On August 1, 2011, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius accepted the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations that key preventive health services for women, including contraception, be covered by insurance without co-pays or deductibles.

According to Ellen Liu, program officer for health at the Ms. Foundation, this is an "enormous milestone in the women's reproductive health movement, which has long sought to remove the barrier of cost to family planning." In addition, she notes, "while birth control has received the greatest amount of attention, the IOM also recommended full coverage of other essential services including breastfeeding support, screening and counseling for HIV, domestic violence and gestational diabetes, and strengthened cervical cancer detection." She adds that this adoption advances the notion "that women's health care is basic health care, not something "extra" -- and therefore, subject to extra fees."

Institute of Medicine's (IOM) findings

Read Ellen Liu's Post

The survey will be available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TahirihForcedMarriageSurvey from Wednesday, May 11, 2011 to Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Please complete the survey prior to 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday, July 13th to ensure that your responses are fully recorded.

The survey should take between 10 and 30 minutes to complete (depending on how many questions are relevant to your experiences). If you need to exit the survey before completing it, your answers will be saved and you may return to the same computer to edit or complete your responses until the survey closes at 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday, July 13th.

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This summit has a primary focus of fostering much-needed dialogue amongst anti-violence, economic justice, and social justice advocates. Come to hear experts and share ideas on how we can collectively ensure women of color, particularly survivors of violence, are not left behind in financial strain and barriers to success. Share your ideas on how to support women and families with knowledge, security, and achieving goals and what it means today in the current economic climate.

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Praxis International and Manavi in partnership with the Office on Violence Against Women are pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the next Advocacy Learning Center class that will begin September 1, 2011.

The application deadline is July 15, 2011 and we hope you will apply!

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