state’s largest provider, Planned Parenthood, this year began to prescribe the so-called “abortion pill” through telehealth smartphone or online consultations.
Now, several independent clinics may soon follow suit, mailing the pills to patients after virtual appointments.“We want to make sure all of our legal ducks are in a row,” said Tanya Little, vice president of Summit Women’s Centers in Detroit.
How fascist silence critics
Expel them, arrest them, poison them, bankrupt them, harass them, target their families, threaten violence, and more.
Let us look at expelling them. Last week two young black lawmakers were expelled from their elected positions at the Tennessee statehouse. Three representatives, “The Tennessee Three,” were said to have created disorder at and dishonored the state House of Representatives. The two young black men were expelled, while the third, a white woman, was not expelled.
Per Justin Jones, one of the expelled representatives, who was reinstated, Monday, a few days later, an “extreme republican supermajority, almost completely a white caucus” had expelled the “two youngest black lawmakers because we stood demanding action on gun violence. The nation and the world are surprised and should be shocked because what they said was that democracy does not matter in Tennessee.” – BBC.
The national and international press and attention seemed to have created a rallying cry that aided the reinstatement. On Wednesday, the third member of “The Tennessee Three”, Justin Pearson was reinstated.
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A special thanks to our newsletter contributors: Lisa Kamil, Richard Gaeth, Bette Cotzin, Bernie Banet, Linda Bennett, Kayla Conrad, Ellen Halter, Leslie McGraw, Leslie Kamil, and Chuck Newman for their contributions and help preparing our newsletters.
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