PRINTER'S NO. 514
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
54
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY SIMS, SCHLOSSBERG, HILL-EVANS, HOHENSTEIN,
ISAACSON, SANCHEZ, MADDEN, KIRKLAND, GUZMAN, HOWARD, LEE,
KENYATTA, WEBSTER, ROZZI AND WHEATLEY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, FEBRUARY 17, 2021
A RESOLUTION
Recognizing discrimination against women, people of color,
LGBTQ+ people, disabled people and other marginalized groups
as a public health issue threatening the safety of
Pennsylvanians.
WHEREAS, Discrimination is a public health issue that effects
millions of Americans every year and can have serious adverse
effects on health; and
WHEREAS, The experience of discrimination is a stressor that
can lead to the deterioration of one's physical or mental
health; and
WHEREAS, Employment discrimination, traumatic interpersonal
experiences, lack of access to educational and financial
resources and exposure to environmental hazards can increase an
individual's risk for negative health outcomes; and
WHEREAS, Black Americans are 75% more likely to live near
sources of industrial pollution and as a result are more likely
to develop conditions like asthma; and
WHEREAS, Individuals who are disabled are more likely to
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experience sexual assault and aggravated assault, and are three
times more likely to report being denied care by a medical
professional; and
WHEREAS, Discrimination in health care by doctors, nurses and
other medical professionals negatively effects the health
outcomes of marginalized groups of individuals; and
WHEREAS, Black women are four times more likely to die during
pregnancy or childbirth than white women; and
WHEREAS, According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, there is a 16% difference between the mortality
rates of black and white Americans of all ages, which can lead
to disparities in life expectancies of more than a decade in
some regions; and
WHEREAS, Women experience difficulties in receiving diagnoses
for medical conditions and are routinely told that symptoms are
imagined or psychosomatic; and
WHEREAS, While 1 in 10 women have endometriosis, it takes an
average of 7 years to receive a diagnosis; and
WHEREAS, Mental disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders,
including autism, ADHD and schizophrenia are often
underdiagnosed or incorrectly diagnosed as other conditions in
women; and
WHEREAS, Medical research has prioritized men for centuries,
even in studies examining medications that are only for women;
and
WHEREAS, Young transgender individuals are 3.4 times more
likely to be threatened or injured at school than their
cisgender peers, and adult transgender women are at higher risk
of being victims of homicide; and
WHEREAS, On average, a third of transgender individuals who
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seek health care report at least one negative experience with a
health care provider in the prior year and 8% of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and queer individuals have reported that a health care
provider has refused to see them because of their orientation in
the prior year; and
WHEREAS, Persistent discrimination in medicine can lead to
avoidance of medical care from marginalized communities, leading
to later or missed diagnoses of treatable or preventable
conditions; and
WHEREAS, The Tuskegee experiments on 600 Black men for 40
years, during which more than 100 men died from syphilis that
was purposefully and negligently untreated and allowed to spread
to others, prompted decades of understandable mistrust of
doctors and health officials and hesitancy about medical
treatments and vaccinations within the Black community; and
WHEREAS, Disparities in health outcomes have become even more
pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, where a
disproportionate number of Black, Latino and Native American
individuals have contracted and died from COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, COVID-19 has caused rationing of care, which leads
to negative outcomes and denial of care for disabled people; and
WHEREAS, Some states, including this Commonwealth, were
forced to retract initial pandemic health care guidelines due to
discrimination, and Pennsylvania's Crisis Standards of Care for
Pandemic Guidelines were changed after the United States
Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights
received complaints and determined that these guidelines
discriminated against disabled people by specifically listing
disabilities that would lead to deprioritization in health care
and unfairly favored the care of people without disabilities;
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and
WHEREAS, Discrimination has an undeniable negative effect on
the physical and mental health of women, people of color, LGBTQ+
individuals, disabled individuals and other marginalized
communities; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize that
discrimination is a threat to the health of members of
marginalized communities in this Commonwealth, and the COVID-19
pandemic has clearly demonstrated the health consequences of
discrimination and has provided further evidence of the need for
change.
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