Category: Health Care

Learn About Abortion Laws In Your State, Your Country, and The World, Thanks to the Center for Reproductive Rights
Community Activism · Ethics · Fighting Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia... · Health Care · Uncategorized

Learn About Abortion Laws In Your State, Your Country, and The World, Thanks to the Center for Reproductive Rights

otycd

This post originally appeared on OTYCD in February 2018.

 

Learn about abortion laws in your state, your country, and the world at large, thanks to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

 

We at OTYCD don’t need to tell you that access to abortion is under attack across America. It’s still legal, but anti-abortion lawmakers are, and have been, doing their level best to make it as inconvenient and expensive as possible, both for health care providers and for their patients.

 

The Center for Reproductive Rights, a 26-year-old global advocacy nonprofit based in New York City, has compiled a State of the States 2017 report that surveys abortion laws across the country.

 

Download the report through the link below, and also see which states attempted to pass bans on abortions at and after 20 weeks’ gestation, and which states tried to ban the dilation and evacuation (D&E) surgical procedure:

https://www.reproductiverights.org/state-of-the-states-2017

 

 

The CPR also produces and updates a map of abortion laws across the world. See the 2018 world map here (it relies on Adobe Flash):

http://worldabortionlaws.com

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

See the website for the Center for Reproductive Rights:

https://www.reproductiverights.org

 

 

Learn about its Pro Bono program:

https://www.reproductiverights.org/pro-bono-program

 

 

Donate to the center:

https://www.reproductiverights.org/about-us/donate

 

 

Like it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/reproductiverights

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@ReproRights

 

 

Check out its Merch:

https://www.reproductiverights.org/shop

Help Expose Fake Abortion Clinics
Community Activism · Ethics · Health Care · Separation of Church and State · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Uncategorized

Help Expose Fake Abortion Clinics

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in December 2018.

 

Help expose fake abortion clinics–facilities set up by pro-life groups that mimic abortion clinics, but attempt to pressure women out of seeking the help they need.

 

You’re going to want to sit down for this one. Fake abortion clinics have been a thing since the 1960s. Today, there are more than 4,000 of them across America while there are fewer than 800 legitimate clinics.

 

They are designed to look like medical facilities in every respect, but because they are not actual clinics, they don’t have to abide by HIPAA privacy laws. That’s right–they don’t have to safeguard any medical information that they might receive.

 

These facilities can exist and carry on with their borked mission because what they do is regarded as religious outreach, which is in turn protected by the First Amendment.

 

Activists are trying to hold fake clinics accountable by pursuing them on truth in advertising laws–making them more clearly admit that they are not abortion clinics and do not provide abortions or referrals to abortion clinics.

 

One of the ways they’re doing this is through the #ExposeFakeClinics website, which is a resource hub for those trying to spread the word about fake clinics.

 

Exposing fake clinics takes several forms. They include:

 

Liking online reviews of legitimate clinics

 

Reviewing fake clinics

 

Reporting fake clinics that engage in false advertising

 

Protesting outside of fake clinics (but scroll down for important information about this)

 

 

See the main Expose Fake Clinics webpage:

https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com

 

 

Learn how to spot a fake abortion clinic:

https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com/what-is-a-cpc-2/

 

 

Learn if there are fake abortion clinics near you:

https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com/cpc/

 

 

Take action against fake abortion clinics (note: if the fake clinic you want to protest in front of is physically near a genuine abortion clinic, check with the real one before you start work. If the real one asks you not to protest in person, please don’t):

https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com/take-action-1/

 

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Read the Expose Fake Clinics blog:

https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com/blog/

 

 

Like Expose Fake Clinics on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/exposefakeclinics

 

Say You’re a Health Care Voter
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Elections · Health Care · Public Education · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends

Say You’re a Health Care Voter

otycd

Sick of the attacks on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare, and Medicaid? Step up and declare you are a Health Care Voter.

 

We at OTYCD spent a good chunk of 2017 rallying you to call your MoCs and urge them to fight Trumpcare, Trumpcare 2.0, Trumpcare 3.whatever, and the GOP tax bill, which contained provisions that weaken the ACA.

 

We also encouraged you to urge your MoCs to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which the GOP-controlled Congress allowed to lapse for months.

 

And we have asked you to remain alert to attacks on Medicare and Medicaid, which might come this year at the behest of GOP ghouls who will demand cuts to social programs now that they voted to add $1.5 million to the deficit by giving the most wealthy people and corporations a huge, entirely unnecessary tax cut.

 

The Health Care Voter campaign is a project co-chaired by Alyssa Milano, Topher Spiro, and others. It is an effort to encourage more than 1 million people to take the Health Care Voter pledge and promote the idea to friends and family in person and on social media.

