Blog of Rights
Vania
Leveille
12/21/2010

The Senate Gives Up on Military Women's Access to Health Care

By Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project & Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 3:29pm

On Veterans' Day, we told you that Congress had the historic opportunity to overturn the ban on privately-funded abortions on military bases.

Overturning the ban would have had a real impact on our servicewomen's lives. Because of the ban, women who are stationed overseas who need abortions are forced either to attempt to obtain care in a local medical facility in the country in which they are stationed or to travel to a medical facility in the United States or in another country. Even in countries where abortion is legal, local health facilities are sometimes inadequate, unsafe or lack trained medical personnel. Servicewomen who must travel to obtain abortion care are required to clear the leave time with their superiors, forcing them to disclose information about private medical decisions. Their superior officers may delay or refuse to grant leave even though each week of delay increases the potential health risks.

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11/18/2010

Watch It: CEDAW Hearing Today at 2 p.m.

By Lenora M. Lapidus, Women's Rights Project & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 10:28am

Today at 2 p.m., the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will hold a hearing on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — the landmark international treaty that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), will be the first hearing on CEDAW since 2002. It is high time that the Senate addresses this important treaty and this hearing will be a significant step toward a vote for ratification.

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11/17/2010

Ratify CEDAW, Because Women's Rights are Human Rights

By Lenora M. Lapidus, Women's Rights Project & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 5:51pm

Tomorrow, November 18, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will hold a hearing on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — the landmark international treaty that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), will be the first hearing on CEDAW since 2002. It is high time that the Senate addresses this important treaty and this hearing will be a significant step toward a vote for ratification. We encourage those who can to attend this historic hearing at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. If you can't make it in person, watch it online.

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10/26/2010

What Does Birth Control Have to do With Your Mortgage?

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 2:19pm

Imagine if you were applying for a loan and were asked to write a letter to the bank discussing your "family planning." Believe it or not, that is what happened to one woman in Pennsylvania who was applying along with her husband for a home mortgage.

Indeed, as the New York Times first reported, some lenders are applying newly tightened restrictions on home loan credit in the wake of the foreclosure crisis in a way that has resulted in pregnant women, women on parental leave, couples, and families with children being inappropriately questioned about irrelevant aspects of their private lives and subjected to pregnancy discrimination and sex stereotypes.

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05/28/2010

The Senate Acts to Ensure that Service Women Can Use Private Funds to Access Abortion Care

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 3:00pm

(Originally posted on Feministing.)

Yesterday, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee stood up for women in the military and voted 16-10 to repeal the ban on private funding of abortion at military hospitals and facilities.

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05/28/2010

The Senate Acts to Ensure that Service Women Can Use Private Funds to Access Abortion Care

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 3:00pm

(Originally posted on Feministing.)

Yesterday, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee stood up for women in the military and voted 16-10 to repeal the ban on private funding of abortion at military hospitals and facilities.

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03/22/2010

The Call of History

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 7:46pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

Whatever you may think about health care reform, we can all agree that our federal government made history last night when the House of Representatives passed legislation that promises to improve access to health care for millions of Americans. The potential for this legislation is great and should be celebrated.

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07/20/2009

Lifting the D.C. Abortion Ban

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 12:31pm

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives approved the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act and finally lifted a 20-year ban that barred Washington, D.C., from using local funds to pay for abortions for low-income women.

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03/13/2009

End Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 3:46pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

This week, President Obama signed into law the omnibus appropriations bill that will fund government operations for the rest of fiscal year 2009. Buried in the spending measure and the media blizzard about earmarks is $99 million for the Community Based Abstinence Education program.

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03/06/2009

Rescind Bush Health Care Denial Rule

By Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 3:01pm

The Obama administration appears to be making good on a promise to restore the balance between individual religious liberty and access to reproductive health care. As we reported in this space back in December, when the Bush administration pushed through the Health Care Denial Rule as its parting shot against women’s reproductive health, our fears were realized. The Bush rule seriously threatens access to basic reproductive health services, including birth control and information about abortion, and puts the objections of health care workers and institutions above the health care needs of patients.

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