Late yesterday afternoon, Senator Bright shocked the South Carolina Senate by proposing an amendment to the budget that removed rights to comprehensive healthcare services for victims of rape and incest.

Luckily, 18 Senators stopped this harmful amendment.

Please thank these 18 Senators and encourage them to continue to stand up for victims’ rights.

We believe this issue will come up again – show you support victims’ rights to healthcare by sending your email now.

Send a message to those Senators who stood up for victims and thank them for their efforts

Since this bipartisan legislation first passed in 1994, it’s been reauthorized twice without a hitch. And it’s been tremendously successful in helping to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Send an email urging your Senators to support the Violence Against Women Act.

Since this law passed, it has helped reduce the annual rate of domestic violence by an astounding 53 percent. The rate of women killed by an intimate partner has dropped 34 percent. Its programs, including violence prevention programs, shelters and rape crisis centers, and funding for the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes have made a world of difference in giving victims of violence a safe place to turn.

It has without a doubt saved thousands of lives.

Send an email urging your Senators to support the Violence Against Women Act.

TAKE ACTION: Tell President Obama to instruct Secretary Sebelius to follow medical science and reverse her decision.

The FDA was expected to expand the availability of Plan B One-Step, a form of back-up birth control that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or if something goes wrong with your regular contraception. Indeed, the FDA tried to do just that: make Plan B One-Step available to all women — without age restrictions and without needing a prescription.

This would have been a huge step forward — except that Secretary Sebelius overruled the FDA. This is unprecedented. It just doesn’t happen. And it certainly doesn’t happen without the President’s knowledge.

Smell politics, anyone?

TAKE ACTION NOW: Remind President Obama that he has a responsibility to women and young people.

Secretary Sebelius’ decision to overrule the FDA’s recommendation on this safe and effective medication is unprecedented and represents an unfortunate case of politics trumping science.

Emergency contraception is a safe product that is by its nature very time-sensitive. ARHP members support removing barriers that limit access to contraceptive methods that can prevent unintended pregnancies and are adamant that policymakers make their policy decisions transparent and based on the best possible science.

When the evidence gets trampled, politics is usually at play. The Obama administration probably hopes that young people don’t fully realize this, but they do.

And we’re going to push back against this egregious case of undue political influence in scientific decision making.

While science may finally be back at the helm of the FDA, political motivation is clearly still front and center at the Department-level. Candidate Obama promised to ensure that — for the good of every body — federal health policies would be based upon science and research, not politics and ideology.

Tell President Obama not to let everybody down now!

If this cut goes forward hundreds of health professionals will lose their jobs within months. These are people working to protect and improve the health of pregnant women, babies, children, adolescents, and children with special health care needs.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham serves on this appropriations committee, and needs to hear from his constituents that this cut is unacceptable.

Click here to send an email to Senator Graham and ask that he reconsider cutting $50 million from the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

All of this came to a point when Tell Them had our first ever on the ground Legislative Advocacy Day at the statehouse this month coinciding with our second annual lobby day. 35 key advocates from across South Carolina met with 50 legislators to ask for their support on maintaining the budget for DHEC family planning and DSS pregnancy prevention programs. 

After the meeting with their Senators, our advocates would ask “What can I do next?”. So they met with House Representatives, learned about one another as advocates, and the many hats that they wear as community leaders. It was incredible to be in the presence of so many influential individuals, constantly ready for the next move.

What can we do next as advocates? With each day there is opportunity to reach out to our elected officials.  With each day there is deepening need to provide our youth with a full range of age-appropriate comprehensive sex education. From one Tell Them advocate to another, we can keep on buzzing.  There is nothing more important than our unified voice of reason when it comes to decreasing unintended teen pregnancies, STI’s and HIV/AIDS in South Carolina. It is the least we can do for the future leaders of our communities.

For the past few weeks, Tell Them members and friends have been signing an online petition showing their support for investing in prevention programs. Wednesday, we took your words to the Statehouse.

35 Tell Them members journeyed to Columbia to meet face-to-face with our lawmakers. Armed with economic and county fact sheets, our new white paper, and tons of signed petitions, these advocates spoke for the 8,000+ members of Tell Them who support investment in prevention programs. We had a fantastic day and thank everyone for coming to the Statehouse with us.

Those who couldn’t join us at the Statehouse were busy participating in Bee Day as well. Tell Them members sent over 900 emails to their legislators asking them to protect prevention program funding in the budget. Those emails helped shined a light on our issues, and, in conjunction with our in-person visits, have made a powerful statement.

Overall, our 2nd annual lobby day was a phenomenal success! Our membership came out in droves and has collectively shown their support for investment in prevention programs. Thank you for taking action and for all your effort.

If you have not taken action, please click here and send a message of prevention to your legislators.