 

In general, Health Care Voters fight against attacks on the ACA, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and other government-funded programs and services that help the sick and help keep us all healthy.

 

Health Care Voters believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and they pledge to vote their values by supporting candidates who defend these programs and voting out those who don’t.

 

 

See the Health Care Voter website and take the Health Care Voter pledge:

https://healthcarevoter.org

 

 

Read stories from committed Health Care Voters that explain why they took the pledge:

https://healthcarevoter.org/#health-care-voters-in-action

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Follow the Health Care Voter project on Twitter:

@HealthCareVoter

 

 

Like it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/healthcarevoter

 

 

Buy Health Care Voter merch:

Health Care Voter Shop

 

 

Follow expert Topher Spiro, Health Care Voter co-chair, on Twitter:

@TopherSpiro

 

 

Follow actress Alyssa Milano, Health Care Voter co-chair, on Twitter:

@Alyssa_Milano

 

Commit to the Long Haul, Because We Need You, Yes, You, to Help Un-Bork the Country
Community Activism · Good News · Health Care · Stand Up for Norms · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Vote with your Dollars

Commit to the Long Haul, Because We Need You, Yes, You, to Help Un-Bork the Country

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in April 2017.

Commit yourself to the long haul, because that’s what’s needed to un-bork the country. 

Waking up on November 9, 2016 was tough and bewildering, and not just because Trump won. It was tough because many of us were shocked to discover that the Democrats—the opposition party—was weak and in piss-poor shape to reign in Trump and his minions.

All this was made exponentially worse by the behavior of the Republicans, who have consistently favored their party over the greater good of the country since the current Congressional session began.

Let’s be painfully honest. There’s only so much the Democrats can do when the Republicans own everything and show no interest in fulfilling their obligation to check Trump’s power. The Democrats are trying, and in many cases, trying valiantly to curb the worst excesses, but the Republicans hold all the cards right now (in 2017).

Do not lose sight of the fact that the Democrats are stepping up, and the Republicans are not.

Trump will leave eventually. We won’t take bets on when. But never forget that this does not end when he’s gone. In the immortal words of God, speaking at the end of the classic film Time Bandits (which you really need to see if you haven’t yet): You need to stay here and carry on the fight.

The good news of the 115th Congress, such as it is, is that sitting Congressional Republicans are showing us who they are–unfit to govern, and incapable of governing.

We need to remember this, take down their names, and work to remove members of Congress who rolled over and surrendered to Trump. We need to work to elect Democrats, and we also need to work to elect Republicans who are sane and responsible.

Yes, you read that right. You need to work sane, responsible members of the opposition party, too.

One of the big reasons this country is borked right now is that we’re polarized. We used to be able to tolerate, and even befriend, people who disagreed with us on key issues. Somehow, without any of us really noticing, too many of us lost this talent.

You can argue about the hows and the whys, but it’s a fact. One of the ways to fix it is to go out and befriend people who don’t think like you all the time, on everything, but who are responsible and sane and have backbones.

You’re probably thinking by now, “Yeah, but what one thing are you asking me to do?” Fair enough.

Read this past post about recruiting friends in red states to call their MoCs:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/04/01/recruit-your-red-state-friends-to-call-their-mocs-2/

Pay attention to the bits about cultivating friendships. Get to work, if you haven’t yet. Build up your network so you can support your red state friends during elections and perhaps help them ID and support sane Republicans (assuming the Democrats are feckless or the Republican candidate is actually better).

And be on watch for future posts about sane Republicans, and consider following those folks on SoMe.

In addition, look at your state and local reps. Do you see any sane Republicans? Keep tabs on them. Maybe support them. Certainly support them if their Democratic counterpart is feckless or worse.

Support Students for Changes, an Advocacy Group Started by Marjory Stoneman Douglas Students
Common-sense Gun Laws · Community Activism · Health Care · Public Education · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms

Support Students for Changes, an Advocacy Group Started by Marjory Stoneman Douglas Students

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in April 2018.

 

Support Students for Changes, a nonprofit advocacy group started by students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of the deadly shooting on February 14, 2018.

 

Cofounded by three survivors of the attack that killed 17 of their peers and teachers, Students for Changes focuses on three things: gun safety, mental health, and school safety. The ultimate goal is to create a world where deadly school shootings are memories and not ever-present threats.

 

 

The pinned tweet on its Twitter page as of early March 2018 stated:

This Nonprofit Organization is started and led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas students. We’ve made this for the express purpose of connecting and consolidating the efforts of students nationwide to change our current policies and societal notions.

 

 

During the same period, its Twitter feed thanked Delta Airlines for rescinding the group discount it had offered to National Rifle Association (NRA) members, thanked Kroger, Walmart, and L.L. Bean for raising their minimum customer age for gun sales to 21, and promised to keep fighting after the Florida state senate passed, then quickly revoked, a two-year ban on the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

 

 

The founders intend this to be a student-led movement, and they encourage the creation of chapters in schools across America. As of March 4, 2018, SSC is filing to become a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit.

