Morning Roundup: Dillard’s Sponsors Event to Raise Money for Racist Billboards

Beth Saunders

Testing at home for HPV, Montana guts family planning program, Tennessee will reimburse vaginal and C-section births at the same rate, nineteen Senators sign letter supporting Planned Parenthood, and Dillard's department store is sponsoring a fashion show to benefit Heroic Media, who is raising money for more racist billboards.

Testing at home for HPV, Montana guts family planning program, Tennessee will reimburse vaginal and C-section births at the same rate, nineteen Senators sign letter supporting Planned Parenthood, and Dillard’s department store is sponsoring a fashion show to benefit Heroic Media, who is raising money for more racist billboards.

  • Women can test at home for pregnancy, urinary tract infections, and yeast infections. Will they soon be able to test at home for HPV? A British study suggests that allowing women to do so may encourage women to come in for a full cervical screening.
  • The Montana House voted to cut $4.7 million dollars of state and federal money for family planning – nearly the entire pot of money. If that wasn’t bad enough, the House and Senate also agreed to cut $1 million for contraception that went to family planning clinics serving low income people. Health officials say that the money last year served 28,000 women. One of the representatives who voted for the cuts said family planning is a, “matter of personal responsibility.” Also known as the “stop being so poor and have some money” excuse.
  • Tennessee’s state Medicaid program will now reimburse doctors the same amount for both a vaginal and a Cesarean birth in an effort to reduce the number of elective C-sections in the state. (Even medically necessary C-sections will be reimbursed at the reduced rate.) A representative from the Tennessee Medical Association says that he’s not concerned that doctors will avoid medically-necessary C-sections, but that when it comes time for hospitals and doctors to balance their budgets, they may opt out of participating in the state’s Medicaid program.
  • Nineteen Senators signed a letter in support of Planned Parenthood yesterday. They are:  Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Max Baucus (D-MT), Mark Begich (D-AK), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). Read the letter here.
  • Dillard’s department store is sponsoring a fashion show to raise money for Heroic Media in order to erect more racist anti-abortion billboards, such as the ones stating, “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.” A spokesperson for Dillard’s says the store doesn’t get “political” and the show is just about “fashion.” Toni Leonard, president of Black Women for Reproductive Justice, doesn’t believe that Dillard’s didn’t know what Heroic Media was all about before agreeing to sponsor the show. Additionally, she says, “I don’t know how many Dillard’s customers are African-American, but I think they should be outraged.” 

Mar 17

Mar 16