Posts Tagged: california
Five Colleges, One Definition, and Whole Lot of Complications: How My College Consortium Addresses Sexual Assault on Campus
Once or twice a month, my inbox has the misfortune of receiving a “Notification of Sexual Assault/Misconduct” from my college’s administration, detailing a recent assault that occurred on my campus. Or an assault that didn’t occur on my campus. While I am a student at Scripps College, these messages often don’t relay information about Scripps students. Instead, they are forwarded to our student body from the Dean of Students at Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, or Harvey Mudd Colleges, the other four schools making up our Claremont College (or “5C”) community. As part of a close-knit five-college (and two graduate schools) consortium, where students from all of the institutions are integrated academically and socially, when sexual assault occurs between students at the 5C’s the appropriate response is often complicated. For victims,… Read more »
Five Ways the California Bill to Provide Condoms in Prison Falls Short
The California State Senate recently approved a bill to provide condoms to currently incarcerated adult prisoners. The controversial piece of legislation would require five adult prisons to have condoms available by 2015 and the other 33 by 2020. If passed, California would become the second state in the union to provide condoms in prison, next to Vermont. The legislation would provide an important resource to incarcerated people and help to protect those in incarceration from the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections Nonetheless, the initiative to provide condoms to prisoners is merely a band-aid solution to a much bigger problem. Here are five additional things California needs to do in order to fully protect vulnerable prison populations.
Assembly Bill 154 and Young Californians: Increasing Access to Safe Abortion Care
California is nationally recognized as one of the most progressive states in the Union and a national trendsetter for progressive issues, including reproductive justice. In fact, I am proud to report that the Golden State has none of the major types of abortion restrictions, such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement or limitations on publicly funded abortions, in place. However, our lack of legal roadblocks to safe, affordable, and accessible abortion care do not mean that every Californian has the same kind of access or that access is uninhibited. In fact, my home state is the perfect example of why the fight for reproductive justice is always important and never finished. Assembly Bill 154, or the Early Access to Abortion Bill, is the next piece of vital legislation for Californians,… Read more »
On Privacy and Reproductive Health: California’s Confidential Health Information Act
Elizabeth McElvein is a member of the Choice USA chapter at Scripps College The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires health plans and insurers to offer coverage to dependent children up to age 26. While the expansion of health care coverage is a momentous step forward, the ACA leaves matters of patient privacy relatively ambiguous; consequently, it is up to state lawmakers to mediate the conflict between maintaining appropriate health plan and insurer communication and protecting patient confidentiality. This tension is of concrete significance to women and young people for whom patient confidentiality translates into freedom to pursue sexual and reproductive health care services. Imagine a high school senior sitting by herself in a doctor’s waiting room. She contemplates telling her doctor that she is sexually active and dreads the… Read more »
Expanding Access to Abortion in California Could Be a Model for the Country
By Katherine Sheldon, Co-Vice President of Choice USA at Sacramento State Let us start by taking a moment on behalf of uteruses everywhere to give thanks to Roe v. Wade for allowing us to do what we want, when we want, with our bodies. Forty years after becoming law, there are still people fighting to take our rights to our own bodies away from us. Over the last two years, 135 laws have been passed across the nation restricting abortion access. This is not only physically dangerous for women, but it shows them that the government doesn’t take their health seriously. AB 154 is a bill that will allow more medical professionals, including nurses and midwives, the ability to perform first-trimester abortions. Allowing these professionals to perform abortions increases the… Read more »
California’s Ban on Reparative Therapy aka No More Pray the Gay Away for Kids
This past October, California outlawed a practice that Governor Brown noted as, “A dustbin of quackery”. I’m a pretty big fan of both California and Governor Brown; I knew this story must be juicy. The more I researched into this topic the more I was in awe. Was this seriously going on in the 21st century? How unscientific, biased, and messed up can an institution get? This saddening and historic strain of therapy is known as, “Reparative Therapy”. The goal of Reparative Therapy is to change the sexuality of the patient. The idea is that if a patient wishes to change sexual orientation- through certain types of talk therapy they can be “cured”. The problem is that there is no medical or scientific backing for these practices (which is because there isn’t… Read more »
West Side, Best Side: Election Day in California
Congratulations Mr. Obama- I hope you succeed these next four years. I send sympathy to the Romney’s- but there is always 2016. And I send sympathy to Jill Stein and everyone else who ran for president this past week- Sorry our media refuses to recognize your existence. Tuesday was a beautiful day in California. In my dear state of California, nearly 9.5 million individuals voted on causes such as Genetically Engineered food, pornography/condom laws, and of course… The CSU budget. This blog post will summarize what went down here on Election Day on a National level. President California voted 59.1% in favor of the current President to remain in his position; 40.9% voted for another individual to take the title of Commander and Chief. California has been voting democratically for… Read more »
Dear Governor Brown
Also posted on RH Reality Check There are a couple of bills on your desk I wish to speak with you about. These bills have caught my attention And the nation’s too no doubt! You’re the person here Who has the power to do much good! Put your autograph on these bills, Oh I wish you would!