 

 

Visit the Students for Changes webpage:

https://www.studentsforchanges.org

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Donate to Students for Changes:

https://www.studentsforchanges.org/copy-of-make-a-donation

 

 

Like it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/studentsforchanges/

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@students4c

Believe It, You Matter: You Need a Longer Break? Take It. Just Please Come Back, OK?
Health Care · Save These Tools

Believe It, You Matter: You Need a Longer Break? Take It. Just Please Come Back, OK?

otycd

Hi there. Sarah Jane here. I write the Believe It, You Matter entries.

 

Over and over on this blog, we stress the importance of regular self-care. It’s one of the four things listed under The Most Important Thing You Can Do. [Yes, we know it says The Most Important THING you can do. We cheated.]

 

But sometimes, regular self-care isn’t enough, and you have to step away for a longer spell.

 

I am writing this to tell you explicitly: If stepping away for a longer spell is what you need to avoid burnout, do it. Just please come back, OK?

 

There are days when I Cannot News Anymore, and I have to stop and mainline the Great British Baking Show instead. It happens. Sometimes it sneaks up on me.

 

Sometimes I go weeks between signing into the One Thing You Can Do Twitter account, because life happens, and because sometimes I come down with an acute case of I Cannot News Anymore.

 

Know how I handle it?

 

I step away, I let the blog run evergreens, and I aggressively refuse to beat myself up for stepping away.

 

Then, when I’m ready, I come back.

 

You matter. Your voice matters, and your vote matters, even if it doesn’t feel that way. We need you to stay here to carry on the fight, and we’ll still need you after Trump goes. Hell, we’ll probably need you more then.

 

If it’s all too much, step away and rest. But please come back. Always come back.

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Volunteer At a Rape Crisis Center or Sexual Assault Hotline
Community Activism · Health Care · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Save These Tools · Vote with your Dollars

Volunteer At a Rape Crisis Center or Sexual Assault Hotline

otycd

Volunteer at a rape crisis center or a sexual assault hotline.

 

Even before he was elected, Donald Trump caused dark memories to surface in the minds of victims of rape and sexual assault.

 

Since his election, things have been just as intense. The #MeToo movement has forced the downfall of prominent abusers such as Harvey Weinstein and encouraged victims who suffered at the hands of other high-profile men to speak out and seek justice.

 

The news about Rob Porter, who was employed by the White House and finally ousted once domestic abuse allegations came to light, added to the intensity.

 

Calls to rape crisis centers have spiked since late 2016 and remain high. If you can volunteer with a rape crisis center or a sexual abuse hotline, please consider it.

 

The best known is the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN). Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., its National Sexual Assault Hotline takes calls around the clock and connects people with support services nearest to them. It also helps those who contact them online. To date, RAINN has assisted more than 2.5 million people.

 

If you can’t volunteer at a rape crisis center or a sexual assault hotline, consider donating   to RAINN or a RAINN partner crisis center in your area. You can also follow RAINN and local organizations on social media and spread awareness of their efforts.

 

 

Volunteer for RAINN’s online hotline:

https://www.rainn.org/articles/volunteer-national-sexual-assault-hotline

 

 

Volunteer with a RAINN partner crisis center near you:

https://volopps.rainn.org

 

 

If you are a sexual assault or rape victim who needs help, call the RAINN hotline:

800.656.4673

 

 

Those needing support can also access Rainn’s online hotline in English:

https://hotline.rainn.org/online/

 

…and Spanish:

https://rainn.org/es

 

 

If you are a sexual assault or rape victim serving in the military, you can contact the Department of Defense (DOD) Safe Helpline, also run by RAINN (scroll down for the full list of resources):

https://safehelpline.org/about

 

 

Donate to RAINN:

https://rainn.org/impact-your-gift-rainn

 

 

Like RAINN on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RAINN01/

 

 

Follow RAINN on Twitter:

@RAINN

 

 

Read a November 2017 Washington Post article on the rise in calls to rape crisis centers as a result of Trump’s Access Hollywood tape, the #MeToo movement, and similar events:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/calls-to-rape-crisis-centers-are-surging-amid-the-outpouring-of-sexual-assault-allegations/2017/11/22/3d0bec6a-ce12-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html?utm_term=.6b57e3bd3614

Support Doctors Against Trump, Which Boosts Progressive Physicians Who Are Running for Office
Candidates · Elections · Fighting Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia... · Health Care

Support Doctors Against Trump, Which Boosts Progressive Physicians Who Are Running for Office

otycd

Support Doctors Against Trump, an organization that endorses progressive physicians who are running for office at the federal, state, and local levels.

