April 2022: Issue 4
This newsletter was developed (in part) with federal funds from the Office of Population Affairs. For more information on the rules and regulations that apply to our programs, please visit
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The Wyoming Health Council works to ensure that all people can access safe, unbiased, high-quality sexual and reproductive health care. |
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.......... Title X ........... |
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We are pleased that our funding is stable for 5 years. However, we are unhappy that we have been funded a little above what we were funded in 2019. The Biden administration and Congress had originally proposed a $400 million increase for Title X programs. With flat funding we will be unable to expand services to currently underserved areas of the state or to targeted communities.
We are hopeful that additional funds will be appropriated in the future. Until then, we will work with our provider network of 8 subrecipient's providing quality and inclusive reproductive health services at 12 sites throughout the state.
Executive Director,
Rob Johnston
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Tell Congress: Title X Needs Emergency Funding
In light of last week’s grant awards, it is incredibly important for your members of Congress to hear from you about the impact the lack of adequate funding for Title X will have on your programs and the patients you serve. The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) is urgently pushing for emergency funding for Title X to make up for Congress’ failure to secure an increase of funding in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 omnibus.
If you have a relationship with local office/district congressional staff, you can reach out to them first. Otherwise, Washington, DC, staff will likely be the best point of contact.
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Mindy McGrath and Lauren Weiss, who lead our advocacy on Capitol Hill, are standing by to assist in any way, from getting contact information for the correct congressional staffer to helping to draft more detailed talking points with your specific data. Please copy Mindy (mmcgrath@nfprha.org) and/or Lauren (lweiss@nfprha.org) on your outreach so that NFPRHA can join in and follow up directly.
The Title X program is truly a lifeline for people in need. Underfunding this essential safety-net program will have grave consequences for the public’s health.
Please help support your local Title X clinics.
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Open Spaces
Wyoming Public Radio
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Region 8
Advancing LGBTQIAP2+ Efforts Listening Session
Join a Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY) Advancing LGBTQIAP2+ Efforts Listening Session. The Department of Health and Human Services federal staff in Region 8 want to hear directly from you. We will be hosting six sessions during April and May 2022. The objective of the listening sessions is to engage key stakeholders in Region 8 to better understand equitable practices, concerns and issues that affect LGBTQIAP2+ people in each respective state and among Tribal populations. The listening sessions will create a platform for stakeholders to speak about needs, strengths, and opportunities.
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If you have any questions, contact Carolyn Byran at Carolyn.Bryan@hhs.gov |
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Black Maternal Health Week
*****April 11-17*****
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"BMMA is excited to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Black Maternal Health Week! The 2022 theme is “Building for Liberation: Centering Black Mamas, Black Families, and Black Systems of Care,” which reflects BMMA’s work in centering Black women’s scholarship, maternity care work, and advocacy across the full-spectrum of sexual, maternal, and reproductive health care, services, programs, and initiatives."
Here are just some of the key statistics pertaining to Black Maternal Health and their respective links:
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. (Source: CDC)
- In 2020, Black women were most disproportionately affected with a mortality rate of 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 19.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, and 18.2 deaths per 100,000 live births for White and Hispanic women, respectively. (Source: CDC)
- The U.S. has an infant mortality rate of 5.6 per 1000 live births in 2019, with a health disparity among Black babies at a rate of 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018. (Source: CDC)
- Black women are 3 - 5 times more likely to have a maternal death than White women in the United States. (Source: AJMC)
- Research indicates that 22% of Black women receive a lower quality of care than white women and are subject to discrimination in the healthcare field. (Source: NCBI)
- In 2008, only 6.4% of obstetrician-gynecologists practiced in rural settings. (Source: ACOG)
"Black Mommas are claiming the right to live and thrive despite racism, poverty, and structural policies that affect our access to quality and equitable reproductive health care. We are incorporating the frameworks of human rights, social justice, and feminist theories of intersectionality into our activism, outreach, and scholarship!"
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How Serena Williams Saved Her Own Life
" Giving birth to my baby, it turned out, was a test for how loud and how often I would have to call out before I was finally heard...In the U.S., Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts. Many of these deaths are considered by experts to be preventable. Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me; I know those statistics would be different if the medical establishment listened to every Black woman’s experience."
-Serena Williams
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Health of Black, Native moms key in fight to improve infant death disparities, experts say
"Founder of the National Birth Equity Collaborative, Crear-Perry said infant mortality is a marker of the health and well-being of a population.
“Babies don't decide to come early on their own; they come early because moms are worried and stressed. We don't have an environment that protects (these) moms,” she said. “The same racism, classism and gender oppression that causes Black mamas and Indigenous mamas to die too early also causes them to have babies too early.”
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Ketanji Brown Jackson Just Made History With Her Confirmation to the Supreme Court |
"This is one of the great moments of American history," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote. "Today we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country's founding promise. This is a great moment for Judge Jackson but it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union."
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Sexual harassment, assault, and abuse can happen anywhere, including in online spaces. For too long harassment, cyberbullying, and sexual abuse and exploitation have come to be expected as typical and unavoidable behaviors online. With so much of our business, educational and social lives online, especially during the height of the pandemic, adult individuals, but also our children and teens, have been at risk for or have experienced sexual assault and harassment online.
Building Safe Online Spaces Together is possible when we practice digital consent, intervene when we see harmful content and behaviors, and promote online communities that value respect, inclusion, and safety.
