Woke up with a cold. All those people coughing on the plane. Slept with the grandkids. Hope I didn’t give it to them. I was supposed to go to my stepchildren’s home for dinner tonight. By that I mean Laura Turner and Rutherford Seydel and two of their three children. I still feel we are part of the same family. Their son, whose birth I filmed, is a major hockey goalie and so went to finish high school in Toronto where hockey rules. I’m so proud of him. He is an amazing human being.

I just took this picture shooting up into the overhead mirror while lying in bed. That is my granddaughter scratching Tulea’s tummy. Sometime I’ll photograph the bed and post it. I’m a fool for unusual beds and this is definitely the most unusual, one of a kind, canopied, mirrored one I’ve ever seen. Richard hasn’t seen it either. My bed at my ranch is pretty unusual as well. (Come to think of it, I have a picture of that one and will post it now). The problem is I got them when I was solo and they’re antique so not very big. If Richard and I are still together in a year I’ve promised to get a king-sized one as he’s 6’3.”

Shucks. I erased the photo of my ranch bed so I’m sending this one, a bed that is outside on the portale. My favorite napping place (and sometimes overnight place) cause I can hear the river close by and see the stars.

———
The fight in the House is over, but the fight in the Senate is just beginning. It’s time to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

Join us. Ask President Obama to live up to his campaign commitment and stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.

Click here for more information and to contact President Obama

Dear Jane,

Yesterday was brutal.

While there are some who are satisfied with the health care reform bill that passed in the House of Representatives late Saturday night, I am not one of them.

When it came down to it, Congress passed a bill that will undercut women’s access to comprehensive health care. Despite hundreds of thousands of voters like you and me who called on members of Congress to include women’s health care in health care reform, the bill that passed Saturday night includes a ban on private abortion coverage for millions of women and would prohibit it in the new “public option.”

At Planned Parenthood, we fought together with you until the bitter end (thank you), and once we lost the vote on women’s health, we started to do what we do best — gear up for our next fight.

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

Opponents of legal abortion and health care for women are emboldened by Saturday night’s vote and ready to bring their ban on abortion to the Senate floor. But now it’s our turn. And this time we are going to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

That’s why, today, we are calling on President Obama
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
to ensure that lawmakers, especially those in his own party, support health care reform that protects women’s access to reproductive care as the next round of debate and voting occurs in the Senate.

Please, join us by asking our president to stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan. Supporters of women’s health voted for him and contributed to his campaign in record numbers — and now it’s time for the president to reaffirm his commitment to women’s health, and demand that Congress reject any bill that leaves women worse off under health care reform than they are today. Take a moment right now to tell President Obama that we need him to stand with us — in both his words and in his actions.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

If there’s anything we learned yesterday, it’s that women’s health is being targeted as expendable in health care reform. We also saw that anti-choice forces are working round-the-clock to roll back women’s health benefits. We will each need to take action many times over the next few weeks, and we need strong and public support from the White House to help us.

I’ve said this before, and it deserves repeating: without access to abortion care, and to comprehensive reproductive health care, there is no choice. Please, take action now http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
 — and then spread the word on Facebook, among your friends and colleagues, via e-mail — whatever it takes.

Thank you so very much for standing with us and the women, men, and teens who rely on Planned Parenthood.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

This blog will have to be in 3 separate parts because today is totally schizophrenic. We’ll start with the morning and Planned Parenthood. (And don’t forget–THIS IS MY DAY OFF)

Cecile Richards on my left, the host, Marsha Laufer on my right

So– it’s a Planned Parenthood Fundraiser in a gorgeous apartment in the Trump Tower. Nice coincidence that on the front page of the New York Times today is an article about the shortage of primary care doctors which is posing a challenge to Obama’s Health Care reform proposals. You may not know it but Planned Parenthood is the primary health care provider for approximately 3 Million women in the United States every year and one in four women have used PP at least once in their lives. Obviously, PP’s services are needed now more than ever–which is why PP’s president, Cecile Richard, was among those present at the White House meeting on health care reform last month. At the event, I spoke for 5 minutes before running to the Easter Bonnet skit rehearsal. I had to explain why I was in full drag–madeup like an old tart (the Minskoff theatre is huge — it’s where “Lion King” is playing –and the lights very bright so makeup must be exaggerated).. As usual Tulea, with her pink bows, stole the show. Since a big piece of PP’s work focuses on adolescents, I talked about how teens require a different clinical approach than adults–they need more time to talk to the clinician and learn to develop trust so they can relax and are able to ask sensitive questions can’t always begin with pelvic exam, especially if there is a chance the girl has been molested. Time–it takes more time and sensitivity and staff has to be specially trained to not judge, etc. This is what Planned Parenthood does so well. I also spoke about how the prevalence of teenage parenthood is especially high among poor youth who see little future for themselves, a future that might motivate them to postpone pregnancy. Children from poor families are often parents too soon as were their parents, and this leads to a generational transfer of poverty so that prevention is also a strategy for reducing poverty. I wanted to emphasize this so that these potental funders would understand the necessity of getting funds into the pockets of poverty, especially rural poverty, where there are few if any clinics yet need is highest.