 

The election of Donald Trump had at least one good effect–it jolted countless numbers of people who are far, far better human beings than him to become more politically active.

 

Doctors are chief among them. Clinicians for Progressive Care (CPC) is exactly what it says it is–a group of clinicians who support progressive-minded health care.

 

That means universal access to high-quality care that’s respectfully dispensed to everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, and immigration status. It also means supporting well-designed medical research.

 

CPC endorses physician-candidates who embrace these values. To the delight of those at OTYCD, several people we’ve featured in check-out-this-candidate posts made the CPC cut, including Kyle Horton, Jason Westin, Christine Eady Mann, and Allison Galbraith.

 

 

See the CPC homepage:

https://www.cliniciansforprogressivecare.com

 

 

Donate to CPC:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jdfkjshdfjkabsdfhuiewhgriugtw78erifbsig

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@MDsAgainstTrump

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

 

Support Medical Students for Choice
Health Care

Support Medical Students for Choice

otycd

Support Medical Students for Choice (MSFC), a nonprofit that destigmatizes abortion by training medical students to do them.

 

One of the ways in which pro-life forces have tried to curtail access to abortion is by scaring medical students and residents away from learning how to perform them.

 

MSFC combats this on several fronts. It advocates to make abortion a standard part of the medical school curriculum; it hosts conferences; it has chapters at more than 200 medical schools around the world; and it educates almost 1,000 medical students in abortion and family planning annually.

 

Visit the MSFC web site:

https://www.msfc.org

 

Read its blog:

https://www.msfc.org/ourblog/

 

Read a December 2017 Guardian piece on the work of Medical Students for Choice:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/22/why-medical-students-are-practicing-abortions-on-papayas

 

Like its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/MSFChoice/

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@MSFC

 

Donate to MSFC:

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/MSFC

Learn to Use a Tourniquet, and Carry One With You, Just In Case
Community Activism · Health Care · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare

Learn to Use a Tourniquet, and Carry One With You, Just In Case

otycd

Learn to use a tourniquet, and carry one with you, just in case.

 

Former Senator and full-time Republican fool Rick Santorum was deservedly smothered under a heap of scorn in March 2018 after suggesting that students should learn cardio-pulminary resuscitation (CPR) in case they found themselves and their friends under attack in a school shooting.

 

Several doctors slammed Santorum for obvious idiocy, but Jo Buyske, executive director of the American Board of Surgery, summed it up best in a tweet that said, “Mr. Santorum, CPR doesn’t work if all the blood is on the ground.”

 

Santorum’s underlying impulse wasn’t wrong. Knowing what to do in a borked situation can help you get through it. He just reached for the wrong solution.

 

The best way to stop all the blood from pooling on the ground is to apply a tourniquet. It’s a temporary solution that stops a victim from bleeding out before medical help can arrive.

 

Granted, a tourniquet can be as useless as CPR when a victim has been shot multiple times by an assailant wielding an AR-15. But someone who’s been wounded in an arm or a leg could live to tell the tale if someone ties on a tourniquet in time.

 

Applying a tourniquet is a skill that needs to be learned. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can make things worse.

 

First, you need to purchase a tourniquet. The Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT) is well-regarded, as is the SOF Tactical Tourniquet-Wide (SOFTT-W). Both are available through Rescue Essentials.

 

 

The CAT:

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t-tactical-black-gen-7/

 

 

The SOFTT-W:

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/softt-w-generation-4-tourniquet/

 

 

Then you need to learn how to apply a tourniquet. Here’s a page from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) website, written by Dr. David R. King, who tended to victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing:

https://giving.massgeneral.org/tourniquet-use-instructions/

 

 

You can also review the instructions offered by Stop the Bleeding, a government-sponsored awareness campaign launched in 2015 to encourage everyday people to teach themselves how to handle a bleeding emergency before medical help arrives:

https://www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed

 

 

If you have a bit more to spend, you might consider a Concealed Carry Trauma Kit, which contains a tourniquet as well as a pair of gloves and a hemostatic agent–a substance that stops bleeding. The kit is designed to fit in a back pocket (hence the reference to ‘concealed carry’).

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/concealed-carry-trauma-kit/

 

 

Read about Rick Santorum making a damn fool of himself and getting flayed by doctors who know better:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/26/doctors-assure-rick-santorum-learning-cpr-wont-save-mass-shooting-victims/?utm_term=.0e9c26efa749

https://www.thedailybeast.com/doctors-slam-rick-santorum-for-suggesting-kids-learn-cpr-instead-of-protesting

 

 

Also, read an October 2017 WBUR interview with a volunteer from Stop the Bleeding on the power of the tourniquet:

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/10/18/tourniquet-blood-loss

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!