Mothers begin hunger strike to push for children’s health care

DENVER – Three women who appeared in Michael Moore’s film “SiCKO” began a hunger strike for health care at midnight on November 1 because Congress has yet to pass acceptable State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation and it has not been signed by President Bush.

Last week, Congress failed to override the President’s veto of expanded SCHIP legislation, even though national polls show that a wide majority of American supported the measure and would even pay more taxes to support expanded SCHIP. And just this week, Congress passed another SCHIP bill that the President promises he will veto yet again.

Donna Smith of Colorado, Reggie Cervantes of Oklahoma and Adrian Campbell of Michigan all had their stories featured on the big screen in “SiCKO” this summer, and they all continue to fight for health care reform in spite of their own personal struggles to access and afford health care for themselves and their families.

“If we cannot protect our children, then what are we? Who are we? And if we are not willing to suffer and even to die to protect those we brought into this world, then what does motherhood really mean?” Smith, mother of six and grandmother of 13, wonders.

All three women consider themselves SiCKO sisters who have endured much already to alert the world to suffering in the U.S. due to the health care crisis, and all three encourage others who wish to join them and stand up for what is right.

Cervantes, mother of two, is a 9/11 rescue worker made ill by her exposure to all the toxins at ground zero. “My fellow responders continue to become terminally ill and many do not have access to health care. Their children should not suffer because the parents don’t have sufficient income or access to benefits through employment,” Cervantes said as she prepared herself for the hunger strike.

But all three are tired of waiting and hoping and praying and crying as Congress continues to ignore the wishes of the people to provide health coverage for America’s children whose parents cannot afford to purchase coverage and who are not poor enough to qualify for other programs. They are committed to seeing Congress honor the wishes of the vast majority of American grandmothers, mothers and parents in passing appropriately funded SCHIP legislation.

Campbell, who is the mother of a four-year-old, added, “It is for our kids, our grandchildren, and for every single American who has been denied. My hunger is for you.”

Smith, Cervantes and Campbell, said they can no longer be complicit in the U.S. government’s failure to provide health care access to kids who really need it. The women stress that the strikes will end only when the representatives in their home states are fully behind SCHIP and when Congress takes charge of this issue and passes legislation.

Other American SiCKOs, including 9/11 first responder John Graham, of New Jersey, and Dawnelle Keys of Los Angeles, will also join in the strike, but will do so by fasting periodically in solidarity with the SiCKO sisters.

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