We sent over 1,000 messages asking for answers to questions like how to stop the erosion of DHEC’s public health services, and what South Carolina should be doing to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS? We asked for their ideas on improving the Comprehensive Health Education Act so that our young people have the information they need to make the best choices they can. Overall, we asked for responsible reproductive health policies from our next governor.

As we move forward after Tuesday’s election, we can take pride knowing that Governor-Elect Haley has already heard from Tell Them Members. She’s heard our call for responsible policies that tackle the root cause of so many of SC’s challenges. After all, studies show a savings of $17 for every $1 a state invests in reproductive health education and services. Governor-Elect Haley has heard our call, and she should get ready: Tell Them Members aren’t stopping!

Women of the Storm is a nonprofit group that is working to bring more awareness and resources to the gulf coast. This oil spill affects all Americans- particularly those of us who live in the south.

Watch the video below and take action by adding your name to the petition.

At 11:30 last night, the SC House and Senate passed H. 3245, the Two Trip Ultrasound Mandate. The final version of the bill has been converted into a women’s rights bill, and therefore passed with our support.

The final version of H. 3245 eliminated the two trips initially required by the House version, and instead, allows women to access a series of information about healthcare and medical options from numerous sources. These include private physicians, local clinics, and the Department of Health website.

The approved bill is also significant because it does not contain any form of ultrasound requirement, nor does it mandate that women visit medical facilities more than once. These proposals were huge burdens for women throughout the state, and we removed after heavy pressure from health advocacy groups and our Tell Them members.

This is the only bill on our issues that passed the SC Legislature during the 2009-2010 legislative session (13 were proposed) – and it was only passed after tremendous pressure to remove most of the restrictive language. In fact, supporters of our proposed compromise language were such a strong force that this bill actually expands women’s access to medical information.

This is a huge victory for Tell Them and our supporters. This win has been 2 years in the making, and your support and effort made this possible. Thank you for all your hard work.

Yesterday, the South Carolina Senate was bullied into debating a fetal personhood bill which has failed to garner enough support to pass out of the House Judiciary Subcommittee.

Orchestrated by Senator Lee Bright of Spartanburg, this bill was brought up, against Senate procedure, during the debate of the cigarette tax.

The bill in question would grant constitutional rights from the “moment of fertilization.” This means that it would guarantee the right to due process and equal protection to fertilized eggs. This statement has far-reaching consequences including:

• Outlawing birth control options, like the Pill and IUDs, and emergency contraception for victims of rape and incest, in the state of South Carolina
• Banning stem cell research currently being used to find cures for chronic disease and disabilities
• Outlawing In-Vitro fertilization since fertilized eggs would have full legal rights to decide their future
• Eliminating a women’s right to decide about issues regarding her body- such as when to have a C-Section. If passed, this bill could place that decision in the hands of our legislators, giving them the right to force women to have C-Sections even when their lives are at risk. A woman with cancer could also be denied life-saving medical treatment because it could endanger a fertilized egg.
• It ignores the reality of miscarriages and non-implantation – even when a woman is not using a contraception method that can inhibit implantation. (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimates that between one-third and one-half of all fertilized eggs never fully implant.)

Senator Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg) delayed the cigarette tax increase because his bill (S. 450) has still not been called up for debate. The State Newspaper chronicled the events of the debate in the following way:

Bright, who has emerged as the Senate’s most vocal opponent of abortion rights, tried to force a vote on bypassing the committee hearings.

An irritated Senate president pro-tempore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, blasted the move, however, which he said not only breaks Senate procedure, but also would wind up costing the state money.

“It is unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution,” said McConnell, an attorney. “Let me tell you what he is trying to push on us: This bill would make a doctor guilty of manslaughter or murder if it goes forward.”

McConnell, who described himself as “pro-life,” scolded Bright for attempting to change U.S. law established by the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case, by passing a conflicting state law.

McConnell also blasted Bright for attempting to force senators either to support that effort or look as if they favor abortions.

“This is one of those gotcha votes,” McConnell protested. “You’re for abortion or you’re against it.”

Bright said two other states had approved legislation similar to his personhood bill

But Lexington Sen. Jake Knotts, a fellow Republican, pointed out that legislation had not cleared both chambers in those two states.

Bright later agreed.

Thank you Senators McConnell and Knott, for standing up for women in this state. These two courageous Senators had the strength and support to get this proposal tabled until further notice. The Greenville News is reporting that “it [is] unlikely the measure will pass this year.”

Once again we can see that Senator Lee Bright is no friend to women in South Carolina, while Senators McConnell and Knotts are true supporters and advocates.

Click here to thank Senators McConnell and Knotts for their words of encouragement and strong acts on the Senate floor yesterday.