LET'S GET TO WORK: Civic action to-do list for 9-4-17

3. Just Tweet No #TrumpGlobalGag

The Trump administration instituted the "Global Gag Rule" banning nongovernmental organizations that receive American aid from counseling patients about abortion or advocating on abortion laws. This regulation puts restrictions on $9.5 billion of federal aid, harms the health of women across the world, and denies women economic opportunity. On Tuesday, September 5, participate in a Twitter storm by tweeting your protest and the hashtag #TrumpGlobalGag from 1 to 3 PM. (The toolkit with everything you need to tweet is found here.)

2. Support A Bi-Partisan Health Care Proposal

Yesterday, the Administration announced drastic funding cuts for Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment. The 90% cut from $100 million last year to $10 million this year will end vital efforts to educate people about their insurance options and encourage people to sign up. Instead of cutting critical resources for the 39 states that use the federal exchange, Congress should follow the lead of a bipartisan group of governors who have authored a commonsense proposal to strengthen health care markets. Call your governor now and urge her or him consider the bipartisan Kasich-Hickenlooper health care proposal.

Help share critical sign-up dates by going to JWI's Facebook page and sharing this image:

1. Help End Child Marriage

In the last 17 years, more than 200,000 children were illegally married in the United States. Most of these marriages are between girls under the age of 18 and adult men. This practice perpetuates gender inequality, cripples girls’ economic opportunities, and harms their health. Twenty-five states have no limits on how young a child can be married; to find out if your state is one of them, click here. The best safeguard to protect these young girls is a law that mandates 18 as the minimum age to marry, without exceptions. Call your state legislators to demand they work to eliminate child marriage in the next meeting of your state legislature.

And for you... 

We're loving Lisa Feiriman's new website Rose-Colored. As Lisa writes, after reading story after heartbreaking story, "somehow stories of resilience, generosity, and community arise from the ashes of these disasters." She curates these uplifting stories and shares them on her site. Check it out and be reminded of the good in the world.