The Rolling Resistance: Meet Three Disability Rights Activists Fighting to Save Healthcare

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Disability activists across the nation are staging historic protests in Washington, D.C., and other cities to fight the Republican effort to strip healthcare from tens of millions of people. On Tuesday, as the Senate voted to open debate, 31 protesters in the gallery were arrested, while 64 more, many in wheelchairs, were arrested in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. The protests are continuing as Senate Republicans move forward with their attempts to repeal Obamacare. We speak with disability rights attorney Stephanie Woodward who has been arrested 16 times in recent weeks, community organizer Ola Ojewumi, and hip-hop artist Kalyn Heffernan, who recently occupied the Denver office of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO).
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: Wheelchair Sports Camp, here on Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn now to look at the rolling resistance to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. At the forefront of protests against the various repeal bills before the U.S. Senate are people in wheelchairs. Organized by the national nonprofit disability rights group ADAPT, Americans Disabled [for] Attendant Programs Today, scores of disabled activists have been arrested on Capitol Hill and at senators’ offices back in their home states, demanding no cuts to Medicaid.


Mother says doctor brought up assisted suicide option as sick daughter was within earshot

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A St. Anthony, N.L., mother who claims she was told by a doctor that assisted suicide was an option for her adult daughter says she wants an apology from Labrador-Grenfell Health, in part because the 25-year-old could hear the conversation.

'I'm not going to let them walk over her and mistreat her anymore.' - Sheila Elson

Sheila Elson's 25-year-old daughter, Candice Lewis, has several medical conditions, including spina bifida, cerebral palsy and chronic seizure disorder.

During a hospital stay in St. Anthony last November, when Lewis was very sick, Elson said a doctor told her that her daughter was dying and that she had the option to end her life.

"His words were 'assisted suicide death was legal in Canada,'" she told CBC. "I was shocked, and said, 'Well, I'm not really interested,' and he told me I was being selfish."

According to Elson, Lewis was within earshot when the doctor made the comment — which she said was quite traumatic for her daughter to hear.


Transgender veterans outraged by Trump's sudden ban on military service

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Carla Lewis enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1990. But the next year, after a background check for a top-secret position revealed that she had seen a counselor for gender identity issues, she was honorably discharged for what her military papers described as “Conditions That Interfere With Military Service — Not Disability — Mental Disorders.”

She is transgender. While she had been designated a male at birth, she identifies as a female and transitioned to that after leaving the Air Force. She said her discharge was a black mark that made it difficult to get other jobs.

That’s why she and her active-duty transgender friends had been “elated” by the Obama administration’s decision in 2016 to allow transgender service members to serve openly, she said.

But a surprise announcement by President Trump on Twitter on Wednesday banning transgender Americans from serving “in any capacity in the U.S. military” has angered and bewildered transgender soldiers and veterans, with some active service members now wondering if they’ve put themselves at risk by outing themselves as transgender when the Obama administration allowed them to do so.

“Some of them are even approaching retirement, and now that they’ve come out, they’re [screwed],” said Lewis, 46, who is now an activist for transgender rights. “All over the world, there are units in the place that depend on a transgender member of that team.… I have one friend who told me today that ‘people believe we can’t do our jobs, and right now this is disrupting our ability to do our jobs.’ ”

Transgender people have already served in the military in large numbers, though in the past it was mostly in secret, with gender transitions — often with the use of hormones and sometimes surgeries — usually coming after the end of service. (All the veterans quoted in this story transitioned after leaving the military and are identified by their current names.)

Senate rejects repeal-only ObamaCare plan

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Senators on Wednesday rejected a key proposal that would repeal much of ObamaCare, despite intense pressure from conservatives.

Senators voted 55-45 against an amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and give lawmakers two years to come up with a replacement.

GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), John McCain (Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rob Portman (Ohio) joined all Democrats and independents in voting no. 

A vote on the amendment, which was widely expected to fail, was originally scheduled for late Wednesday morning but was delayed as senators tried to get clarity on a provision tied to abortion. 

It was the second healthcare plan rejected after the Senate voted down a separate repeal-and-replace amendment on Tuesday night.

Three GOP senators had already announced they wouldn’t support repeal-only. Alexander, the chairman of the Senate’s health committee, predicted he didn’t “think there are 40 votes to repeal” without a replacement.

But conservatives ramped up pressure for GOP senators to support the proposal, noting Senate Republicans passed a repeal bill in 2015 when they knew then-President Obama would veto it.

“Republicans promised to repeal ObamaCare, and as we move forward in this process, I urge them to join me in supporting a clean repeal of as much of this disastrous law as possible,” Paul said ahead of the vote.


Senate rejects ObamaCare repeal, replacement amendment

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The Senate rejected a key proposal repealing and replacing ObamaCare on Tuesday night as senators start a daylong debate on healthcare. 

Senators voted 43-57 on a procedural hurdle for the measure that included the GOP's repeal and a replace bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), as well as proposals from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). 
 
GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mike Lee (Utah), Jerry Moran(Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rand Paul (Ky.) voted against the repeal-and-replace proposal on the procedural hurdle. No Democrats voted for it.