COLORLINES - Health

As the Court Decides Health Reform, East Oakland Fights for the Basics

by Tram Nguyen on May 22 2012, 9:21AM

Once home to good manufacturing jobs, East Oakland today is a microcosm of the structural components of racial health disparities. One community-led health project could be a model for the future.

Topics: Dispatches, Health

In Planned Parenthood vs. Texas, Judicial Whiplash Ensues

by Akiba Solomon on May 2 2012, 9:13AM

While the Republican-dominated Lone Star state dukes it out with Planned Parenthood, poor patients who rely on the state’s Women’s Health Program are in limbo

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health

Hip-Hop Activist and DJ Fights Her Fiercest Battle—with Heart Disease and Fat-Phobia

by Akiba Solomon on April 26 2012, 9:45AM

At just 36, DJ Kuttin Kandi has a pacemaker, mounting medical bills and the courage to tell her story. Here, she explains what size, race and bias have to do with her heart.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health

Why Native American Women Are Battling for Plan B

by Akiba Solomon on March 22 2012, 9:34AM

Native American women are three and a half times more likely to be raped in their lifetimes than those of other ethnicities. While some progress has been made since the groundbreaking Tribal Law and Order Act passed in 2010, a new report finds that they’re still fighting. This time it’s for the basic post-assault healthcare.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health

A Texas-Style War on Women Guts Basic Care to Jab Planned Parenthood

by Akiba Solomon on March 15 2012, 9:34AM

Black, single, childless and back in college, Delia Henry represents a population rarely visible in the so-called war on women. And she’s about to lose her health care because Rick Perry is gutting a Women’s Health Program just to hurt Planned Parenthood.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health, Planned Parenthood

Why More Americans Can’t Access Healthy Food

by Julianne Hing on March 2 2012, 9:04AM

Why don’t more people have access to healthy food? In a new book, journalist Tracie McMillian looks beyond fast food restaurants to untangle a web that’s proven deadly for people living in poverty.

Topics: Health, How We Eat

The New-Old Southern Strategy Mixes Racism and Sexism for Nasty Results

by Akiba Solomon on February 28 2012, 10:19AM

GOP presidential candidates have thrown gender dog-whistle politics into the race pot. It’s looking an awful lot like the odious 1960s Southern strategy.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, GOP Primary, Gender & Sexuality, Health

Why the ‘He Can Beat Me’ Tweets About Chris Brown Aren’t Funny

by Hatty Lee on February 17 2012, 9:00AM

Every year, almost 1.5 million high school students experience dating abuse, and it takes on many different forms

Topics: Chris Brown, Health

Komen Is Just the Latest Round in the Anti-Choice Game of Chess

by Akiba Solomon on February 9 2012, 10:43AM

And poor women and women of color remain the pawns who get sacrificed.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health, Planned Parenthood

Should I Continue Supporting Komen? Here’s How To Find Out

by Kavita Das on February 8 2012, 9:22AM

With the dust settling on the Komen for the Cure controversy, Colorlines.com readers have asked, What do I do now? A former Komen program director and permanent women’s health advocate offers some next steps.

Topics: Health

Remember HIV/AIDS? It’s Still Raging in the U.S.

by Kai Wright, Hatty Lee on February 7 2012, 10:13AM

When times are tough, it’s easy to ignore things like health and wellness. We all know what happens when we do that in our personal lives—it comes back to haunt us. Same’s true as a society, and the U.S. AIDS epidemic is proof of that fact.

Topics: Health, Kai Wright

Jerome Bettis’s Hall of Fame-Worthy Fight to Save Kids From Asthma

by Brentin Mock on February 3 2012, 10:01AM

“The Bus” is up for NFL Hall of Fame induction this Super Bowl weekend. Brentin Mock says his bold activism on behalf of EPA’s clean air rules is proof enough that he’s among the greatest.

Topics: Environment, Health

The Tragic, Craven Undoing of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Noble Mission

by Akiba Solomon on February 1 2012, 10:01AM

Whether they like it or not, defunding Planned Parenthood’s breast health programs makes Susan G. Komen Foundation look anti-choice. And of course, poor women of color will suffer most.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health, Planned Parenthood

Bryant Terry’s ‘Inspired Vegan’ Shows Healthy Food Isn’t Just for White Folks

by Julianne Hing on January 26 2012, 9:00AM

The revolution begins at people’s kitchen tables.

Topics: Health, How We Eat

Bad and Good News on Women’s Right to Reproductive Health

by Akiba Solomon on January 23 2012, 9:21AM

The bad news: According to a new report, anti-choice laws hit a near-record high in 2011. The good news: The Obama administration didn’t buckle to conscience clause bullies hoping to deny women copay-free birth control.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Health, Personhood

Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan and the Battle Over Who Gets To Rule

by Victor Goode on January 9 2012, 8:58AM

As the Supreme Court prepares to take on a slate of big, history-shaping cases, the most weighty question is which justices will—or won’t—get to decide the outcome. Victor Goode explains the ethics fight that’s not going away any time soon.

Topics: Health, Politics

The 2012 Attack on Reproductive Rights Will Trade on Women of Color

by Akiba Solomon on December 20 2011, 9:57AM

2011 has featured a string of hard-fought, local battles to protect poor women’s access to reproductive health care. That won’t change next year, and poor women of color will again be in the crossfire.

Topics: 2012: What's Ahead?, Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health

Four Ways Obama’s Birth Control Fail Hurts Young Women of Color

by Akiba Solomon on December 9 2011, 10:00AM

With president Obama’s cosign, U.S. health secretary Kathleen Sebelius just made it harder for women of color to prevent unintended pregnancies. Is this the thanks we get?

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Health