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Thursday, July 20, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
State lawmakers condemn GOP health care
efforts, advocate for Planned Parenthood
State senator
Rebekah Warren
warns against
defunding women’s
health initiatives
By DYLAN LACROIX
Summer Daily News Editor
State Sen. Rebekah Warren (D–
Ann Arbor) and state Rep. Ronnie
Peterson (D–Ypsilanti) spoke at
the Riverside Art Center in down-
town Ypsilanti to over 40 people
on behalf of Planned Parenthood
Advocates of Michigan’s third
and final Field Hearing Monday
night. They discussed the cur-
rent battle against the Republican
health care bill in the Senate and
its effects on women’s health if
passed.
Warren’s speech, which fol-
lowed a brief informational ses-
sion by Emily Clancy, Planned
Parenthood Advocate organizer,
weighed in on how she believes
Democrats have depended too
long on the federal backstep of
the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court
ruling to protect and defend legal
abortions, forcing the GOP to
depend on states to funnel their
own anti-abortion legislation.
“The states have really become
incubators, kind of laboratories,
of anti-choice legislation,” War-
ren said. “We haven’t worried that
much, as much as probably we
should have, because we have Roe
v. Wade, and we know that it laid
out some really important tenants
that we thought were there to pro-
tect us for a very long time.”
In reference to the state of
Michigan’s
Informed
Consent
for Abortion law created in 1993
— which requires women to have
certain information be made
available for at least 24 hours
prior to undergoing abortion
procedures — she discussed the
increasing amount of legislative
efforts passed by the GOP mak-
ing it more difficult for women to
have access to an abortion.
“I think, as women, this is one
of the most insulting pieces of
legislation we have on the books,”
Warren said. “I don’t know any
woman who has ever found her-
self, even for a moment, in the
event she might have an unin-
tended pregnancy, who doesn’t
put a lot of thought into what the
outcomes of that might be.”
Since the recent movement
to defund Planned Parenthood,
Warren also spoke about the
importance of spreading trans-
parency about misconceptions
of Medicaid-funded abortions in
Michigan where, since the Hyde
Amendment of 1988, Michigan
has bannedthe use of federal
Medicaid funds towards abor-
tions except for instances of rape
and incest.
“Planned Parenthood does zero
abortions in this state with feder-
al money,” Warren said. “The only
abortions that can be funded with
state Medicaid money right now
are just in the category of rape and
incest.”
to the event,” Delhey said. “As
times have changed, we felt it was
important to have that accessi-
bility on a Sunday, so we moved
it over so that more people could
get here on the weekend.”
Maureen Riley, the executive
director of the Ann Arbor Street
Art Fair, The Original, said there
was bad weather on the Sunday
last year and so event contribu-
tors did not see the results it
had hoped for; still, according to
Riley, it was the right decision.
“Everyone has told us they are
thrilled we made the move,” she
said.
In terms of coordinating the
event, each group curates their
show separately but work jointly
on marketing, sponsorships and
city services.
“We all take applications from
artists and then go through a
juried process, so they’re scored
and then we pick who comes into
the show based on their score, in
a nutshell,” Dehley said. “Each
show indepently does that —
they have different standards
that they look for when they’re
jurying their show. You’re pretty
much going to see, they’re all jur-
ied art fairs; so you’re going to see
high-quality
work
throughout
the entire event.”
A lot of the differences, how-
ever, depend on the missions of
the organizations running them.
The State Street Art Fair and the
South University Art Fair, for
example, are run by area associa-
tions, so the fairs serve as fund-
raisers for the association. The
goal of the Guild is to provide
marketing opportunities for art-
ists. The Ann Arbor Street Art
Fair, The Original is organized by
a nonprofit that aims to bring art
and culture in the community.
“You’ll see very similar art
throughout the whole event —
more of the difference lies behind
the scenes,” Delhey said.
Each fair has a featured art-
ist whose work is displayed on
T-shirts and posters; generally
that artist is picked the year prior.
Sarah Goodyear, a painter from
North Carolina, is The Guild’s fea-
tured artist. Her piece, entitled
“Rage Louise,” features a woman
who appears to be screaming.
“It’s awesome,” Delhey said.
“It’s a really interesting piece,
and we’re excited about it this
year. It’s her first time doing the
fair.”
Frances Todoro is the execu-
tive director of the State Street
District, which oversees the State
Street Art Fair, now celebrat-
ing its 50th year. Todoro noted
the importance of the historical
aspect of the fair.
“Back in the days of (bargain-
ing) when the local businesses
would come outside for sidewalk
sales … it kind of built into an art
fair,” she said. “Over the 50 years,
providing that extra income or
that economic catalyst has been
huge in kind of forming the qual-
ity of our neighborhood and who
we are.”
Furthermore,
Todoro
said
what sets the State Street Art Fair
apart is its “eclectic feel.”
“We mix artists with the local
businesses and the local mem-
bers,” she said. “You could be
walking down the street and have
a fine artist and then you have
(the shop) Orchid Lane, then you
have more art, and then you have
Knight’s (restaurant).”
The State Street Art Fair’s
featured artist is Andy Anh Ha,
a mixed-media painter from Los
Angeles .
“He just did an amazing job,”
Todoro said. “We did do T-shirts
with his art on it, a poster, which
is hanging around the district, in
our local businesses.”
For its 50th year, however,
Todoro said the fair has worked
with a local artist — referred
to as the district artist — Tim
Gralewski, who did a piece spe-
cific to the district. The work
will remain in the district after
the fair.
58TH ANNUAL
From Page 1
Ann Arbor Mayor Chris Taylor
addressed the crowd, speaking in
support of Bautista and immigrants
in the community.
“On days like today, I am so proud
to be in Ann Arbor,” he said. “I am so
proud of our commitment to the val-
ues of pluralism and compassion. So
devoted are we to sharing burdens
and speaking out in the presence of
injustice and wrong. We live, in the
end, in an imperfect but great coun-
try.”
Taylor said for some, their ances-
tors have been in the country for
millennia, some were brought in
bondage and many came as refugees,
who chose the United States to seek a
better life.
“All these brave souls ever wanted
was the ability to build and realize a
dream,” he said.
Taylor said Bautista’s deportation
would not benefit the United States in
any way, and that the mere act com-
municates weakness.
“Lourdes’s threatened deporta-
tion is a breach of faith and a dis-
grace,” he said. “It would not make
America safer, or protect Ameri-
can jobs. All it will do is devastate
an already-separated family and
impoverish a community that val-
ues her… What kind of culture are
we if we deport hard-working par-
ents?”
Taylor called on the community
to do everything possible to keep
Bautista’s family together.
“Finally, it is up to us to do
everything we can to tell the world
that Trump is not America,” he
said.
Ypsilanti
resident
Karina
Valle, mother to a young son, also
addressed the crowd — her hus-
band Jose Valle-Rodriguez has
been detained by ICE for over a
month.
Years ago, ICE stopped Valle-
Rodriguez in a vehicle and told
him he would need to go to court,
but according to Valle, he never
received a court date or informa-
tion about a hearing. On May 24,
ICE officers stopped Valle-Rodri-
guez and his family in their vehi-
cle.
“The first thing (my husband) did
was look back at his son and say, ‘I’m
sorry,’ ” she said. “He was pulled
out of the car. My son started going
crazy, crying, because he saw that
they were pulling his dad out of the
car. I didn’t know what to do.”
FILE PHOTO/DAILY
State Senator Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) speaks at an event at
Washtenaw Community College oin March 2011.
DEPORTATION
From Page 2
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