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OpEdNews Op Eds    H1'ed 10/12/13

What the Shutdown Means for Women

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Elayne Clift
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She's a young mother, pregnant with her second child, who relies on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children -- WIC - for food and medicine when her son gets sick. When the federal government shut down she became one of almost nine million mothers, and their children under five, who lost their vouchers for food, baby formula, and breastfeeding support.

She's a victim of domestic violence who has nowhere to go for help because funds usually available under the Violence Against Women Act have been reduced or eliminated.

She's Michele Langbehn, a beautiful young mother who told her story on CNN and then started a Change.org petition to try to save her life.   Having endured multiple surgeries, nine months of chemo, and two cycles of radiation to stop the spread of her rare form of cancer, she was under consideration for a clinical trial of a new medication that just might save her life when the shutdown hit the National Institutes of Health. 

Goverment Shutdown - Michele Langbehn's Cancer Continues Untreated
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Goverment Shutdown - Michele Langbehn's Cancer Continues Untreated by YouTube

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Elayne Clift is a writer,lecturer, workshop leader and activist. She is senior correspondent for Women's Feature Service, columnist for the Keene (NH) Sentinel and Brattleboro (VT) Commons and a contributor to various publications internationally. (more...)
 
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