March, 02 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Decision Not to Decriminalize Abortion in Colombia Is a Missed Opportunity
WASHINGTON
The decision by the Constitutional Court of Colombia not to take action to decriminalize abortion represents a missed opportunity for the realization of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and other people who can become pregnant in the country, said Amnesty International.
"By failing to take this historic opportunity to move towards the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia, the Constitutional Court has turned its back on women and their struggle to end the cycle of violence and the control mechanisms of which they have been the victims. Amnesty International regrets the Court's decision to continue restricting women's sexual and reproductive rights instead of setting a positive example for the region," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.
A 2006 ruling by the Constitutional Court (C-355/06) decriminalized abortion in cases where the pregnancy poses a threat to the health or life of the woman when a serious malformation means that the foetus is not viable and when the pregnancy is the result of rape. This week the Constitutional Court could have made a ruling in a case that would have represented a further step towards decriminalizing abortion, but it chose not to do so.
In many of its judgments, the Constitutional Court has recognized that the right to abortion services forms part of the sexual and reproductive rights guaranteed in Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Colombia is party to this treaty, which it signed in 1980 and ratified in 1982, and therefore has an obligation to comply with its provisions.
The Constitutional Court has also recognized that the voluntary termination of pregnancy is closely linked to women's right to health, set out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Colombia is a party to this treaty, which it signed in 1966 and ratified in 1969, and therefore must not breach the obligations undertaken.
Amnesty International calls on Colombia to fulfill its human rights obligations, which have been reflected not only in Colombian jurisprudence but also at the constitutional level.
This statement is available at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/decision-not-to-decriminalize-abortion-in-colombia-is-a-missed-opportunity
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15 Million People Could Lose Coverage as Nightmarish Medicaid 'Purge' Begins
"I feel sick," said one physician. "Medicaid is not enough: we need seamless, lifelong universal care now."
Apr 01, 2023
Beginning on Saturday, states across the U.S. will start the process of stripping Medicaid coverage from millions of people as pandemic-related protections lapse, part of a broader unraveling of the safety net that was built to help families withstand the public health crisis and resulting economic turmoil.
Medicaid's continuous coverage requirements were enacted early in the Covid-19 pandemic to help vulnerable people maintain insurance amid the health emergency, resulting in record-high Medicaid enrollment.
But at the end of last year, congressional negotiators agreed on a bipartisan basis to set April 1 as the beginning of the "unwinding" process for the continuous coverage mandates, which prevented states from conducting regular eligibility screenings for Medicaid recipients.
The bipartisan deal gave states 12 months to determine who is still eligible for Medicaid, but some states—including Arkansas and South Dakota—are jumping at the opportunity to quickly remove people from the program. (State timelines for kicking off the unwinding process can be seen here.)
"Tonight at midnight some people in AZ, AR, ID, NH, and SD will lose their Medicaid coverage," Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, tweeted Friday. "South Dakota is especially vexing as expansion kicks in July 1st. The state could structure their renewals to ensure that parents move seamlessly into expansion. But they are erroneously claiming federal rules mean they can't. Not true."
Residents of the 10 states that have refused lifesaving Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are likely to be hit hardest by the end of continuous coverage requirements, which the Biden administration estimates could result in 15 million people losing health insurance nationwide—including millions of children.
"Because those states tend to make only the extremely poor eligible for Medicaid, they will have many people who make too much to qualify for the government health insurance but not enough to reach the income needed to get federal subsidies to afford health plans sold on ACA marketplaces—the coverage the administration is counting on as the main fallback," The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein reported earlier this week.
"The toll will be large, too, in 13 states that have not chosen to extend Medicaid benefits to women for a full year after they give birth," Goldstein added. "Texas falls on both lists."
Because of the administrative barriers associated with income verification and other eligibility tests, many people are likely to lose Medicaid coverage even though they're still eligible for the program.
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has estimated that nearly 7 million people could be removed from Medicaid despite still being eligible due to "administrative churning."
The consequences of what one commentator has dubbed "The Great Medicaid Purge" could be disastrous, given the health impacts associated with insurance loss.
As HHS summarized in a recent report:
People who experience churning or coverage disruptions are more likely to delay care, receive less preventive care, refill prescriptions less often, and have more emergency department visits. One study found that unstable Medicaid coverage increased emergency department use, office visits, and hospitalizations between 10% and 36% and decreased use of prescription medications by 19%, compared to individuals with consistent Medicaid coverage. Children with interruptions in coverage also are more likely to have delayed care, unmet medical needs, and unfilled prescriptions.
"I feel sick," said Adam Gaffney, an ICU doctor at the Cambridge Health Alliance. "Some 15 million people will be purged from Medicaid, including 7 million who actually remain eligible for the program but fail to jump through the bureaucratic hoops! Medicaid is not enough: we need seamless, lifelong universal care now."
The Medicaid continuous coverage requirements are the latest pandemic-era protections to fall in recent months.
Starting on March 1, enhanced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were cut off in dozens of states, slashing food aid for tens of millions.
Additionally, the boosted Child Tax Credit (CTC) expired in late 2021 due to opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and congressional Republicans, resulting in a rapid surge in child poverty. Shortly before the expanded CTC lapsed, boosted unemployment benefits that helped millions weather economic chaos ended.
As the pandemic-era safety net crumbles, congressional Republicans are looking to roll back Medicaid, SNAP, and other key programs even further with spending cuts and punitive work requirements.
"Republican calls to cut government funding put everything from child care to opioid treatment and mental health services to nutrition assistance at risk for millions," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, warned earlier this week.
