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In a stroke of fortuitous timing, Resolve's annual Advocacy Day comes on the heels of the Family Building Act being introduced to the Senate by New York's Kirsten Gillibrand. Which means that today, constituents will flock to the Hill to discuss H.R.697, the Family Building Act, with both congresspeople and senators.
Constituents are spending the day focusing on three main points during their time with their representatives. First and foremost is a focus on the aforementioned Family Building Act and making sure people have better access to treatments. The bill requires that "health insurance plans that include obstetrical services to offer medical treatment for infertility." The bill is merely asking insurance companies to stick to a consistent message: if family building isn't a medical need, let's not cover some aspects of it and not others. It is inconsistent to value family building only in certain situations and not others.
Next up is infertility education--what is infertility, how many people are impacted, and why should healthcare reform also take into account infertility? And lastly is discussing Resolve's support of H.R. 213: the adoption tax credit. This bill will keep the adoption tax credit from expiring in 2010 and will enable more families to be able to adopt.
The catchphrase of Advocacy Day is "I am silent no more" and it certain speaks volumes to the early days of Resolve when infertility and pregnancy loss were a taboo subjects never discussed between women. This is true even today. In my women's group a few years ago, one member admitted during a meeting that she had just experienced a pregnancy loss. Slowly but surely, several of us stepped forward with our own stories until we learned that half the members in the room had experienced a loss. How strange that we didn't know this fact about one another and no one was really clear as to why we kept it a secret when it was happening.
The point of this day is not only to get legislation passed that would aid infertile men and women, but also to gather together as a community and speak out. Remove the taboo. Be silent no more.
Bloggers have been writing about both Advocacy Day and the bills currently being spoken about during Advocacy Day.
Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed has a post about things you can do from home to support Advocacy Day.
Body Diaries by Lucy will be at the event today, even though she has insurance coverage. Check her blog tonight to see if she has a rundown of the day.
A Little Pregnant will be there too and will hopefully providing her funny and poignant point-of-view in the blogosphere.
A Family is Born recently put out a brief-and-to-the-point post about H.R. 213 and why it is important to them.
Parenthood for Me also blogged about the adoption tax credit, why it's important, and how to write your representative.
What can you do from home today if you're not participating on the Hill? Blog about it, Twitter about it, Facebook it--make your stance heard. And check back here next week for a rundown of the day.
Melissa is the author of the infertility and pregnancy loss blog, Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters. She keeps a categorized blogroll of 1800 infertility blogs and writes the daily Lost and Found and Connections Abound, a news source for the infertility blogosphere. Her infertility book, Navigating the Land of If, is currently on bookshelves (May, 2009).
