Advocate Stories, Policy Updates
2018 Advocacy Asks
by Ashley Lidow on Jan 2, 2018
I don’t know about y’all, but I am ready to make 2018 the year of positive change. Looking back at 2017 it felt as if we were taking hit after hit and I am ready to go on the offense!
The best way I know how to start making positive change is to make my values known to policymakers, so obviously I have a list of advocacy tasks to get us started on the right track.
First, the legislature needs to override the veto on contraception coverage (see this blog for more details); this vote will happen the first week of session so get those phone calls and emails in ASAP. Send your email here.
Or just call up your House member and Senator (find their phone numbers here) and let them know:
- No one on the state health plan should be denied coverage for an essential health need, and
- Vote YES to override the veto of proviso 108.12.
Second, WREN’s proactive bills, 12-Month Supply of Contraception and Pregnancy Accommodations Act, have already passed the House and are ready to make their way through the Senate. All we need is for them to be placed on Senate subcommittee agendas.
- Ask the Chairman of Banking and Insurance to put the 12 Month Supply bill on the agenda, and
- Ask the Chairman of Judiciary to put the Pregnancy Accommodations Bill on the agenda.
Finally, join me on the Be the Voice campaign. Be the Voice is a campaign to bring together a strong, collective voice in South Carolina to advocate with and on behalf of women and their families to ensure that we each have the ability to make our own health decisions and to access the care that we need without judgment, stigma, or barriers.
We know that South Carolinians believe that we should support access to care and yet politicians continue to advance extreme policies that limit and even criminalize abortion, pregnancy, and parenting.
We’re asking you to be part of not only pushing back on restrictions, but helping us to advance access to services that will make a positive difference in the lives of people in our state.
If you get through this list and feel jazzed up to do more, join us for our new Meet Me at the Statehouse series, a monthly meet-up at the Statehouse where WREN staff will provide opportunities to connect with policymakers. Click here for more details
Keep your eyes peeled for more blogs and social media posts with ways to make your voice heard.
