Healthcare

The Right to Healthcare

Healthcare for All

Expanding and improving the City’s public health care option is a must. We must increase funding to the NYC Cares Program, subsidize private healthcare coverage for the uninsured, and lower prescription drug costs. We need to focus on community health, which centers food justice, environmental justice, and mental health resources that are safe, accessible and have an impact.

Create a Long Term Care Task Force to Analyze Nursing Home’s Response to COVID-19 and Better Prepare Nursing Homes for Future Public Health Emergencies

New York City needs its own Long Term Care Task Force because the state has its unique conditions that are different from other states, and New York City needs to be able to independently research and determine its own public health emergency response since following federal guidelines has proven to be disastrous. The Governor has chosen to hide the true reality of the toll of COVID on our nursing homes. This task force will help the City deal with the on-going and developing COVID-19 pandemic and better prepare for future public health emergencies. The task force would serve the essential functions of liaison to stakeholders on the ground, formulators of procedures and protocols to best prepare and deal with public health emergencies, and researchers of the pandemic’s effect on New York’s most impacted communities.

Increase Access to LARCs

The lack of access and information on different contraception methods, specifically long-acting removable contraceptives (LARCs), can lead to increased risk of personal health and family planning with issues such as abortion and bodily autonomy. The NYC community deserves the proper education, options, and access when it comes to exercising their right to personal health and safety as they choose which form of contraceptive to use. Offering LARCs at the facilities of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and supporting funding for these contraceptives ultimately benefits every community as it will lower the risk of unwanted pregnancies and ensure that women can use the form of contraception that is best suited to their needs and safety. We will fully support this bill to implement these changes and increase access to LARCs.

Opposing Ban on Sex-Selective Abortions

We oppose the ban on “sex-selection abortion,” known as the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Acts (PRENDA), which criminalizes abortions based on the fetus’s sex and places an extra burden on women seeking abortions. PRENDA forces healthcare providers to interrogate their patients about the intention of their abortion, report them if they suspect sex-selective reasoning, and stop the patient from getting an abortion. Given that women of color, specifically Asian women, are frequently subject to stereotypes based on sex selection, this ban makes it difficult for women of color to get an abortion and seek the reproductive health care they need, thereby jeopardizing women’s health. Every woman deserves the option to safely get an abortion without risking unfair accusations based on racial stereotypes. In order to protect the women in our community, we must make sure abortions remain accessible and safe to all by opposing this racially charged ban on sex-selective abortions.