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Know the Facts
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Online harassment is no less harmful because it happens online. Virtual harassment can leave lasting harm, as the content is often public, unerasable, and just as emotionally damaging as in-person harassment.
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Online harassment and bullying are extremely common. Forty-one percent of Americans have been personally subjected to harassing behavior online, and an even larger share (66%) have witnessed these behaviors directed at others.
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People from historically oppressed groups are more likely to be harassed online, and that harassment is likely to be more severe. Online harassment mirrors the inequalities we see elsewhere in society, often including racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, ableist, or other hate speech based on aspects of someone's identity.
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Victims of online harassment often have little recourse. Due to the anonymity of the internet, many victims have no idea who is behind the harassment and have few avenues to make it stop even if they do know the person causing harm.
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“Just log off” isn’t always an effective solution. Pushing the victim to no longer participate in online spaces to avoid being harassed is victim-blaming. Rather than expecting victims to change their behavior and limit their online presence, we must address the root causes of online harassment by taking the issue seriously and holding people who commit online harassment accountable. Many people rely on virtual spaces to stay connected with loved ones and have social interactions. Access to online spaces can be a healing resource for those who have experienced harassment.
For more information and resources
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What Teens and Parents Need to Know About Digital Abuse
"Most dating relationships have typical ups and downs. Couples may get angry, disagree, and even breakup. But the rollercoaster that teens are on when digital dating abuse is taking place is anything but normal.
In this situation, the relationship heads down a dark and treacherous path of control, jealousy, manipulation, and intimidation.
And because technology is at the center of most teens' lives, it happens quite often, with 1 in 4 teens in the U.S. experiencing digital abuse from a dating partner each year.1
In fact, a national survey of 2,218 students ages 12 to 17 found that 28% of teens had been a victim of digital abuse."
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Some Women Shared The Messages They Get On Instagram. It's Not Pretty.
"In one shocking statistic, the CCDH ( The Center for Countering Digital Hate) found that Instagram didn’t act on 90 percent of abuse sent via direct message to the women in this study, despite the messages being reported to moderators.
Instagram’s direct message, or DM, function is private and operates like an email inbox. It’s also long been a less visible hotbed for hate, in part because of its private nature. While public gender-based violence on digital platforms is common, direct messages are monitored less, so harassers can operate in secret.
“Harassment, violent threats, image-based sexual abuse can be sent by strangers, at any time and in large volumes, directly into your DMs without consent and platforms do nothing to stop it,” the report warns.”
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WEBINAR | Taking Care of Family Planning Providers Who Support Clients Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence
Thursday, April 28 at 3–4pm ET
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How do the providers at your agency feel when a client says they are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV)?
Responding to a client’s disclosure of IPV is often an emotionally trying situation for health care providers; secondary and vicarious trauma are well documented in the literature. This session will offer family planning staff (including project directors, project managers, and providers) tools and techniques to help providers cope emotionally when working with clients experiencing trauma and violence.
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Prepare Before You’re There
is a new campaign to make sexual health intentional.
Research shows that people may not believe they are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), even if they’re engaging in risky behavior. As a result, they don’t take steps to keep themselves healthy. Additionally, some report that unplanned sex makes condom use or in-depth conversations about risk “in the moment” unrealistic. This campaign can help people work around those barriers.
- CDC estimates that youth ages 15-24 account for almost half of the 26 million new sexually transmitted infections that occurred in the United States in 2018.
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Biden Budget Fails to Address STD Crisis
Washington, D.C. — The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) is deeply concerned with the failure of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget proposal to address record-high STD levels. While we applaud new groundbreaking investments in HIV prevention, flat funding for STDs leaves out a critical element in the nation’s ability to respond to infectious diseases.
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COVID chaos fueled another public health crisis: STDS
Two-plus years of pandemic isolation didn’t lower the nation’s record rates of sexually transmitted diseases. Instead, they got much worse.
After an initial dip when the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, cases of gonorrhea and syphilis surged, reaching new highs by the end of the year, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The Principles of Pleasure
***Netflix***
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Looking for something good to watch this weekend? Check out Netflix's new series, The Principles of Pleasure!
"Sex, joy and modern science converge in this eye-opening series that celebrates the complex world of women's pleasure — and puts stubborn myths to rest."
Time to Netflix and Chill....wink, wink!
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Sex Ed needs to talk about pleasure and fun. Safe sex depends on it and condom use rises
A focus on pleasure in sexual health education can increase condom use and enhance positive attitudes toward safe sex, according to a new international study led by the University of Oxford.
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How to Normalize Talking to Your Kids About Pleasure
If you’re in favor of comprehensive sex ed, you already know that talking to your kids about sex—or about pleasure—does not automatically inspire them to become sexually active. And in fact, the opposite often happens.
In a paper published in the International Journal of Sexual Health, Jessie V. Ford, a sociologist who conducts research at the intersection of social science and public health, cites research showing that health programs that incorporate sexual pleasure consistently lead to increased knowledge about sexual health, partner communication, condom use, and safer sex behaviors. In addition, such programs also tend to boost the adoption of safer sex practices.
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A Guide to Sexual Pleasure and Concerns
Is your sex life what you want it to be? Is it pleasurable, fun, exciting, and relaxing? If not, you can take steps on your own, with your partner(s), and/or with a professional to help make it better. Check out the National Coalition For Sexual Health's guide and website!
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WYOMING HEALTH COUNCIL
111 S. Durbin, Suite 200
Casper, WY 82601
Call Us: (307) 439-2033
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