SUBMITTED BY MARIANNY DE LEON

The purpose of this letter is to encourage the New College community to continue take action in regard to the recent signing of HB 1411 into law by Governor Rick Scott. Many of you signed petitions, volunteered, and spread the word, yet despite our best efforts, effective July 1st, hundreds of individuals (primarily poor women of color) will lose access to Planned Parenthood services if they are currently using Medicaid. This will have a devastating personal impact on the lives of the women that rely on these health services; this loss will increase present health care disparities and interrupt lives to a potentially dangerous degree.

In light of this, I wanted to speak to the power of the New College community to turn our anger about bills of this nature into productive action. This is crucial, as the only way to make sure that politicians are held accountable for this is to take them to task. We have access to the names of local politicians who supported this bill and we can make sure that they never see the inside of a political office again. We can support those that are currently in Tallahassee lobbying on behalf of Planned Parenthood and those who taking their cases to state and federal court. We can get on the ground and make sure the people that need these services have a voice in a political space that seeks to oust them at every turn.

The political spaces we create can and do exist beyond the internet. Let’s use them.