APHA Advocates
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* Mark Barna

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/51/9/2/F1.medium.gif)

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Advocates march Sept. 13 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home to protest a Texas law, which the highest court refused to block, that bans nearly all abortions in the Lone Star state. APHA opposed the ban and endorsed a bill supporting abortion access.

Photo by Nicholas Kamm, courtesy AFP/Getty Images

## APHA stands against Texas abortion ban

A Texas law that prohibits abortions after about six weeks removes a woman’s freedom of choice, APHA said in a Sept. 1 news release after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the law. Women in Texas who seek abortion care after the six-week timetable can also be sued, per the law.

The Texas law “opens the door for intimidation of anyone seeking an abortion, infringes on the patient-provider relationship, disproportionately harms low-income (and) communities of color and actively increases medical risks for pregnant women,” APHA Executive Editor Georges Benjamin, MD, said in the statement.

APHA endorses H.R. 3755/S. 1975, the Women’s Health Protection Act, introduced to the House of Representative and the Senate in June. The bill would create a statutory right for abortion providers to offer abortion care and for patients to receive it. Creating a statutory right at the federal level for abortion care would invalidate state-level attacks against the right to abortion, such as the Texas law. The bill would also protect the right to abortion from court threats, such as the potential of overturning of *Roe v. Wade*. APHA members also used an action alert to call on their members of Congress to support the bill, which the House passed in September.

“We heartily agree and reiterate that a woman’s reproductive health should be a decision made with her family and her health care provider,” Benjamin said.

## Oral health workers need vaccinations

All U.S. health workers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — and that includes oral health workers, APHA stressed in September.

In July, APHA and partners endorsed COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all health and long-term care workers. About a month later, on Sept. 1, APHA joined 11 dental associations and other groups to reinforce that oral health care workers must be vaccinated to prevent spread of the deadly disease.

Getting vaccinated protects the most vulnerable, including unvaccinated children and people who are immunocompromised, the advocates said.

“We must continue to address workers’ concerns, engage with marginalized populations and work with trusted messengers to improve vaccine acceptance,” the advocates said. “The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities and the nation depends on it.

## Make safety priority in infrastructure bill

Nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. die in highway crashes each year. Despite decreased road traffic because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, highway fatalities increased compared to the prior year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

In July 22 letters to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., APHA and partners recommended that safety advances enacted in H.R. 3684, the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act, be retained in the final infrastructure bill.

The advocates encouraged Schumer and Pelosi to ignore the Surface Transportation Investment Act, S. 2016, because it contains “safety placebos” rather than proven remedies found in INVEST. Preserving the bill’s safety measure is additionally important because an opportunity for similar comprehensive measures will not occur for another five years — during which it is estimated that 183,000 Americans will be killed in highway crashes.

“This is the only way our nation will achieve significant and sustained reductions in the unacceptable and costly death and injury toll caused by motor vehicle crashes,” the advocates said.

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In August, APHA called for action to ensure that all Americans can use their right to vote.

Courtesy BackyardProduction, iStockphoto

## APHA supports voter rights bill

Through the first seven months this year, 18 states have enacted laws that restrict voting access, many of which will have a disproportionate impact on people of color. APHA is calling for action to ensure all Americans can use their right to vote.

H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, would protect voters by preventing new discriminatory laws from being implemented, APHA and partners said in the an Aug. 23 letter to the House of Representatives. The House passed H.R. 4 the next day.

In recent decades, U.S. Supreme Court decisions on state voting laws have eroded essential processes and protections originally put in place by the Voting Rights Act, APHA said. H.R. 4 would restore those protections to prevent voter suppression and discrimination.

The bill would establish a federal review process of changes to state voting laws, pausing any potentially discriminatory changes until federal review is complete and completely blocking changes found to be discriminatory. States with a history of voter discrimination and those that use voter suppression tactics would be subject to enhanced oversight.

