Post-Dobbs tragedies, divesting from climate change, Republicans making measles great again, and more
APR 22
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- PREGNANT WOMEN TURNED AWAY FROM EMERGENCY ROOMS
Once again, the warnings of reproductive rights advocates have been tragically prescient. As they long predicted, an Associated Press report revealed that complaints that pregnant women were turned away from emergency rooms spiked in the months after the Dobbs decision, contributing to miscarriages and the death of newborns. This comes despite the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requiring emergency rooms to treat, stabilize or provide a medical transfer to patients in active labor as long as they accept Medicare funding – a law dozens of hospitals are accused of breaking. While the threat of hefty fines and losing Medicare funding could sharply discourage hospitals from engaging in this sort of cruelty, it is unclear what if any penalties the Department of Health and Human Services has sought, weakening the deterrent, and many of these cases go under the radar entirely. This has to change. Let’s contact the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services at their comment line at 202-205-5445 and encourage them to put more resources and energy into aggressively and publicly cracking down on ERs that are illegally turning away pregnant women.
- UKRAINE FUNDING BILL MOVES TO THE SENATEOn Saturday, after six months, considerable casualties and setbacks, and a warning from CIA Director William Burns that Ukraine is at risk of losing the war without this aid, the House finally managed to pass a bill on funding for Ukraine. The bill now moves on to the Senate. “The vital U.S. aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger,” President Zelensky said. 112 Republicans voted against the bill. Let’s use this tool to find out how our representative voted and thank those who voted yea and question those who voted nay and let them know we will be working to oust them from office. Let’s also reach out to our senators and tell them we want this bill sent to the President’s desk as soon as possible.
- HIRE MORE IMMIGRATION JUDGES
People continue to talk about the large number of migrants at the southern border, which is appearing to increase again as spring approaches, but rather than increasing detention capacity, as the last recent appropriations deal allows, or threatening to shut down asylum, the government should invest money in adjudicating cases in a more timely manner that respects the basic human right of any individual to apply for asylum under both U.S. and international law. Right now, there are only 725 immigration judges, who have a collective backlog of almost 3 million cases, and not a single new judge has been hired in 2024. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has estimated we will need to hire an additional 700 immigration judges to clear the backlog by Fiscal Year 2032. Let’s tell the White House, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, and our MoCs that we want to see asylum claims fairly adjudicated for all those currently within the system and for those waiting in dangerous conditions for months at the border to secure appointments. This means they need to invest money in hiring judges and processing claims, not in putting people in prison. - DIVESTING FROM LIQUEFIED METHANE GAS EXPORTS
Earlier this year, in a win for environmental advocates, the Biden administration paused approvals on new projects that seek to export liquefied methane gas, often tagged as liquefied “natural” gas. Now Third Act, an organization of elders determined to strengthen democracy and save our planet, is conducting a campaign to get banks to follow the lead of the Biden administration and put a pause on financing these projects. Whatever our age might be, let’s use this template to edit our own letter, which will then be faxed to the CEOs of Bank of America, MorganChase, Citibank, and WellsFargo.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
- NH – MAKE MEASLES GREAT AGAIN?
The right-wing anti-vaccine movement hasn’t gone anywhere, and they’ve made New Hampshire a target. House Republicans have passed a first-in-the-nation bill (HB1213-FN) that would end proof of routine childhood vaccinations being required before kids are enrolled in child care – including immunization for polio and the measles. State public health officials have warned against this legislation, pointing out we’ve already seen a disturbing drop in kids getting the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. We have to make sure our electeds don’t bow to the noisy minority. Let’s reach out to our state senators, especially if they’re on the Health and Human Services Committee, along with Governor Sununu, and tell them to keep our kids safe and preserve vaccine requirements.
AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS
- LAST WEEK’S WINSSome weeks you can really tell our work is making a difference, and last week was one of them. Our friend Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water outlines a few ways how in her run-down of our recent victories, including the Biden Administration issuing new rules to protect coal miners from toxic silica dust and trans students and survivors of sexual assault on campus, the Interior Department handing down sweeping new limits on oil drilling in the Arctic, the EPA moving to force polluters to pay to clean up two pervasive forms of forever chemicals, and workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voting to unionize.