PART TWO-

Today is a dress rehearsal for the Broadway Cares Easter Bonnet show, a chance for all the casts who are doing skits to do it once on stage, with lights and costumes and an audience. Even though the Minskoff is huge, there are not enough seats for everyone who wants to see this big Broadway Cares finale so they allow people to watch the rehearsal. I have gotten a chance to sit in the audience and watch a lot of the skits which are terrific-some elaborate dance numbers. The show opens with a great number and then Liza Minnelli comes on and sings New York, New York.

Michael Rudd works for the Production company but after work he stays with Tulea during the play, walks her and makes sure she doesn’t wander out on stage–again. He is also the one who oftens takes the photos backstage that go onto my blog. He is playing my assistant in the skit and I treat him like dirt. He is so adorable–he went and got his hair cut and got new white jeans for the skit and is really into it. Tulea adores him too. Here’s a photo of the two of them. Cute, huh?

Michael Rudd and Tulea (photo: Jane Fonda)

I have been assigned to share a dressingroom with Susan Sarandon. She isn’t doing a skit but will be one of the prize presenters tomorrow (as am I).

Liza just came into my dressing room and we reminisced about the ‘old days. Her roommate was a dancer named Tanya Everett and Tanya’s brother, the actor/dancer Timmy Everett, was my boyfriend. Liza looks terrific. I didn’t have a camera with me but maybe later or tomorrow I’ll get one with her.

This is sooo much fun, hanging out backstage with cast members from “Billy Elliot,” “In the Heights,” “Little Mermaid,” “Guys and Dolls,” “West Side Story,” etc etc. All the young. Kids from the shows are fawning over Tulea–as you can imagine. I just saw Beethoven’s bonnett–OMG!! I can’t send a photo yet cause can’t give anything away but it’s awesome.

Tovah Feldshuh is here as a presenter and I had no idea what a comedian she is. She had us roaring with laughter. Can’t believe I will be seeing her very dramatic show tonight at 8pm.

We rehearsed with no audience and then they ran the whole show for an audience of about 2000 and about 6pm we went on and-what to say? I didn’t expect such a response. When I dropped the full length mink coat to reveal my Jane Fonda workout outfit, complete with the iconic leg warmers, the cheers went on so long it was hard to speak. We got so many laughs. Whether we win or not, it was well worth all the effort we put into getting the skit together.  

PART THREE

Rushed to Joe Allen’s for a quick bite and some much needed catching up with Mary Catherine Bateson before we just made it to the Walter Kerr in time for the curtain. I had been warned that “Irena’s Vow” was moving but I wasn’t prepared and had no tissues with me. By the end, I was sobbing so audibly the kind woman next to me passed me what looked like a towel and I needed every bit of it. Tovah was completely amazing. She went from middle age to young to very old as the Polish Christian who saved the lives of a dozen Jews during the war. It is a true story that gives a wonderful new twist on the history of the Holocaust. Tovah even played a Nazi officer. It is an amazing story. Mary Catherine and I went back stage after and I still couldn’t stop crying. Tovah told Mary Catherine that her mother, Margaret Meade, spoke at her college graduation and she still remembers Meade saying that marriage should be a renewable, five year contract.

We took photos of all of us but they haven’t been sent to me yet so I’ll put them into tomorrow’s blog. Right now, I am about to collapse. I feel I’ve been “rode hard and put up wet,” as my cowboy friends used to say.

See you next time.

Last night Cecile Richards and her daughter Lily came to see the show. Cecile is the daughter of former Texas Governor, the amazing, indominable Ann Richards who died of cancer two years ago.

Cecile and Lily were deeply moved by all aspects of the play but particularly the mother/daughter relationship. I just received a very moving email from Cecile talking about her mother’s attitude toward death which were similar to my character’s in the play.

Cecile is the president of Planned Parenthood of America which is the primary health care provider to millions of women nationwide. Over dinner at Joe Allen’s, she told about the recent meeting on health care reform with President Obama at the White House; how very different the environment is now; how important it was that Planned Parenthood was invited in its capacity as a health care provider; how thrilling it is to have former Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services; how the president was able to really listen and process what people said. We both hope that this administration will address adolescent health in particular, especially adolescent reproductive health. For example, African American girls are experiencing a real epidemic of HIV/AIDS. In my state of Georgia among adolescent girls in general there is an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases such as Chlamydia. We have to stop our long-standing ostrich behavior, get our heads out of the sand, stop looking at reproductive health care from a moral perspective and view it, instead, as a public health issue as is done in other parts of the industrialized world.

I got to know Cecile when she and I traveled the country together in 1998-9 talking about the potential treat to Roe v. Wade as well as comprehensive sexuality education and other aspects of reproductive health if George W. Bush was elected. Our concerns were well founded as the subsequent 8 years have shown. New rates of rising teen pregancy rates as well as STD increases can partly be blamed on the previous administration’s policies.

Looks like that is on the way to changing. Fingers crossed. No!! Too passive!! Voices raised!!!

See you next time.