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Weinberg To Assembly GOP: If You Really Care About Women’s Health, Then Actually Do Something About It

Surrounded by supports from both the State Legislature and women’s health organizations, Senator Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, speaks at a news conference at the Statehouse urging Governor Christie to restore funds to family planning and women’s health services which was cut in the FY 2011 Budget.
Loretta Weinberg News & Releases

Assembly Republicans’ Budget Resolution An ‘Empty Election-Year Gesture’

TRENTON — Senator Loretta Weinberg, sponsor of legislation to reverse the governor’s cuts to women’s health and family planning programs, today criticized the laundry list of Assembly Republicans who have been dribbling out press releases throughout the day trumpeting their sponsorship of a budget resolution that purports to restore funding, yet would do nothing to alleviate the current crisis in women’s health care.

Weinberg (D-Bergen) released the following statement:

“The Assembly Republicans are utterly confused. It’s not a question of money, it’s a question of access.

“We face a crisis in women’s health care because the governor’s decision to write his political ideology into his budget has forced six family planning clinics to close, and many others to cut back hours and services. We face a crisis because the FQHC’s cannot handle the thousands of women who now lack care. We face a crisis because last year the same Republicans who now magically care so much about women literally couldn’t be bothered to lift their fingers to vote to keep those clinics open and fully functional.

“The tired refrain about abortion is an embarrassment to all of us who take this issue seriously. This issue has nothing to do with abortion, yet the Assembly Republicans seem more than willing to beat that drum if it wakes up their right-wing supporters.

“If my Republican colleagues really cared about women’s health, they would sign on to the legislation Assemblywomen Quijano and Vainieri Huttle and Majority Leader Cryan are sponsoring in their house that would actually make a difference in the lives of women. It is a bill Senators Diane Allen and Jennifer Beck supported in the Senate.

“Instead, the best they can offer is this empty election-year gesture, a bunch of hot air, and their dubious voting history.”

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Sweeney Statement On Sen. Weinberg’s Reintroduction Of Women’s Healthcare Funding Bill

TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney today welcomed Senator Loretta Weinberg’s reintroduction of legislation to restore critical funding for women’s healthcare, in light of the spike in state revenues that would allow the governor’s budget cut to be reversed before more clinics are forced to close their doors. Under his authority, the Senate President placed the bill immediately on second reading and scheduled a Senate floor vote on the measure for Monday:

The Senate President issued the following statement:

19 May 2011
Weinberg Reintroduces Women’s Health Funding Bill

TRENTON – Senator Loretta Weinberg, the Chairwoman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and a leading voice in the State Legislature to reverse Governor Christie’s cuts to women’s health and family planning programs in New Jersey, today reintroduced legislation to fund these programs in the FY 2012 Budget.

“Since last year, every time we’ve brought up the issue of funding for women’s health care, we were told that the money wasn’t there,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. “Of course, we’ve since learned that the money was always there, and that accounts we identified to fund these programs during last year’s budget deliberations are running a surplus this year which would have more than paid for the Governor’s cuts. With more than $900 million coming into the State through increased income tax collections, there’s no excuse – short of conservative political ideology – not to fund women’s health care and family planning now.”

Weinberg Urges Mayor Zimmer To Stand Up In Support Of Women’s Health

TRENTON – In a letter sent yesterday to Dawn Zimmer, State Senator Loretta Weinberg urged the Hoboken Mayor to stand with a bipartisan group of elected officials in support of women’s health and family planning funds, and to ask her to help convince Governor Christie of the value of these programs to New Jerseyans in need.

“Despite the Governor’s recent remarks on New Jersey 101.5, access to women’s health is not about playing politics,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen, the chairwoman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “By defunding women’s health and family planning programs Statewide, he’s limiting access for real women in communities like Hoboken. I hope Mayor Zimmer and other elected officials who appear to have a good relationship with the Governor will stand with us in support of women’s health funds, and help convince the Governor to do the right thing and restore these funds.”

01 Jun 2011
Weinberg-Greenstein-Vitale Women’s Health Funding Bill Advances In Senate

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Loretta Weinberg, Linda Greenstein and Joseph F. Vitale which would reverse the Governor’s cuts to women’s health and family planning programs in New Jersey and require the State to apply for federal matching funds for Medicaid-eligible women was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 26-13.

“Funding access to basic health services for women in need is an issue that cuts to the very heart and soul of what government is supposed to be about,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen, and chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “The Governor’s funding cut of women’s health care in the last budget demonstrated that he’s willing to put socially conservative political ideology ahead of the health and safety of women in New Jersey. With the announcement earlier this month of a multi-million dollar revenue increase coming into the State, there’s simply no reason to continue to leave women without access to health care in the Garden State.”

“Whether you’re talking about blood pressure screening, cancer screening, family planning, STD testing and pre- and post-natal care, you’re talking about services which aren’t just important to women, but to their families as well,” said Senator Greenstein, D-Mercer and Middlesex. “Particularly as New Jersey’s families are struggling with increased unemployment, reduced employee benefits and lower salaries as a result of the recession, we need to maintain our commitment to funding women’s health care access for those in need. This bill is about our priorities as a state, and ensures that we will not forget women’s health when women and their families are struggling to make ends meet.”

23 May 2011