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Soldotna native shares health care story with Senate panel

 

 

Sometimes, the goings on in D.C. can feel even farther away than the 4,500 or so miles that actually lie between here and there. But sometimes, an Alaskan’s story gets through.

Current University of Alaska Anchorage student and Skyview grad Moira Pyhala shared her story with a group of Senate Democrats, during a hearing on rural health care and repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“Growing up in a small town, I knew almost everybody,” she told the committee.

 

“I was on sports teams, kept busy volunteering for various organizations and always strove to get good grades. Although I was successful academically, as a young adult in high school, I was never given any form of sexual education; I was never taught about consent or what it means to give consent. When I was 15, I was sexually assaulted by a peer. I had no idea where to go, or whom to confide in. I was afraid to tell both of my parents and my peers about what had happened to me. Luckily, I lived two blocks away from my local Planned Parenthood, where I was taken care of.”

I got in touch with Moira over the phone. She’s still in D.C. and volunteering for Planned Parenthood. She says Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s office reached out to her to testify.

Shaylon Cochran: Would you have preferred that this had been a bipartisan committee, or that you would have had a chance in this same high-level venue, to share that story across party lines and get other viewpoints in to hear that story?

Moira Pyhala: Fortunately, I have been able to voice my concerns to Lisa Murkowski and she has listened to her constituents. And I’m really thankful that she has listened to her constituents and stood up to her party against the attacks on Planned Parenthood and access to health care. I really would love these conversations to be bipartisan, however, the Democratic party is the only party that has yet to hold a hearing, so as soon as the Republican party announces that they’re going to have one, I would love to watch it.

SC: You talked about it not always being easy to share your story and I wanted to ask you a little about that. Obviously, you’ve gotten to the point where you can talk about it on a big stage and that’s very commendable. I wish more people would share those stories, because that’s one of the things we hear when we talk about domestic violence and sexual assault is that it’s really hard to come forward and share those stories. Would you have any advice for anyone who’s had a similar experience and is struggling to tell that story to someone?

MP: Coming out about my own personal sexual assault has been a journey; it’s been one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. But I recognize that without my story and without stories like it, there would be no progress. Currently, the state of Alaska has the highest not only STI rate in the nation, our sexual assault rate is 2.5 times the national average and those are statistics that are not okay with me. So I guess knowing that I live in the state that has these outrageous statistics really encouraged me to come out, because as I said before there would be no progress if there weren’t people to make up the movement and there wasn’t compassion and stories behind it.

I know it’s hard, but until we create a culture where we’re okay talking about our individual experiences and okay coming out in the light and really sharing with people why we’re passionate about the things we’re passionate about when it comes to advocacy in this nature, there really isn’t going to be a lot of progress. And I refuse to accept these statistics for the state of Alaska and I am doing everything I can to change them for the future of our students.