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TAKE ACTION!
See You at the Capitol on April 12 for AIDS Action Day
You can make some good things happened at the State Capitol this year if you make yourself heard. Now is the time. Our proposal to fix the ADAP mess in Minnesota is "in play," but it's only going to get passed into law with your help. Either register and plan to join us for AIDS Action Day on Tuesday, April 12 at the State Capitol, or flex your muscle as a "desktop advocate," contact your State Senator and Representative and the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Budget committee by phone or email. Ask them to continue Minnesota's tradition of providing access to health care for all by supporting SF 1836 and Sen. John Hottinger's plan for "fixing ADAP" in Minnesota. Read about SF 1836 .
IN THIS ISSUE:
Senate Committee Agrees to Fix State ADAP
The Senate Health and Family Security Committee decided on steps needed to take to fix Minnesota's ADAP program, a.k.a. program HH. The committee voted on March 31 to pass SF 1836 introduced by Sen. Hottinger [DFL-St. Peter]. The bill now goes to the Senate budget committee chaired by Sen. Linda Berglin [DFL Senate] to answer funding questions. In support of the bill, Sen. Hottinger said "HIV disease requires comprehensive and continuous care because it is a potentially fatal infectious agent that can spread rapidly in vulnerable, hard-to-insure populations." Sarah Rybicki from the Minnesota AIDS Education and Training Center spoke on behalf of the bill saying that "Optimal treatment of HIV, including reducing barriers to obtaining health care and medications that HIV infected persons face, is critical to containing the epidemic." Read the bill and view Sarah Rybicki's testimony .
Senate Health Committee Passes Plan to Increase Prevention Services for Africans
The African-born HIV prevention funding bill [SF 968], sponsored by Sen. Dibble [DFL-Minneapolis], passed the Senate Health and Family Security Committee on Thursday, March 31. The bill proposes a one-time funding allocation of $300,000 to help prevent HIV in the African-born community. The question of whether or not there will actually be any funding appropriated is now before a budget committee chaired by Sen. Linda Berglin [DFL Minneapolis]. Pastor Linus Nyambu of Ascending Praise Church in Bloomington spoke on behalf of the bill and said, "The most frightening thing is not the disease. It is the whole process of health disintegration, rejection by both friends and relatives, hopelessness and the eventual cruelty of dying alone."
The Senate Education Committee advanced the Comprehensive Family Life and Sex Education bill to be considered for inclusion in the omnibus K-12 education bill. Speaking on behalf of the legislation were the bill's two lead authors, Sens. Sandy Pappas [DFL St. Paul] and Bob Kierlin [R Winona].
"In my experience, teenagers get pregnant or get STDs because they don't have information, not because they have too much information," said Tanya Villalobos who spoke on behalf of MN-TAP (MAP's Minnesotan Teens for AIDS Prevention group) and Ablando Claro. Joy Miciano testified on behalf of Sex Ed for Life, and Marilyn Rivkin represented the perspectives of a parent. Tom Prichard of the Minnesota Family Council testified in opposition, citing arguments raised in a recent report issued by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative advocacy group. Read testimony or review the bill .
House Health Committee Votes to Repeal Minors' Consent
HF 1921, the bill to repeal Minors' Consent passed the Minnesota House Health Policy and Finance Committee, with only four representatives voting against it (Representatives Huntley--[DFL-Duluth]; Walke--[DFL-Minneapolis]; Thissen--[DFL-Minneapolis]; and Goodwin--[DFL--Columbia Heights]). Please thank these legislators for their support of minors' rights to confidential medical care. A new research brief prepared by the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support reinforced the idea that teens would stop seeking health care but would remain sexually active if parental consent was mandated. Studies from Illinois and Texas show increases in teen pregnancies, with additional annual medical costs in Texas of $44 million with mandatory parental notification. Estimates of annual costs associated with requiring parental consent in Minnesota is $11 million, which would include more unintentional pregnancies and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections.
Feds Keep Talking Trash on the Internet
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continued its disinformation
campaign to undermine effective public health and sexual health education.
HHS posted resource materials on its Web site to help parents talk to
their children about HIV. However, the site distorts medical information
to the point of inaccuracy, relies on fear, and fails to address sexually
active youth, youth who have been sexually abused and gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) youth. MAP joined with about 150 other
groups in sending a letter to HHS asking that this Web page be shut down. Read
the letter then find
out how parents can best talk to their children about growing to be sexually
responsible and healthy .
The Minnesota AIDS Project has produced a video about the current HIV health care crisis in Minnesota. If you would like to view a trailer for the DVD (Quick Time required) on our Web site click here . If you would like a copy of the video to share with other people please email publicpolicy@mnaidsproject.org . Supplies are limited so please request your copy soon.
Join us at the "Camp Out for Comp Sex Ed" at the Capitol
on Wednesday, April 27
Join us at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 27 from 5-9pm at the Camp Out
for Comp Sex Ed. Come the end of April Minnesota's legislators will be
hunkering down for about two weeks of long, grueling floor sessions to
hammer out the details of the big, so-called "omnibus" budget bills. As
the nights get long, the lobby outside of the chambers where legislators
are doing their work clears out. We think it makes a perfect time to Camp
Out for Comp Sex Ed. Yup, that's when we'd like to bring teens, their
parents, educators, and folks who value medically accurate, comprehensive
sexual health education together to call upon their legislators to support
comp sex ed in schools and minors' rights to consent to health care. Watch
upcoming MAP Advocates for more info, or contact us at publicpolicy@mnaidsproject.org
. Camp Out for Comp Sex Ed is being coordinated in partnership with
Sex Ed for Life and our friends at MOAPPP [Minnesota Organization on Adolescent
Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting].
Join 10,000 Minnesotans at the Minnesota AIDS Walk on Sunday May 15 to show your support for the fight against AIDS and raise funds for the Minnesota AIDS Project. The Minnesota AIDS Project receives no government or pharmaceutical company funding for its public policy work. The money raised at the Minnesota AIDS Walk is what makes it possible for MAP to lead the fight for smart and effective policies at the State Capitol. Register to raise funds for this year's Walk. Click here to get all of the details and set-up your own on-line campaign to collect pledges .
MAP Advocate is published by the Minnesota AIDS Project every two weeks while the Minnesota Legislature is in session, and monthly during the rest of the year. It is available through the MAP Web site and through email list service. If you wish to order the MAP Advocate, visit our Join the Action Network page, or contact MAP Public Policy by phone or email.
MAP Public Policy
Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404
612-341-2060
800-373-2437
public.policy@mnaidsproject.org
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Last Updated:
Friday, March 30, 2007
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