2015 Advocacy Activities
March
Support for funding of Title X Family Planning
For the second year in a row, SAHM signed onto a Family Planning Coalition organizational sign-on letter requesting $327 million for the Title X family planning program in the 2016 fiscal year budget.
Endorsement of Student Health Advocacy Coalition Letter to Committee on Appropriations
SAHM endorsed a letter to congress asking for appropriations of $25 million for the School Health Branch in the Division of Population Health and $50 million for the Division of Adolescent and School Health for fiscal year 2016. Funding was cut in 2012 and has not been restored.
Joint Coalition Paper Endorsement Regarding Firearm-related Injuries and Deaths
SAHM endorsed an article in Annals of Internal Medicine co-authored by 8 health professional organizations and the American Bar Association. The executive staff leadership of the organizations made recommendations for reducing firearm-related violence and acknowledged more research is needed.
Endorsement of ESEA letter opposing legislative interference in the doctor-patient relationship
SAHM is one of 35 organizations opposing an amendment H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, which would ban school-based health centers from sharing age-approriate, medically accurate information about the full range of reproductive health care options, including abortion.
May
Letter Thanking the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury
In a letter address to Secretaries Burwell, Lew and Perez, SAHM thanked the Departments for issuing an FAQ clarification about contraceptive coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act.
October
Endorsement of legislation to raise the age to smoke tobacco to 21
SAHM has endorsed a bill co-sponsored by Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass., Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Eliabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
December
Action alert to support family planning funding for adolescents
SAHM has joined the American Academy of Pediatrics to create a call for action to speak up for the importance of reproductive health care for adolescents, as well as creating a factsheet.
