2024-02-14 01:55:22

Gov. Wes Moore (D). Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

The Moore administration announced over $15 million in grant awards and a budget proposal aimed to improve reproductive health care and abortion access across Maryland, according to a news release from the governor’s office Monday.

The funding announcement comes during an election year when voters will have the opportunity, on the November ballot, to vote to amend the state’s Constitution to enshrine Marylanders’ right to terminate or continue a pregnancy. A majority vote will decide the issue.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments, beginning in March, on a case that might curtail the use of mifepristone, which is part of a two-drug regimen used for both medication abortions and miscarriage care.

Gov. Wes Moore (D), along with nearly two dozen other Democratic governors, signed a brief to the judges urging the Supreme Court to uphold access to the medical abortion pill.

The abortion-focused funding announcement continues the governor’s effort to ensure access to abortion in Maryland.

“Access to reproductive health care is a fundamental right,” Moore said in a written statement Monday. “Today, we take another big step forward to protect the health, well-being, and rights of Marylanders – and we will keep working together to ensure that Maryland remains a safe haven for reproductive care.”

The administration highlighted two funding initiatives to expand reproductive health programs in Maryland.

It said that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) will be awarded $10.6 million in grant funding to administer the state’s Abortion Care Clinical Training Program.

The program was established in 2022 through the Abortion Care Access Act, which legislators managed to enact without the approval of then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R). Hogan withheld millions in state funds, which included $3.5 million to cover the abortion care provider training, among other programs. On Moore’s first day as governor in 2023, he released the withheld funds, allowing the Abortion Care Access Act to continue.

According to the Maryland Department of Health, UMB was selected following a competitive application process, and the funding is available through 2026.

As the grant recipient, UMB will be responsible for helping to expand the number of health care workers with abortion care training and for increasing ethnic diversity among providers who have experience with abortion care.

The Maryland Department of Health explained in a written statement that UMB will “initially conduct a statewide needs assessment to understand the inequities in access to abortion care in Maryland, develop and coordinate a robust statewide training system in collaboration with partners, operate the hospital-based clinical site, and distribute program funds to participating organizations.”

Participating organizations include Planned Parenthood of Maryland, to operate a community-based clinical site, and the National Abortion Federation, to provide technical assistance to develop the statewide training system.

“Our training will target a major public health problem of abortion care training and abortion care access in our state,” said Jessica Lee, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in a written statement.

“We will specifically address training clinicians in underserved areas and rural areas in Maryland to help reverse health inequities and to provide reproductive health care services to those in need,” Lee said.

In addition, the Moore administration announced a $5 million budget proposal for the Maryland Medicaid Family Planning Program and Reproductive Health Program for the next fiscal year. The funding will need approval from the House and Senate during the 2024 legislative session.

The funds would be distributed through grants to abortion clinic providers “to fund non-service based expenditures, such as updating their electronic medical records, providing infrastructure enhancements,” according to the press release.

The additional funding also would be used to increase reimbursement rates for Medicaid eligible providers of medical and procedural abortions, according to an email from the Maryland Department of Health.

Republish
1707877271
#Moore #announces #reproductive #health #access #expansions #uncertain #U.S #abortion #landscape

2024-02-14 00:08:50

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, citizens and tourists visit Qianmen Street in Beijing.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yuguo

At the 2024 Spring Festival group visit, General Secretary Xi Jinping looked forward to the new year and put forward the requirement to “effectively enhance economic vitality” and “consolidate and enhance the positive trend of economic recovery.” On the eve of the Spring Festival, General Secretary Xi Jinping went to Tianjin to visit grassroots cadres and the masses and emphasized: “During the Spring Festival, various places can hold more cultural activities that are popular with the masses to make the festival more festive and cheerful.”

In the past few days, a series of unique cultural activities have been widely carried out. People from all over the country have celebrated the festival, and the cultural tourism market has heated up. Historical and cultural districts, traditional villages and other scenic spots are crowded with tourists, and consumption methods such as ecological vacations and ice and snow tourism are becoming more popular. People use the holidays to get out of their homes, enjoy the beautiful rivers and mountains, and appreciate the charm of culture. During the Spring Festival holiday, cultural activities are rich and colorful, the cultural tourism market is bursting with vitality, and the land of China is full of festive and joyful New Year flavor.

Cultural activities benefit the people

Enrich your holiday life

Intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, book promotions, people-benefiting performances… During the Spring Festival holiday, a variety of cultural activities not only create a lively and festive atmosphere, but also enrich the people’s holiday life, and boost festival consumption with cultural benefits for the people.

