Women's Reproductive Rights at Stake in California in Battle Over Funding

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson

As we see a woman's reproductive rights being chiseled away on the national level, thanks to the currently Bush-stacked US Supreme Court, we have to rely more and more heavily on setting the standards for Reproductive Choice right here in California. But the anti-choice movement knows there are more ways than just stacking the court to reduce access to safe and early abortion and reproductive health care services......just squeeze providers financially and watch the number of facilities shrink so rapidly that these services become unavailable or at the very least, so stretched that the ability to obtain healthcare becomes dangerously delayed for patients from all walks-of-life.

Such is the story right here in California. And that is why Wednesday, May 2nd, when Planned Parenthood conducts its annual Lobby Day in Sacramento, it is critically important to support their efforts to obtain a commitment to increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for reproductive health services. Not just a promise from the Legislature, but the Governor as well. For all his bluster about being a moderate, "post-partisan" governor, there is nothing that will show that he has at least a modicum of moderation more than his supporting the increase in rates that haven't been adjusted in almost 20 years!

It is important to remember that a right without access is no right at all. And whether George Bush and his right-wing neo-cons like it or not, California believes in the right of privacy and the right of every woman to make these most personal and private decisions without the government interfering. This is the message we must send to those who will be creating California's budget for the coming fiscal year. Without an increase in the current Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, we will see a continuation of staffing reductions in health clinics that provide reproductive health care services of all kinds---from contraceptive, abortion and prenatal services to HIV, STD and cervical cancer screening.