I am first and foremost an advocate for disability issues. I have two adult children with disabilities who I take care of. I’m a member of the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities (LCPD), and participate in the Utah Developmental Disabilities Council (UDDC) Advocacy and Leadership Program. There are some excellent advocates on both sides of the aisle for disability and mental health legislation, but we have serious work to do for Medicaid expansion, improving availability of services for people with disabilities, expanding mental health care, addressing the homeless issue, and de-escalating engagements by law enforcement.
ON HEALTHCARE
- Expand Medicaid, remove work requirements for recipients. Provide full coverages for family planning, pregnancy during and after pregnancy. (Utah still has approved Section 1115 waivers to operate their Medicaid expansion programs in ways not otherwise allowed under federal law). We need to support Utahns by providing essential medical and health services to our most vulnerable populations: low income, to our homeless, in respect and support our veterans, and provide funding for our overwhelmed community, mental health and drug treatment services.
- Restore Roe. On abortion, a woman’s health is between her and her medical doctor, full stop.
- On birth control and sexually transmitted diseases, I believe that services need to be generally available to the public that start with appropriate sex education in schools (comprehensive, based on science, non-judgemental), recognizing that “abstinence only” programs generally work against intended outcomes and only shame and stigmatize our children. I support Planned Parenthood services in our community.
- I support gay marriage, and LGBTQ+ rights in legal, medical, family planning, financial, and end-of-life considerations. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and we need to celebrate that. “It takes a village” is a fundamental concept that we all need to think about and embrace more.
- Transgender health is health. I support gender affirming care. We don’t need to get between parents and their children, or an adult and their doctor.
ON MENTAL HEALTH
- Mental health is health.