Voting free of discrimination and suppression is a public health right because voting helps shape “the conditions in which people can be healthy,” APHA said.

## Stricter standards needed for methane

Strict regulations on methane are needed to protect human health and the environment, APHA stressed this summer.

In a July 30 letter to Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, APHA and partners supported stringent measures to reduce methane emissions and pollution from old and current oil and gas operations. The advocates called on EPA to build on 2016 standards by establishing stronger measures to control emissions, including increased monitoring. They also recommended extending stricter standards to existing oil and gas processes and to equipment.

Methane contributes to climate change, pollutes water and air, and may cause cancer and neurological damage to humans.

“Public health depends on a broader and more effective effort to significantly reduce emissions of methane and harmful air pollutants from oil and gas wells and infrastructure,” the advocates said.

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Marguerite Candler, MD, performs an experiment in 1955 at CDC, then known as the Communicable Disease Center. An APHA-endorsed resolution acknowledging the agency’s 75 years of extraordinary work was introduced in Congress in summer.

Photo courtesy CDC PHIL

## APHA supports CDC 75th anniversary

Since its establishment in July 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, CDC has provided leadership in public health research and action, supporting innovative approaches that protect communities from communicable diseases, contaminated food and water, air pollution and other public health threats.

On Aug. 31, Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., introduced a bipartisan resolution in the House of Representatives honoring 75 years of CDC work, and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., introduced a companion resolution to the Senate.

CDC has been at the forefront of fighting the coronavirus in the U.S., issuing guidance, conducting studies and reports, and leading in mitigation work, noted APHA, which endorsed the legislation.

“CDC is the centerpiece of our nation’s health promotion and disease prevention infrastructure,” Georges Benjamin, MD, APHA executive director, said in a news release. “CDC uses a science-based approach to access these threats and implement evidence-based solutions to protect us.”

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Firefighters rescue residents on Sept. 2 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, after flooding.

Photo by Prostock-Studio, courtesy iStockphoto

For information visit [www.cdc.gov/about/history](https://www.cdc.gov/about/history).

## Investment needed in climate crisis

In late summer, wildfires in the West engulfed townships and Hurricane Ida devastated Louisiana and mid-Atlantic states, causing dozens of deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage. Scientists say climate change contributed to the extreme events.

In a Sept. 7 letter to Congress, APHA and other health organizations called for greater investment to protect and promote human health in response to climate change. Invoking data from the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the advocates said the U.S. must act with greater urgency to avert irreversible climate change that will be catastrophic to human health and well- being.

The public health advocates called for:

*   advancing health equity and environmental justice;

*   strengthening public health and health care infrastructure;

*   building capacity and climate resilience;

*   fostering a rapid transition to clean, non-combustion renewable energy; and

*   promoting active and non-polluting forms of transportation.

“We are now watching the health impacts of climate change accelerate rapidly here and around the world, with increasing illness and deaths from extreme heat, wildfire smoke and flooding,” the advocates said. “The proof that climate change is a health emergency is playing out right now in communities in the nation.”

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More stringent regulation is needed for alcohol labeling, production, marketing and sales, APHA told federal officials in August. APHA also reiterated the importance of surgeon general health warning labels on alcohol packaging.

Photo by Aaron Warnick

## APHA urges stricter alcohol regulations

Excessive alcohol consumption poses serious health consequences in the U.S., and regulation of alcohol labeling, production, marketing and sales needs to be stringent, according to APHA.

In an Aug. 16 letter to Amy Greenberg, MPA, director of regulations and rulings at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, APHA commented on a proposed rule from the bureau that would remove regulations that protect the public’s health from alcohol.

APHA opposes relaxing alcohol regulations, noting that alcohol poses serious public health consequences, such as heightened risk for various cancers, liver disease, unintentional injuries, violent crime and mental health issues. APHA also recommends doubling down on surgeon general health warning labels on alcohol packaging.

*To take action on public health, visit [www.apha.org/advocates](https://www.apha.org/advocates).*

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association