OR-Sen: Jeff Merkley (D) Calls on Supreme Court to Protect Women’s Health Care

DailyKos:

Damn straight: http://www.enewspf.com/...

Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley yesterday joined with a small business owner and women’s health advocates to call on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect women’s health in a case that will be heard before the Court next week. The case, Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, could allow for-profit companies to deny health insurance coverage to women for birth control and any essential, preventive health care service if the CEO or business has a moral objection.  The Senator was joined today by Lisa Watson, owner of Cupcake Jones and Coco Allen who has been an employee of Cupcake Jones for four years. “I believe it is out of bounds for a boss to make the health care decisions for their employees,” said Merkley. “Our bosses don’t belong in our bedrooms.  Contraception is a part of basic essential health care for women and it should be a decision that women make with their doctors, not something that their boss decides for them. It’s time to stand up and say it’s not your boss’s business!”   Studies have shown that 70% of Americans believe that women should be able to make decisions about their reproductive health care without interference from politicians or their bosses. And 99% of women will use contraception at some point in their lives, whether for family planning or other medical reasons, and more than half of all women between the ages of 18 and 34 have struggled to afford contraceptive care. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance companies are required to cover preventive services for women without charging a copay. These preventive services include well women visits, domestic violence screening, and contraception. Under current law, there is a religious exemption for religiously oriented organizations so that they won’t have to pay or provide insurance coverage for these services to employees. The Supreme Court case that will be heard next week would allow all for-profit businesses to deny insurance coverage to women for birth control or any health care service that they have a moral objection to. - eNews Park Forest, 3/20/14

Some background info: http://www.usatoday.com/...

President Obama's health care law gets a return engagement at the Supreme Court next week in a case full of hot-button issues: religious freedom, corporate rights, federal regulation, abortion and contraception. Put another way, it's a case about God, money, power, sex — and Obamacare. Nearly two years after the court's 5-4 decision upheld the law and its controversial individual and employer mandates, the justices will consider a different requirement — that companies pay for their workers' birth control. In a Supreme Court term that has lacked the drama of last year's gay marriage and civil rights cases or the prior term's health care showdown, the so-called "contraception mandate" now commands center stage. It's been the subject of more than 100 lawsuits across the country, including 78 that are still pending. More than 80 outside groups submitted briefs to the Supreme Court. A related case filed by an order of Catholic nuns called Little Sisters of the Poor required an emergency stay from Justice Sonia Sotomayor on New Year's Eve, just hours before she led the countdown for the ball drop at Times Square. "This literally has taken on a life of its own," says John Bursch, a former Michigan solicitor general who argued eight cases at the court in the past three years. "It's this term's gay rights case," says Pamela Harris, a Georgetown University law professor and former Justice Department official. On one side is the Obama administration, insistent that health policies written under the Affordable Care Act include full coverage for all methods of birth control. On the other side are two family-owned corporations — the Hobby Lobby chain of arts-and-crafts stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., a Mennonite-owned cabinet maker. They cite religious objections to intrauterine devices (IUDs) and "morning-after" pills, which they say can cause abortions. The two cases, which will be argued together by the same lawyers who faced off over the health care law in 2012, present hotly contested legal questions. - USA Today, 3/19/14

But Merkley has been making his argument loud and clear: http://insurancenewsnet.com/...

Senator Merkley emphasized that the case before the Court could jeopardize critical health care coverage for millions of working Americans, and result in an expansive intrusion into employees' personal health insurance plans. It would give employers authority to deny services, while offering no protection for employees and families to receive the care they need--including maternity care, vaccines for children, blood transfusions and HIV/AIDS treatment. This giant loophole would dismantle critical protections and discriminate against at-risk populations. - Insurance News, 3/20/14 Well said.  In other Merkley related news, he's been out talking to students about dangers Citizens United has on our democracy: http://www.mainstreamonline.org/...

