Tag: family planning

Alliances have consequences

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Alliances have consequences.

In the first month of the Trump Administration, legislation was introduced in the US Senate to prohibit federal funding for Planned Pasrenthood and other organizations that provide family planning services.

In response, House Bill 1083 was enacted by the General Assembly.  This law establishes a Family Planning Program to ensure the continuity of family planning services in Maryland.

HB 1083 passed the House of Delegates, 90-51.  No Republican voted for the bill.

If the Republican members of the House were to constitute a majority of the votes for the next Speaker, it would have far reaching policy consequences on family planning and countless other issues.

Bipartisanship

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2018 Legislative Diary | No Comments

There is no bipartisanship when it comes to guns.

The reason: primaries.

My Republican colleagues fear a challenge from the right wing if they deviate from the party line.

Ditto for family planning or abortion.

A Republican member said to me, “I can’t touch family planning. That’s Planned Parenthood.”

Education is another matter.

Later today, the Kirwan Commission will announce its preliminary recommendations for funding our pre-K-12 public schools.

Yesterday, Governor Hogan announced that he was for a “lock box” constitutional amendment to ensure that slots money is used for additional spending, not to meet our existing statutory obligations.

You can read about it on the front page of today’s Sun.

Democratic members have already announced that they would be introducing such legislation.

Perhaps we do have common ground

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2018 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Poverty has the greatest influence on a child’s poor performance in school.

Senator Bill Ferguson said that at the Greater Baltimore Committee’s forum on the 2018 General Assembly session this morning.

I’m aware that poor children enter kindergarten with a much smaller vocabulary than middle class kids.

A Republican colleague at today’s forum put the blame elsewhere.

“Teenagers should delay parenthood until they are older,” she told the audience.

Yes, the children of such single parent families are far less likely to succeed in the classroom and elsewhere.

But how should we address the problem of teen parenthood?

One way, but not the only way, is family planning.

Over the years, I’ve supported greater access to contraceptives, as well as efforts to make it more likely that an absent father will play a positive role in his child’s life.

I’m going to ask my Republican colleague how she would address teenage parenthood.

I doubt that she supports family planning.

Nonetheless, perhaps we do have common ground.

Factual funding

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“This is a reminder to the body that this bill puts funding in the hands of 10 clinics, instead of in the hands of 93 community health centers.”

The minority whip said this before the vote on House Bill 1083, which would preserve public funding for women’s reproductive health services if the Congress and President Trump defund Planned Parenthood.

What my Republican colleague said is not true.

The State of Maryland would not be funding Planned Parenthood clinics, instead of community health centers.

The women of Maryland would be making that choice instead.

If someone decides that she wants to continue to get health care at Planned Parenthood, she could do so and have it paid for by her insurance plan or Medicaid.

If someone decides that she wants to change providers and get health care at a community health center, she could do so and have it paid for by her insurance plan or Medicaid.

The bill passed, 90-51.

Every Republican in the House voted against HB 1083, joined by one Democrat.

Neither party has a big tent on this and other social issues.

It would help, however, if the arguments made in this debate were factual.

Campaigning vs. Governing – Talking vs. Deciding

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2014 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Campaigns are often about rhetoric.

A slogan can define an opponent or encapsulate an idea.

Governing is about decisions.

How much should we tax our citizens? How should we spend that revenue?

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case is an opportunity for policy decisions about family planning to be discussed during the gubernatorial campaign.

I weighed in with a letter to the editor that I just sent to the Baltimore Sun.

Dear Editors:

Maryland’s next Governor will have great control over our tax rate, as well as how that money is spent.

 Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate, does not want to discuss the latter in the context of family planning. He avoided that subject in his response to the Sun editorial which outlined the policy decisions facing our next chief executive.

Governor O’Malley’s decision to expand Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act has increased contraceptive coverage to low-income adults. Does Mr. Hogan support this cornerstone of Obamacare? If he does, he would be among a very distinct minority of Republican governors.

Would Mr. Hogan integrate family planning and substance abuse treatment for at-risk teens, an effective intervention in St. Louis. Would he increase outreach to teens in foster care?

Thus far, he is silent.

Mr. Hogan’s letter was long on talking points but short on specifics.

I hope that his campaign is otherwise.

 

The Sun editorial is at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-hobby-lobby-hogan-20140708,0,6742252.story

Mr. Hogan’s letter is at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-hogan-hobby-lobby-letter-20140708,0,4831067.story

 

Virgin and Politics – They’re not dirty words.

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“You may remember the bus ads that declared, “Virgin.  Teach your kids it’s not a dirty word.”

The creative mind behind that campaign was Hal Donofrio.

I was one of the political minds that helped initiate it.

With some research help from the clipping service maintained by my grandmother, mother, and brother Bruce and more recent data from the budget staff in Annapolis, I wrote the following letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun in response to a recent op-ed.

 

Dear Editors:

Hal and Chuck Donofrio deserve the praise they received for their innovative media program to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.  (“Abstinence with an attitude,” September 9, 2013)  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reimer-cfoc-20130909,0,6058067.column

Their efforts began with an ideologically bipartisan effort of state legislators.

Two pro-life members, Senator Frank Kelly and Del. Timothy Maloney, joined two pro-choice members, Senator Catherine Riley and myself, in advocating for increased funding for family planning and counseling, expanded adoption efforts, and a television-ad campaign to inform teens “It’s OK to say no.”

Nearly 2/3 of the members of the General Assembly signed our letter to Governor Harry Hughes urging him to fund an “historic legislative budget request.”

The Governor added $2.9 million to his budget for these programs.  This money, along with private funds raised by Hal Donofrio, began the media campaign.

The State currently promotes abstinence education to Maryland youth under two federal programs authorized by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.  Contraceptive education is also provided with these federal dollars.

In 1986, the birthrate among 15-19 year olds in Maryland was 40.2 per 1,000.  In 2011, it was 24.7.

We have made significant progress, but the need still exists.  We must think and work across ideological lines again.

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