“It’s great to be able to feel the charm of modern technology at your doorstep!” Zhang Jing, a tourist, said following watching the 3D virtual scene “Along the River During Qingming Festival” at Jiufeng Modern Agricultural Expo Park in Hecheng District, Huaihua City, Hunan Province. Feng Shuzhen, the person in charge of the scenic spot, said: “This year’s Spring Festival, we have added new interactive programs and technology performances to allow tourists to experience a different flavor of the New Year.” During the Spring Festival holiday, Hecheng District held a series of activities for the New Year Culture to Benefit the People and Consumption Month to allow the general public to have a Cultural year.

Hang lanterns, post Spring Festival couplets, and put on a good show. During the Spring Festival holiday, the “Village Gala” stage in Qingyun County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province was exciting. In Shangyu District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, the Traditional New Year Goods Festival is very popular, with a dazzling array of specialty snacks, traditional New Year goods, cultural and creative products, etc., attracting many citizens and tourists. Activities such as “Village Gala” and New Year Goods Festival bring a strong New Year flavor and create “New Year customs” during the Spring Festival.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, in Qiaojia County, Yunnan, tourists went to the Baihetan Hydropower Station to see the major project. In Lingshui Li Autonomous County, Hainan, a light show market was held at Danjia Fisherman’s Wharf, attracting an endless stream of tourists; the Qingshui Bay Scenic Area had lively music, and tourists danced to the beat on the beach… Lu Juan, a tourist from Shanghai, said: “The New Year here is very festive. It’s satisfying and it also brings me rich cultural experience.”

Shizhong District, Leshan City, Sichuan, has held a variety of folk activities and launched a series of activities such as consumer seasons, temple fairs, and e-sports competitions to allow citizens and tourists to feel the festive and lively festival atmosphere.

At the Snow World in Jinxing Village, Tangwang Korean Township, Tangyuan County, Heilongjiang Province, the ground is covered with snow blankets, the trees are wrapped in silver, and the roofs are covered with white felt. Tourists enjoy the holiday fun. In the past few days, Heilongjiang’s cultural tourism market has continued its booming momentum. In Wensu County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, the ice and snow economy is also in full swing. During the Spring Festival holiday, Wensu County built multi-functional ice and snow tourism projects around ice and snow sports, ice and snow competitions and other related industries, launched a number of high-quality ice and snow tourism routes and preferential policies, and the number of tourists increased significantly.

The cultural tourism market is active

Increased consumption momentum

During the Spring Festival holiday, various local departments and departments provide new cultural and tourism products and services around themes such as customs, parent-child, family, ice and snow, etc., to enhance the vitality of the cultural tourism market and enhance holiday consumption momentum.

At the ski resort of Huangjiagou Village Ecological Tourism Resort in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province, Gao Jian, a tourist from Beijing, and his friends were packing up their ski equipment and preparing to show off their skills on the ski track. “We rely on the natural resources and rich industrial sites in Huangjiagou Village to vigorously develop the cultural tourism industry.” said Jiang Hairu, secretary of the Party branch of Huangjiagou Village.

During the Spring Festival holiday, Liaoning actively created cultural and sports events with the themes of “travel with the event” and “compete with the travel” to enrich the ice and snow event tourism experience; it launched 8 high-quality ice and snow tourism themed routes that combine folk customs and ice and snow cultural characteristics.

Inner Mongolia continues to increase its efforts to promote the development of winter ice and snow tourism, focusing on cultivating well-known domestic ice and snow tourism destinations and cultivating more new brands of ice and snow activities to better meet the needs of tourists. “We will continue to innovate new formats of the ice and snow economy, realize festivals, divert cultural tourism, and promote commerce, develop high-quality tourism routes, develop ‘ice and snow +’ products, support emerging business formats, and promote the development of the ice and snow economy.” Cultural Tourism in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Yang Hong, deputy director of the Radio, Film and Television Bureau, said.

“There are obviously more tourists during the Spring Festival holiday this year,” said Zhou Lingbo, the person in charge of a family farm in Shuangliu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. During the festival, Shuangliu District of Chengdu City and Yubei District of Chongqing City jointly held the “Good things come in pairs for you to share in Chongqing” – Enjoy the Shuangcheng Food Festival, and carried out profit-sharing promotions, discounts and other activities at key catering and accommodation companies in the two places. , attracted many citizens and tourists to participate.

