PHOTO: Left to right: Doris Poland (APWU), Rep. Matt Beck, ME AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney, Rep. Amy Roeder & Serina DeWolfe (AFT).
Last week union leaders including Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney, Serina DeWolfe of AFT Maine, and Doris Poland of APWU and the Southern Maine Labor Council went to Augusta to lobby lawmakers in support of LD 1478, “An Act to Improve Women's Health and Economic Security by Funding Family Planning Services,” which would provide $1.7 million per year for family planning services. LD 1478 passed both the House and Senate last year, but it is currently on the Appropriations Committee’s table awaiting funding.
Planned Parenthood, Family Planning and other organizations use this funding to provide comprehensive, affordable reproductive and sexual health care to thousands of Maine women at 61 sites throughout the state, including wellness exams, birth control, disease testing and treatment, cancer screenings and a variety of primary care services. No state or federal funds are used for abortion care.
"Reproductive healthcare is an important element of financial security for women and their families," said Phinney. "As union members, the healthcare benefits we negotiate in collective bargaining agreements with our employers are only useful if there are healthcare services we can access. Family planning services provide vital reproductive healthcare in many areas of the state that are underserved by other providers and funding this bill will help keep that in place."
Studies have shown that family planning services not only improve the health of women, but they also lead to better economic outcomes. Giving working women more power to make their own reproductive health decisions gives them more opportunities to pursue apprenticeships and higher education. The number of women pursuing professional education spiked after landmark Supreme Court cases in the 1960s made birth control legal and accessible, according to a 2020 report by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. One study also found that access to birth control pills is responsible for roughly one-third of the total wage gains women have made since the 1960s.