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Amid Fears Over Russia-Belarus Nuke Deal, UN Official Calls for Talks to Ease Tensions
"The absence of dialogue and the erosion of the disarmament and arms control architecture, combined with dangerous rhetoric and veiled threats, are key drivers of this potentially existential risk."
Mar 31, 2023
The United Nations disarmament chief on Friday called for de-escalatory talks to curb the risk of nuclear war amid global concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to station so-called "tactical" nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Roughly 13 months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin announced what critics called the "extremely dangerous escalation" last weekend, as United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu noted at the beginning of her briefing to the U.N. Security Council—which Russia, a permanent member, is set to lead for a month starting on Saturday.
Nakamitsu's remarks came as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in a speech to his country's Parliament, claimed without evidence that the United States and other Western nations plan to take over both Belarus and neighboring Poland, and vowed that "we will protect our sovereignty and independence by any means necessary."
"States must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake, or miscalculation."
Nakamitsu said that "the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is currently higher than at any time since the depths of the Cold War. The war in Ukraine represents the most acute example of that risk. The absence of dialogue and the erosion of the disarmament and arms control architecture, combined with dangerous rhetoric and veiled threats, are key drivers of this potentially existential risk."
"States must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake, or miscalculation," she continued. "They should return to dialogue to de-escalate tensions urgently and find ways to develop and implement transparency and confidence-building measures."
Putin justified the deployment plan in part by insisting that the weapons will remain under Russian control and pointing to the U.S. nukes that have been stationed in allied European countries for decades. The United States—which has the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal after Russia—is believed to have about 100 such bombs spread across Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
Both Russia and the United States are parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Nakamitsu stressed Friday that all parties to the treaty, whether or not they have nukes, "must strictly adhere to the commitments and obligations they have assumed under the treaty."
\u201cToday, High Representative @INakamitsu urged dialogue to reduce nuclear risk and de-escalate tensions during @UN Security Council briefing on the threat to international peace and security.\n\nRead \u25b6\ufe0f\u00a0https://t.co/iLA5M3miD7\u201d— ODA (@ODA) 1680279137
The issue of a state without its own weapons hosting some from one of the world's nine nuclear-armed nations "has existed for decades, across various regions and under different arrangements. These arrangements pre-date the NPT, with the exception of the recent announcement," Nakamitsu acknowledged. "The issue of so-called 'nuclear sharing' was debated intensely during the negotiation of the NPT" and "has been the subject of subsequent discussions."
After echoing U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' call for Russia and the United States "to return to full implementation of the New START Treaty and commence negotiations on its successor," Nakamitsu said that "the accelerated implementation of commitments under the NPT can also contribute to undergirding international stability. I therefore appeal to all states parties of the NPT to fully adhere to their obligations to the treaty, and to immediately engage in serious efforts to reduce nuclear risk and de-escalate tensions."
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Russian ambassadors took aim at each other's countries during the U.N. Security Council meeting.
"We are pursuing cooperation with Belarus without violating obligations," argued Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador, highlighting the U.S. warheads across Europe. "We are not transferring nuclear weapons."
According toU.N. News:
Russia must take "all requisite measures" in response to "provocative steps," [Nebenzia] said, given the fraying global security architecture, dictated exclusively by Washington, along with London's recent decision to deploy armor-piercing ammunition to Ukraine.
"A nuclear war cannot be won," he said.
Russia's suggestion that this intended deployment is justified because of the use of armor-piercing ammunition supplied by Western forces, containing depleted uranium, is "ludicrous," U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said.
"Armour-piercing ammunition is in no way analogous to tactical nuclear weapons," he said, adding that the Kremlin is attempting to limit and deter Ukraine's efforts to defend itself, and manipulate matters to win the war.
"Any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would have severe consequences and would fundamentally change the nature of this war," Wood added, urging Russia to reconsider its decision to deploy nukes in Belarus.
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Fetterman 'So Happy to Be Home,' Set to Return to Senate After Hospitalization for Depression
"I'm excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves," the freshman lawmaker said.
Mar 31, 2023
Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman is back in his hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania and looking forward to returning to work soon after being released Friday from Walter Reed military hospital in Maryland, where he was treated for depression.
"I am so happy to be home. I'm excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves," Fetterman—who was hospitalized for more than a month—said in a statement Friday. "Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs."
"I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life," he continued. "I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works."
\u201cI am so happy to be home. I\u2019m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves.\n\nPennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs.\u201d— Senator John Fetterman (@Senator John Fetterman) 1680298883
"This isn't about politics—right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties," the senator—who also suffered a stroke while campaigning during the Democratic primary race last year—added. "If you need help, please get help."
In an interview slated to be aired on "CBS Sunday Morning" this weekend, Fetterman told anchor Jane Pauley that, for him, depression is like "you just won the biggest, you know, race in the country, and the whole thing about depression is that, objectively, you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost."
"And that's exactly what happened," he added. "And that was the start of a downward spiral."
\u201cSix weeks after entering Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for inpatient treatment for depression, Sen. @JohnFetterman shares his struggle with depression, his health, and more in an intimate interview with Jane Pauley this "Sunday Morning."\u201d— CBS Sunday Morning \ud83c\udf1e (@CBS Sunday Morning \ud83c\udf1e) 1680298547
Fetterman is set to return to work the week of April 17 following the congressional recess, Politicoreports.
While still in the hospital on Thursday, Fetterman introduced his first bill—a railroad safety and accountability measure—with Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
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