Planned Parenthood Opts Out of Title X Funding, Launches Campaign #BansOffMyBody

By Chloe Cornell

In response to the new Trump administration rule blocking family planning clinics who receive Title X funding from providing abortions or offering abortion referrals, Planned Parenthood has announced that it will opt out of the federal funding program rather than be muted. Acting Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson explained, “We will not be bullied into withholding abortion information from our patients.” She added, “When you have an unethical rule that is asking us to limit what our providers can tell our patients, then it becomes really important for us to not agree to be in the program.”

Planned Parenthood will lose tens of millions of dollars in funding by leaving the Title X program. Medicaid can continue to help fund the organization, which serves about 2 million women around the country, but Planned Parenthood will rely much more on donations to make up for the loss of funding. Recently, Ariana Grande and Travis Scott have donated concert proceeds to Planned Parenthood. In addition, Grande, Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, HAIM, Kacey Musgraves, Carole King, Dua Lipa, Meghan Trainor, Fiona Apple, Troye Sivan, Megan Thee Stallion, John Legend, Bon Iver, Sara Bareilles, Macklemore, Hayley Kiyoko, the 1975, and over 100 other additional musicians have joined the company’s recently launched campaign #BansOffMyBody to support reproductive rights and access to abortion. The artists ran an ad in Billboard magazine on August 24th to raise awareness about the danger of the early abortion bans that are being introduced around the country and encouraged people to sign a petition to fight these bans. Planned Parenthood hopes to have 500,000 signatures by January 2020, the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which made a woman’s right to have an abortion legal under the Fourteenth amendment to the Constitution. “I’m proud to be standing up for Planned Parenthood as they fight for fair and equal access to reproductive rights,” Billie Eilish stated. “We cannot live freely and move fully in the world when our basic right to access the reproductive health care we need is under attack. Every person deserves the right to control their body, their life, and their future.”

If you would like to add your name to the #BansOffMyBody petition, you can do so by clicking here:

https://www.weareplannedparenthood.org/onlineactions/Mi1qMaJDmESWf8HLRxCZOg2

What is Title X

By Eliza Fogel

More than four million people across the United States rely on Title X funding to access essential reproductive health care and contraceptives.Title X was established in 1970 and relies on federal funding to ensure that every person – regardless of where they live, their yearly income, and their racial background – has access to basic reproductive health care. Title X provides simple health care services such as wellness exams, birth control, condoms, contraceptive education, breast cancer screening, and testing and treatment for STDS and HPV. Title X serves women who have incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty line. The Title X program also fights health care inequity by serving populations that have faced significant barriers to care, especially women of color. Lastly, Title X helps people who are uninsured

The Trump / Pence administration has implemented a gag rule which attacks the reproductive rights of women. Furthermore, this gag rule also makes it illegal for health care providers in the United States to refer their patients for an abortion. People rely on title X in every state and there are 4,000 Title X funded centers in the United States. Although Planned Parenthood only makes up 13% of Title X centers, they serve 41% of Title X patients. Title X has an extensive impact and with the birth control provided, it has prevented 1 million unwanted pregnancies each year and 440,000 unwanted teen pregnancies. Additionally, Title X has saved the government $7 million because it is a government funded program.

You can help by donating to the Planned Parenthood website and reaching out to your local and state representatives using this link: https://secure.everyaction.com/p/YPzhqG_PvUexpYppET2cew2 .

Meghan Markle’s Launches New Clothing Line That Will Donate Work Clothes To Women in Need

By Eliza Fogel

Meghan Markle has teamed up with her friend, designer Misha Nonoo, to create a new fashion line of workwear clothes to benefit the U.K. charity Smart Works. Also teaming up with retailer Marks and Spencer, department store chain John Lewis, and fashion brand Jigsaw, the line will feature dresses, sweaters, and other classic pieces in a variety of neutral colors for women to wear in professional settings.  For every item that is bought, another item is donated to Smart Works, an organization that helps women find jobs through dress, résumé building, one-on-one career counseling and preparation for job interviews. The CEO of Smart Works strongly emphasizes the importance of first impressions and how the clothing you wear matters. Markle is a royal patron of Smart Works and wrote about her volunteer work there in this month’s British Vogue, “It’s the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the earnestness of the staff and, most of all, the blushing, bashful and beautiful smile that crosses a client’s face when she sees herself in the mirror, that I have found so profoundly compelling.” 

Because of Meghan’s own popularity, when she launches her new line in September, it is predicted that there will be a major spike in online searches and orders.