“Whether traveling to scenic spots or shopping in shopping malls, I feel more at ease.” said Li Rui, a consumer who was shopping in the clothing self-operated area of ​​the Times Square store of Fat Donglai Supermarket in Xuchang City, Henan Province on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. In order to continue to optimize the consumption environment and help expand consumption, Henan Province launched the “Consume with Confidence in Central Plains” campaign, and merchants made five commitments of “safety, quality, price, service, and rights protection.” At present, Henan has cultivated 818 demonstration blocks and 35,971 demonstration enterprises for the creation of safe consumption.

Data shows that the number of air ticket bookings for trips from the second to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year has increased by 60% compared with 2023. As of January 21, the number of advance bookings for tourism consumption (including hotels and B&Bs, attraction tickets, transportation, etc.) from the New Year’s Eve to the eighth day of the Lunar New Year has increased approximately seven times compared with last year. “The hot booking data shows the activity of the cultural tourism market during the Spring Festival.” said Li Jiwei, deputy director of Meituan Research Institute.

Strengthen service guarantee

Traveling is more convenient

The Spring Festival holiday ushered in a peak travel season. From roads to railways to aviation, from accommodation to catering to shopping, various local departments are actively doing a good job in ensuring the cultural tourism market during the Spring Festival holiday so that tourists can travel with confidence.

Altay region in Xinjiang is a popular destination for skiing. The Xinjiang Railway Department will launch an ice and snow tourist train from Urumqi to Altay at the end of 2022. “In order to serve the increasing number of ski tourists, stations such as Altay and Fuyun have set up caring service stations in the waiting rooms to provide tourists with guided regional consultation and introduction services.” said Yuan Yanjie, passenger transport attendant at Fuyun Station. The station is at the entrance. There is also a centralized storage area for skis on one side to facilitate passengers getting on the bus.

Warm and considerate service guarantees make ice and snow tourism more popular. Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has organized the opening of 32 “ice and snow through trains”, allowing tourist groups to travel directly to major ski resorts and resorts for free from major airports and high-speed rail stations in the province; Changchun City has opened 8 new ice and snow tourism bus lines; 10 new ice and snow tourism bus lines have been opened in Jilin City. Restaurants and restaurants in special food districts have extended their business hours.

Long-distance charging planning, peripheral service reservations, mountain road curve warnings…smart travel makes the journey back home smoother. “Driving back from Beijing to my hometown of Ningbo is more than 1,300 kilometers. The two days and one night trip can be planned in just a few minutes.” Zhang Ling, a returning tourist, said. Renting a car and traveling by car is also more popular. China Car Rental data shows that the rental period of car rental orders has increased during the Spring Festival holiday this year. So far, the number of orders for rental periods of 10 days or more has increased by more than 30%, and bookings for various types of vehicles are hot.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, there was heavy traffic on the Qinggan Loop Line. “I have seen Qinghai Lake in summer, but the grandeur of the frozen lake is also fascinating.” Han Wenping, a tourist from Sichuan, took his family to Qinghai Lake during the holidays. The Qinghai-Gansu Loop starts from Lanzhou, Gansu or Xining, Qinghai, and passes through Qinghai Lake, Menyuan, Dunhuang and other places, covering more than 20 major scenic spots in the two provinces. In 2023, the Hainan Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which the ring line passes through, will receive a total of 17 million tourists and achieve tourism revenue of 8.472 billion yuan, both of which have achieved substantial growth.

Integrated travel services will help make this year’s Spring Festival safer, more convenient and warmer. Data from the 2024 Comprehensive Transportation Spring Festival Transport Special Class show that on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the number of cross-regional personnel movements across society was 273.753 million, an increase of 22.6% over the same period in 2023.

The festival atmosphere is strong and consumption vitality is strong. Various localities and departments organize and carry out various activities that are popular with the people, making the festival more festive and cheerful, and making people more confident in “living a better life”.

(Our reporters Wang Ke, Han Xin, Wang Yunshan, Meng Haiying, Hou Linliang, Jiang Yunlong, Qiao Dong, Liu Junguo, Liu Hongchao, Wang Mingfeng, Song Haoxin, Sun Chao, Li Maoying, Fangyuan, Zhang Xi)

1707877264
#Cultural #activities #rich #colorful #cultural #tourism #market #bursting #vitality #Splendid #Year #China #Domestic #News #Jellyfish #Network