It's National Women’s Health Week 2017. As the editor of a women's health and wellness brand, I'm going to celebrate this important week by talking about some of the politics and policies that impact women's health, public health, and global health. Because I can’t think of anything more relevant or important today, this week, this year.

And I strongly encourage you to do the same! Talk about politics, and the impact that policy decisions are going to have on your life and health and well-being. Talk about them loudly, frequently, urgently. And especially talk about them with your elected officials—the politicians who are actually responsible for making these policy decisions. Here are your senators. Here are your representatives. Here are your state legislators. Get to know them. Make sure they know you.

There's a lot to talk to your elected officials about lately, but if you care about health and wellness, here are some demands you might want to make.

Demand: Make healthcare affordable and accessible to all.


Obamacare has serious flaws and needs fixing—28.4 million people under 65 still don't have health insurance, and far too many people have premiums or deductibles they can barely afford. But the Affordable Health Care Act, which passed the House of Representatives thanks to 217 Republicans who voted yes, is a heartless, cruel, and inept solution that won't solve those problems, and will in all likelihood make things even worse—putting millions of people at risk of losing health insurance. That's especially true for women, people of color, poor people, poor children, elderly people, people with disabilities, and the sick.

And just to be clear: Yes, people absolutely do die from lack of health insurance. Any politician who says otherwise is either lying or is negligently misinformed about what he voted for. Not sure which is worse.

The bill has advanced to the Senate, where a group of 13 men (and yes, they're all men) are working to make changes to it. That means that there's still time to contact your senators and raise hell to make sure that they come up with a solution that's actually helpful, and not harmful.

Some other things you might want to say:

  • Vote no on the AHCA, and vote no on any bill that will decrease the number of people with health insurance.
  • Vote no on any bill that doesn't guarantee protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
  • Vote no on any bill that slashes funding to Medicaid. Remind your elected officials that nearly half of all babies born in this country are born into Medicaid (see the state-by-state percentages here).
  • Propose a bill that will actually, legitimately cover more people, more affordably.
  • Start a conversation about a public option, or Medicare for all.
  • Make sure that women are involved in drafting another version of the bill. Seriously, though.

Demand: Defend and support access to reproductive healthcare.

Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images

Reproductive healthcare is a human right and an economic issue. When women control their reproductive choices, they have more control over their finances, their careers, their educations, their families, and their futures. But that hasn't stopped lawmakers from proposing more than 1,000 provisions to bills meant to impede access to reproductive healthcare services—and that's in 2017 alone. Here's an in-depth look at 90 of these bills. In the name of scoring political points to prove just how "anti-abortion" they are, the politicians advancing these bills are making it harder for women to access the healthcare they need—services that may in fact help lower abortion rates in the first place. It's both inhumane and totally counterproductive.

Case in point: While the unintended pregnancy rate in this country is at a 30-year low, nearly half of all pregnancies still happen by accident. Somewhere around 40 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion. If your goal is to lower the number of abortions, one of the most effective, ethical, and humane ways to do that is to work to lower the number of unintended pregnancies. Affordable and accessible reproductive healthcare, including access to long-acting reversible contraceptives, will help with that substantially. Removing access to those birth control methods by making it harder to get necessary care, or defunding family planning clinics, decidedly will not.

Some other things you might want to say:

  • Vote no on the AHCA, which would make it illegal for Medicaid to pay for healthcare at Planned Parenthood—even for non-abortion related care. Planned Parenthood serves nearly 3 million people in the country, some of them as their only publicly funded reproductive services healthcare provider. This would be a huge blow to women's health.
  • Vote no on any bills that will slash funding to Medicaid.
  • On that note, stop wasting time on heartless and ineffective anti-abortion bills. Instead, focus your attention on helping lift women and families out of poverty. Remind your elected officials that 59 percent of women who seek abortions in the United States are already mothers. Remind them also that punitive and restrictive anti-abortion laws do nothing to address the conditions that compel many women to seek abortions in the first place, like financial insecurity and fear that they won't be able to take care of their families.
  • Vote no on any bills that will defund family planning clinics that provide vital reproductive healthcare.
  • Vote no on any bills meant to impose restrictions on abortion access. You can see a list of bills broken down by state here.
  • Publicly denounce the appointment of Teresa Manning as deputy assistant secretary for population affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services. Manning has repeatedly (and incorrectly) denounced the efficacy of contraception; she's an anti-science ideologue who has absolutely no business managing the $286 million Title X family planning program.

Demand: Combat global climate change.

Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Climate change is real. There is overwhelming scientific consensus in support of that fact. Even the Department of Defense has acknowledged it: In 2015, they submitted a paper recognizing climate change as a reality, and outlined how it may pose a threat to our national security.

Beyond national security, though, climate change poses an enormous and existential threat to global health. According to the World Health Organization, more than 7 million people die every year from air pollution. By 2030, they predict that climate change will be responsible for hundreds of thousands of additional deaths from things like malaria, diarrheal illnesses, heat stress, and malnutrition. Climate change is also implicated in the spread of new diseases and outbreaks, like the Zika virus. Experts predict that the effects of climate change will be most devastating to the world's most vulnerable people—women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, migrants, rural workers, and the poor.

And yet, some of our politicians act as if climate change is a matter of opinion, not settled scientific fact. President Trump has openly and repeatedly questioned climate change. He appointed Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, even though Pruitt doubts the consensus view about climate change and has made a career out of suing the EPA. The administration has been flirting with the idea of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. And climate science has been removed from public view on the EPA website.

Some other things you might want to say:

  • Insist that we honor the terms of the Paris Climate Accord.
  • Publicly voice your belief in climate change and the existential need to address it.
  • Demand that the Trump administration stop hiding climate change and environmental data from the EPA website.
  • Speak out against all climate change deniers in positions of power.
  • Propose legislation meant to help combat climate change and protect the Earth—and vote no on legislation that does the opposite.

In honor of National Women's Health Week, let's make some noise.

Let's all vow to call, email, write, fax, tweet, Facebook message, or otherwise contact our elected officials to let them know that we’re going to hold them accountable for the decisions that they’re making that impact health and wellness. Let's show up to their town hall meetings, share our thoughts passionately, intelligently, and righteously—and live-stream the whole thing. Let's march in the marches, and make fabulous, witty, devastating signs. And let's remind these politicians that the world is watching, and that their choices affect real people, who are paying attention. Real people—who can and will vote them out of office if they don't do the right thing.

Carolyn Kylstra is the editor-in-chief of SELF. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.