Activism echoed through Portland State University as nearly 500 student leaders attended a conference at the end of February that addressed some of the greatest political issues facing the country. The Northwest Student Leadership Conference brought together students from across the region to strengthen and mobilize their leadership. Citizens United became one of the common themes during this time; Citizens United is a reference to the 2010 Supreme Court decision which grants unlimited raising and spending of money to Super PACs for spending on political campaigns. Speakers, workshops, and documentary screenings frequently referred to the theme.  “[Citizens United] is very distorting and corrosive and corrupting of the American political system,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said to attendees. “If we want to take on a host of issues that are relevant to the success of our families, relevant to the health of our environment, relevant to ending predatory practices that strip wealth from families […] that means we have to take on this money in our political system.” Citizens United is especially harmful to the education system because students have so little influence amid the billions of dollars spent by Super PACs —a sentiment nearly palpable during the conference. Concern over money in politics is largely non-partisan as well. According to a November Tulchin Research and M4 Strategies poll taken for Represent.us, 92 percent of respondents believed it was important for elected officials to “reduce the influence of money in political elections.” The country can reverse Citizen United in one of only two ways: The Supreme Court can change its mind and reverse its decision or a constitutional amendment can be passed instead. Because the nine Supreme Court justices are life-long positions, have no obligation to represent U.S. citizens and have shown no interest in changing direction, this leaves the Supreme Court as a very unlikely source of a solution. Instead, a constitutional amendment is the only definitive option to ensure that money stops corrupting politics. - The Mainstream Online, 3/18/14

Momentum has been building for on Merkley's call for President Obama to sign an executive decision on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Earlier this week, nearly 200 lawmakers signed a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to use executive authority to ban workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors. It’s legal in 33 states to fire or harass someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. And in the absence of congressional action, a growing number of lawmakers are looking for the president to take action on the issue. Not a single Republican in the House or Senate signed the letter to Obama, organized by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), along with the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House. More surprisingly, there were also 58 Democrats who didn't sign (including one independent senator who caucuses with the party). The Huffington Post reached out to all of those members -- including many who have cosponsored broader legislation to ban LGBT workplace discrimination nationwide -- to see why they weren’t part of the effort. It turns out there's even more support among Democrats for executive action than the letter suggests. Twenty-five lawmakers who didn't sign the letter said Thursday that they agree it’s time for Obama to act. Many said they either didn’t know about the letter earlier, or missed the deadline to sign. Based on HuffPost’s tally, there are now 52 senators and 170 voting members of the House Democratic caucus calling on Obama to take action, leaving three senators and 30 House members not on board. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), also chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, isn’t on the letter because of her allegiance to the president’s position, given her role as the party’s leader. She has signaled that she supports the idea, though. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also are not signatories. Their offices said they traditionally don't sign these types of letters because of their leadership posts. Pelosi has said, however, that she supports Obama using his executive authority to extend workplace protections. Reid has said he would support it if the president decided to do it. For other Democrats who declined to sign, most said they wholeheartedly support passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in Congress, but don't believe that Obama pursuing the issue through his executive authority is the best course. - Huffington Post, 3/20/14

And Merkley and his colleague, Senator Mark Begich (D. AK), received a big endorsement for their support for expanding Social Security: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

The push to expand Social Security -- and the push back against attempts to cut it -- landed endorsements by a key progressive group Thursday for two Democratic senators facing GOP challenges. The group Democracy for America, founded by Howard Dean and run by his brother James, is throwing its support behind Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Merkley is a logical choice for the group, which cites his efforts around Social Security, filibuster reform and the minimum wage. Begich would seem to be a less natural fit, but Democracy for America likes his stance on the social safety net. And it doesn't hurt that Begich has been targeted by billionaire oil tycoons David and Charles Koch -- archenemies of liberals. - Huffington Post, 3/20/14

If you would like to donate or get involved with Merkley's re-election bid, you can do so here:

http://www.jeffmerkley.com/

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