I AM A LOOKING TO GO

2000 strong advocating for womens access to care outside Scotus

March 02, 2016

By: Alison Case, MD

Last week, myself and Deb Hall, AMSA’s President attended a monumental demonstration of support for access to women’s healthcare services and abortion care outside of the United States Supreme Court. The rally was in response to the opening arguments of the Whole Women’s Health vs Hellerstedt Case in which the state of Texas is seeking to enact laws that would lead to closures of women’s health clinics across the state based on strict requirements that have no basis in medical evidence.

It was such an empowering experience to be surrounded by so many advocates passionate about the rights of women to make the choices about the care they need.  We heard from members of the LGBT community, the Latina community, the African-American community, the Asian community, providers, women who have had abortions and many, many more.

One of the speakers at the rally was Representative Barbara Lee of California who authored the EACH Woman Act–a focus of AMSA’s Lobby Efforts this Lobby Day, March 31.  She spoke to the importance of insurance coverage for abortion services in order to ensure safe, accessible care.  We are proud to be adding our voices as future healthcare professionals to the call for access to healthcare services for women, including abortion services.  Our voices as the future providers of care for women are an important part of making change in this movement, of moving toward a world where women have the right to make their own independent medical decisions and where politicians are kept out of our exam rooms.  Help us move towards that world and add your voice on

We’ll be advocating for the EACH Woman Act as well as legislation which will optimize the way USAID delivers maternal and child healthcare abroad via the Reach Every Mother and Child Act.  We will also be working to keep Planned Parenthood remain fully funded in order to continue to provide important primary care and reproductive health services–for women and for men.  
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Alison Case, MD is AMSA’s Education and Advocacy Fellow for the 2015-2016 year.