For Loretta Ross, health care reform is personal.
The author, feminist and reproductive-rights advocate has insulin-dependent diabetes — and no health insurance. Without insulin, she could die.
Ross is looking forward to Oct. 1, when she and other Americans with pre-existing conditions can buy health insurance on exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, Ross, 60, of Atlanta, will discuss the importance of the Affordable Care Act at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties’ 7th Annual Empowerment Luncheon.
Less than two weeks before the sign-up period opens, many people still don’t understand what the Affordable Care Act means for them and their families, said Robert Armenta Jr., spokesman for the Planned Parenthood chapter.
“In fact, we just received a report that more than four in 10 Americans think the new healthcare law has been repealed, overturned in court or are just unsure whether it remains law,” he said.
That’s why the group invited Ross to speak at the luncheon, which benefits health-education programs in San Bernardino County.
Ross has worked on healthcare reform since the president first proposed it. The plan didn’t go as far as she would have liked, Ross said in a phone interview; she favored universal healthcare. “I will accept half a glass,” she said.
Most important to her was keeping abortion restrictions out of the plan and retaining access to contraception, she said. “We have not completely succeeded.”
Her home state, Georgia, resisted implementing the act and tried to roll back reproductive and contraceptive rights, she said.
But the efforts to undo reproductive rights have triggered a resurgence of feminism among younger women, awakening them from complacency, Ross said.
Inspiring young women to get involved and advocate for their rights is now the focus of Ross’ work. She retired last year after 38 years of managing and organizing feminist nonprofits.
Ross’s feminism dates to the 1970s when she was the director of the nation’s first rape crisis center.
Working there saved her life, she said. It helped her overcome the trauma of being kidnapped and raped at age 11 after she got separated from her Girl Scout troop at an amusement park.
She didn’t tell anyone at the time, she said, internalizing the crime and blaming herself for getting lost.
I asked her if an 11-year-old girl today would be more able to report being raped. Ross said it depends on whether there’s someone she can tell without fear of being punished.
Whenever Ross speaks publicly of the rape, women come up afterward and reveal their own sexual assaults they’ve kept secret since childhood, she said.
Educating and empowering girls to protect themselves is vital, Ross said: Even today, health classes focus on preventing disease and pregnancy rather than avoiding sexual assault.
The luncheon is at 11:30 a.m. at the Hilton Hotel, 285 E. Hospitality Lane, San Bernardino. Tickets are $45.
Cassie MacDuff
Press-Enterprise
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