For Immediate Release
For Information Contact:
Ami Hyten (DC) (785) 220-6460
Jodie Baney (Williamsport) (570) 477-0777
Latoya Chivon(Philadelphia) (267) 815-2050
Rhoda Gibson (Boston) (617) 504-1792
Heiwa Salovitz (Austin) (512)966-3666 & Sophia Donnelly (512)924-8449
ADAPT Protests Around The Country Re: SCOTUS Hearings In DC
Washington, DC—-ADAPT is in Washington, DC, again this week as part of a coalition of civil rights groups in opposition to the Republican attempts to ram through Congress the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition, several local ADAPT chapters will be staging local actions in opposition to a Barrett confirmation that threatens the Affordable Care Act (ACA) protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Should Barrett be confirmed, the rights of women and the LGBTQIA+ community will be at risk, along with the health care that millions of Americans gained under the ACA. Opposition to Barrett’s appointment is based on her published positions and opinions in all of these areas and more.
Local ADAPT actions include one on Wednesday, October 14, in Austin, Texas, where ADAPT and allies will gather outside the offices of Sen. John Cornyn, 221 6th Street W., from 11 am to 2 pm to demand that the senator value the lives of disabled people, and vote no on Judge Barrett.
“According to the United States Health and Human Services Department, half of all Americans have a pre-existing condition of some kind,” said Texas ADAPT organizer Heiwa Salovitz. “ Everyone knows someone who is impacted by the issue. Before the legal protection of the ACA, insurance companies were allowed to deny people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions life saving and life sustaining coverage.”
In Boston, Mass ADAPT will protest in front of their statehouse from 12 noon to 2pm, demanding their Senators vote not to confirm Barrett.
In Philadelphia, ADAPT will demand a no vote on Barrett because she is a distinct threat to the ACA and the over 8 million people who have contracted the virus, and who will now be identified as having a pre-existing condition. ADAPT will also highlight the unconscionable 85,000+ deaths of disabled people from Covid-19, a number that would have been much smaller if Congress supported home and community based services over institutional settings.
In Williamsport, North Central Pennsylvania, ADAPT will spend the day at the federal building, again demanding a no vote on Barrett, and pressing for the continuation of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA covers people with lower incomes, pre-existing conditions, and it created the Community First Choice program that makes it easier for states to support aging and disabled people in their own homes, instead of forcing them into institutional settings where Covid-19 has killed so many.
In the nation’s capitol groups protesting with ADAPT outside the Capitol during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings include the Women’s March, Housing Works, the Center for Popular Democracy, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and local groups like SPACEs in Action, and Sunrise Movement, DC. Two ADAPTers were among those arrested at the sit-in outside the Capitol on Monday.
NationalADAPT.org @RealNatlADAPT on Twitter & Instagram, ADAPT National on Facebook and TikTok, National ADAPT on YouTube
ADAPTnational@gmail.com
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