The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
**AUGUST 29, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
**** Reproductive Rights Crushed at Oberlin
To save a few bucks, the college leaves students to the tender mercies
of a Catholic health system.
In my coverage about the insidious obstacles to women's reproductive
health
,
I mentioned the role of Catholic hospitals. As the epidemic of mergers
has continued, Catholic hospital systems, now about one system in six,
have been acquiring non-Catholic ones
,
imposing their views on abortion, contraception, and resistance to
properly treating miscarriages or fetal deaths that might be mistaken
for abortion. If you have been in a health system that suddenly
converted to Catholic, good luck.
I was stunned to see that this plague has now affected, of all places,
my cherished alma mater Oberlin College. Oberlin, co-ed since its
founding in 1833, was the first college in America to admit women, the
first to welcome African Americans, and has been a center of strong
feminism and social justice generally.
But the current college president, Carmen Twillie Ambar, has been on a
tear to cut costs. Ambar busted the food service workers union, laid off
workers, and hired cheaper replacements. She also shut down the campus
health service and made a contract with Harness Health Partners, a
subsidiary of Bon Secours Mercy, a Catholic health system.
Ambar assured students that reproductive services would continue as
before. Ambar even appeared with other college presidents and Vice
President Kamala Harris
after the Supreme
Court's
**Dobbs** decision overturning
**Roe** came down, to call for a staunch defense of abortion rights.
But the aptly named Harness not only fails to cover abortion. It won't
even cover contraception for unmarried students. This was surely
predictable.
In her "welcome back" letter to students on August 25, Ambar wrote, "The
Student Health Center, for example, will continue to provide
prescriptions for birth control and Plan B, referrals for those seeking
an abortion, and STI testing and treatment." But this is simply not
true.
Last April, Ambar laid off the entire health center staff of six in
favor of the pending contract with the Catholic Harness system. One of
the displaced staffers, a nurse practitioner named Aimee Holmes, had
solely treated women patients, providing gynecological exams and
dispensing birth control.
Yesterday, the local paper, the Chronicle-Telegram
,
reported that approximately 40 percent of Oberlin student health visits
were about sexual health, according to Erin Gornall, R.N, the clinical
coordinator. Students received birth control pills for free or nominal
fees, and emergency contraception, from an onsite pharmacy. Gornall also
worked with nonbinary students.
With the shift to a Catholic health system, all of these services are up
in smoke. At Oberlin, no less! If it can happen at Oberlin, it can
happen anywhere.
Well, if it's Oberlin as I remember it, the campus will be in an
uproar when students return tomorrow.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.Â
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
[link removed]
Student Loan Debate Reveals Limits of Economist-Style Thinking
The real reason why some Democratic critics have reacted so furiously to
President Biden's debt relief plan BY ELIZABETH POPP BERMAN
The Case for Higher-Education Price Controls
President Biden's changes to student loan repayment are welcome, but
they give schools a bad incentive. BY RYAN COOPER
Manufacturing in the Green Industrial Policy Era
How the Inflation Reduction Act's $50 billion for clean-energy
manufacturing could launch the green industrial revolution BY JAROD
FACUNDO
Will 'Dobbs' Drive Young People to the Polls?
After historic youth voter turnout in 2018 and for the Kansas primary,
young people are poised to return to the ballot box in November. BY
MADELINE ROSENBERG
Dark Brandon Rises
Democrats have suddenly racked up some remarkable accomplishments. Is it
a good start on a progressive agenda? BY PROSPECT STAFF
Donate to TAP's Midterm Tracker Travel Fund
to send our reporters to cover elections around the country. You can
tell us where to go, too! Â
Your 100% tax-deductible donation goes directly to the editorial team to
cover expenses for reporting and travel.
Thank you for your support!
Â
[link removed]
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
The American Prospect, Inc.
1225 I Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States
Copyright (c) 2022 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
.
