<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Hi All,<div><br></div><div>Below I\u2019ve copied an announcement from the DD Council. On the Governor\u2019s desk right now is a bill that would basically allow medical providers to deny people care if they were ethically opposed to it. For example, if they don\u2019t think a person with a disability should receive services to help them have children, or that we wouldn\u2019t benefit from life-prolonging treatments. They wouldn\u2019t even have to tell us about options we could get elsewhere if they didn\u2019t want to. To me, the idea that my medical care could be impacted by someone\u2019s misguided view of blindness is very concerning. If you are also concerned about this, please reach out to the Governor\u2019s office. There are ways to allow religious freedom that don\u2019t discriminate against us.</div><div><br></div><div>Helen<br><div>
<meta charset="UTF-8"><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div>Helen Mejia, President</div>National Federation of the Blind<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of Iowa<br>hmejia@nfbi.org<br>(570) 983-7867</div>
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<br><div><h3 style="letter-spacing: 0em; text-align: center; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 24px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; margin: revert; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(30, 79, 134);"><strong>TAKE ACTION: Medical Ethics Defense Act</strong></span></h3><p style="font-size: 16px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/YNK6QJyd40hF0ZuMbXLbNQ" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><strong><u>House File 571</u></strong></span></a> is on its way to the Governor, who will need to decide whether to sign this controversial bill into law. The bill allows doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers to <strong>refuse to perform any health care service that conflicts with their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs</strong>. There are no legal consequences for refusing, and in fact, professional licensing boards would not be able to discipline someone for this refusal. In addition, employers would not be able to fire someone for refusing to provide a service. </p><p style="font-size: 16px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The bill is very broad, and also means that a provider could refuse to even <i>advise</i> a patient about a treatment they find objectionable \u2014 leaving patients in the dark about their own options. This could particularly affect end-of-life planning and the use of certain psychiatric medicines that some faith communities oppose. In addition, entire hospitals and clinics can refuse to provide certain treatments. For people with disabilities, this is especially worrying because they often depend on a specific, coordinated network of specialists. People with disabilities often have fewer providers to choose from and face greater barriers when they have to find alternative care. A law that lets any provider \u2014 or an entire institution \u2014 refuse care without any obligation to inform or redirect the patient could make accessing care even harder in Iowa, especially in rural areas.</p><p style="font-size: 16px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center;"><strong>If this is concerning to you, click on the button below to email the Governor! </strong></p><table class="image" align="center" style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-caps: normal; border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Ubuntu, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; clear: both; text-align: center; margin: 1em auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="border-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/AdvocacyCOOP/Campaigns/136016/Respond" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="https://d3dkdvqff0zqx.cloudfront.net/groups/advocacycoop/attachments/take%20action%20butto.png" alt="Orange button that has a bullhorn & the words "Take Action!"" width="500" style="border: 0px; height: auto; line-height: 16px; outline: currentcolor; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; min-width: 50px;"></a></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="100%" style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-caps: normal; border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Ubuntu, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: top;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 0px; padding-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 12px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="divider" style="margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; border-top-width: 4px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(106, 106, 106); border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: currentcolor; height: 0px; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-size: auto; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; width: 540px;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></body></html>