Women
Leadership:
In 2007-2008 legislative sessions, I became the longest serving woman in the General Assembly. I am the only female Chair of a Committee (the State Government Committee) in the House. Throughout my career both inside and outside of the House of Representatives, I have been a champion of women.
I was a founder of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women's Political Caucus. I am member of the National Organization for Women, and a board member of the local Americans for Civil Liberties chapter.
Abortion Rights:
I co-founded the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League after it became clear that reproductive privacy opponents were able to circumvent the 1973 United State Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. I became known across the state and the country as an effective, articulate, hard working organizer, and this reputation propelled me into office in 1984 when I first won election to the House.
In the House I fought against restricting a woman's right to choose safe, legal abortion by organizing my colleagues, activating the grassroots, and conceiving of and implementing successful legislative strategies. I am the author of the only pro-choice legislation to be enacted in Pennsylvania. Indeed, my bill which gives Pennsylvanians the right to use medically acceptable contraception is a model across the country and was used by then Governor Ridge when he vetoed anti-family planning language in the 1994 Budget.
Contraceptive Equity:
I provide leadership in the battle to achieve contraceptive equity, to make available sexual health medical services for women and teens, and to offer rape survivors emergency contraception.
Health, Safety, and Welfare:
However, my commitment to the health, safety, and welfare of women and their families only begins with birth control. Along with other Democratic women of the General Assembly, I was able to embarrass the Ridge Administration into restoring federal day care subsidies for working single parents. I was for ending insurance discrimination against domestic violence survivors and for instituting adequate post childbirth hospital stays. When I was in the practice of law, my firm and I helped many domestic violence survivors bring actions under the Protection from Abuse Act.I have a particular interest in professions, careers, and jobs where women predominant: going to bat for nurses, public school teachers, and minimum wage workers. For more about minimum see my economic development section.
Women Seniors:
Because more than 7 out of 10 of the poor elderly are women, and women make up only 58 percent of all people over the age of 65, I have advocated strenuously for the expansion of PACE (Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly), to provide more access to long term care, and better conditions in nursing homes.
P.A.C.E. Info:
Services: Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly is a lottery funded program subsidizing prescription medications, insulin, and insulin syringes for qualified Pennsylvania Older Citizens.
Contact: Darlene Shughart, Director, Applications and Enrollments
555 Walnut St. Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717.787.7313 or 1.800.255.7223
Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday
Babette Responds to Constituents:
Raising the Minimum Wage
July 19, 2005
Dear Constituent:
Thank you for your support of raising the Pennsylvania minimum wage.
I have voted to raise the minimum wage over the years, and this session I am a cosponsor of the current bill in the House.
I understand that most minimum wage workers are women with dependents to support, not solely teenagers earning "pin money," as opponents would have us believe. I also understand that since we encourage everyone who can work to be employed, we ought to respect that work by paying higher wages than are now required. With heating fuel, gasoline, health care, and food prices going up, working Pennsylvanians deserve a decent family sustaining wage. Additionally, I know that a number of important close-by states have just raised their minimum wage, the most recent of which is New Jersey. If we do not raise our wage soon, we will lose valuable workers to New Jersey and other jurisdictions.
The minimum wage is a difficult issue to win in a Republican dominated legislature, but I will not give up. The welfare of working people, their families, and the economy of the state are too important to me.
Yours,
Babette Josephs
Contraceptive Equity
July 20, 2005
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about House Bill 1228, the Contraceptive Equity Act.
I am a co-sponsor of this legislation, because I believe that if insurance companies pay for prescription medications they ought to be required to cover contraception medications and services as well.
I understand that contraception is a basic health need and that universal, affordable access to birth control will result in fewer unplanned pregnancies and births as well as improving the health of women and their children.
Resistance to address the health of women and opposition to any kind of birth control runs high in the General Assembly. Please continue to work with women's, reproductive privacy, and civil rights organizations to get this most important bill enacted.
Yours,
Babette Josephs