Women group rallied against Palin in Alaska

Alaska Women Against Palin (AKWAP) rallied at the Loussac Library in Anchorage, Alaska yesterday. (Addendum: Official name is Alaska Women Rejecting Palin – AKWRP).

Another group, the Alliance for Reproductive Justice said that attendees at a “women’s summit” in 2007 had urged the new governor to tackle the following problems, but got no response:

Increase funding for Denali Kid Care (Alaska’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or Schip). Alaska is one of a minority of states that fail to fund health insurance for families up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Decrease the incidence of domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska. Alaska’s rape rate is 2.5 times the national average and Alaska is No. 1 in the nation, per capita, in women murdered by men.

Support working mothers by enacting laws that allow for breastfeeding in the workplace. There have been bills in the legislature in recent years that would have required breaks for women, but they have not become law.

Provide medically accurate sex education in public schools. Alaska leads the nation in the rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea, and has high rates of teen pregnancy.

Health-care advocates expressed acute disappointment about the failure of the expansion of Denali Kid Care, which would have covered about 1,200 children, and 530 pregnant women, using only $825,000 of state funding. They said the measure had the strong support of a broad range of constituencies — including hospitals, pharmacists, nurses, women’s and religious organizations — but died in committee after the governor rebuffed the advocates’ pleas to speak up on its behalf.

The alliance provided a list of other dismal social indicators that it says Alaska — with its multibillion dollar state budget surplus — should be hard at work reversing:

Alaska ranks near the bottom for providing children’s health care.

Alaska ranks 43rd in the nation for percentage of children in preschool.

Alaska is 39th in the nation for high school graduates; 10 percent of high schoolers drop out.

Alaska ranks near the bottom for students completing college and for levels of high school dropouts.

Alaska is one of only 11 states without a pay-equity law.

Alaska has the nation’s highest suicide rate.