themarysue:

fishingboatproceeds:

Jeb Bush is right. We don’t need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues (which is around $3.15 per American woman per year). We need much, much more. 

In the U.S., the disparities in women’s health care between rich and poor women, and between white women and women of color, are just absolutely astounding.

We know that in the U.S., poor women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to die of it than rich women.

And we know that black women are almost twice as likely to die from cervical cancer than white women.

Why? According to the National Cancer Institute, “The disproportionate burden of cervical cancer in Hispanic/Latino and African American/Black women is primarily due to a lack of screening. In an effort to understand this disparity in cervical cancer screening, NCI conducted a study of regions within the United States where cervical cancer incidence rates are high. They found that cervical cancer rates reflected a larger problem of unequal access to health care.”

We need more public investment in women’s health to close these gaps. Making access to pap smears and other screening measures more expensive will worsen health disparities in the U.S. and will result in the death of more poor women.

THIS.