CfA's January 24, 2020 Newsletter

Our Latest Work:

• Obria’s Unredacted Applications for Federal Funding Confirm Financial Mismanagement: On Thursday, CfA released the 2018 and 2019 Title X applications for The Obria Group, Inc., an anti-choice religious ministry masquerading as a healthcare provider. CfA obtained these federal grant applications through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although initially produced with heavy redactions, CfA ultimately was able to review applications revealing an extraordinarily high cost per patient, significant funds spent on a non-FDA-approved fertility tracking mobile application, and a substantial six-figure salary for a medical director with an apparently undisclosed and unrelated full-time job. (Press Release, Documents )
• #FOIAFriday: For #FOIAFriday this week, CfA highlighted the significant amount of money spent by anti-abortion organizations to bring politicians to the annual March for Life. Today we focused on Louisiana, and then-State Rep. Katrina Jackson. (Click here to view on Twitter. )

We're Hiring:

• CfA is Hiring: We're hiring a Research Associate to help us hold big tech companies accountable. We're also hiring for spring and summer internship positions.

What We're Reading:

• Ubiquitous Surveillance: The New York Times' Farhad Manjoo writes about his concern that we're building a "digital surveillance state much like the one in China." (The New York Times, 1.22.20)
• Talking About Abortion: VICE's Marie Solis discusses the medically inaccurate and stigmatizing language most often used when talking about abortion, and expresses its need for an update. (VICE, 1.22.20)
• FOIA at Amtrak: Politico's Sam Mintz tweeted yesterday: "Here's a fun (?) fact: Amtrak, which gets nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money and has more than 20,000 employees, has only one fulltime employee working on FOIA requests. The agency got more than 200 requests last year." (Twitter, 1.23.20)

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