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39 YEARS OF REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM

January 22, 2012 is the 39th year of Roe v Wade and Constitutional protection of the reproductive rights for women. I want to speak to the significance of how important it is that we do not move backwards to the nineteenth century with a woman’s right to choose when and whether to have children. 

A brief timeline of history shows that in 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court nullified a Connecticut statute prohibiting the use of birth control by married persons, arguing that the right to marital privacy protects the access of married couples to contraceptives. In 1972, in Eisenstadt v. Baird, the Court struck down a law prohibiting the distribution of birth control to unmarried adults. Then in 1973, Roe v. Wade, by a vote of 7-2, the Court ruled against a Texas law prohibiting abortions not necessary to save the woman's life, extending the fundamental right to privacy to a woman's decision to choose abortion.

In 2011, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius took the surprising and unprecedented step of rejecting the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation to give all women access to the emergency contraception pill, Plan B One-Step, over the counter without a prescription. Currently, Plan B is available over the counter to women 17 and older, while those younger than 17 must have a prescription. Women were shocked and infuriated over Secretary Sebelius's unprecedented overruling of the FDA's determination that Plan B is safe and effective and should be available over the counter with no age restriction. The secretary's decision was baldly political, in stark contrast to the FDA decision, which was based on sound science and voluminous evidence.

According to a national exit poll, President Obama won 56 percent of the women's vote in the 2008 election, 13 points more than his Republican opponent. Women supported President Obama because we believed that he would stand up for women's rights. If his re-election team thinks it is good politics to restrict access to birth control, he needs to fire them immediately. Only the hopelessly clueless could believe that women, regardless of their position on abortion, will enthusiastically support a president or any politician who restricts access to birth control.

I watched in horror as the Republican candidates tore apart Planned Parenthood, the organization that serves millions of men and women with basic and preventive health services every year. It seems to me the Republicans are running to elect a Pastor and not a President.

In a nation that is based on separation of church and state, if we have the right to choose our God and how to worship, why do you believe you can make laws that may please your God but take away my choices?  This election can either affirm or deny our Constitutional right to choose when and whether to bear children.  Women: wake up!

Melinda Tremaglio
President Palm Springs
National Organization for Women
melindat@dc.rr.com
760-333-8304

More Chapter News

Coachella Valley Women's Business Center Newsletter

Roe v. Wade 39th Anniversary
Join a Roe commemoration event near you and celebrate with your local NOW chapter! Check here to see our list of actions and events hosted by our grassroots chapter network. *FYI: This page will be updated frequently, so check back often.

Obama Administration Failing Women on Birth Control
NOW President Terry O'Neill writes on The Huffington Post: "As the president of NOW, I hear from a lot of women (and men). Many of them are outraged right now, and they're asking the same question: Can this be real -- is the White House actually caving in to the radical right on birth control?"

NOW to Obama: Women Who Elected You Need You To Support Birth Control
NOW calls on President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to retract the department's decision to overrule the FDA's recommendation on Plan B One-Step, and to keep all religious exemption clauses out of the Affordable Care Act regulations on insurance coverage of birth control.

Tell President Obama, Secretary Sebelius "Reverse Plan B Decision"
Take action NOW to reverse this outrageous and purely political decision to overrule the FDA's determination that a form of emergency contraception is safe, effective and should be available over the counter with NO age restriction.

Tell President Obama: Free The Pill From the Bishops!
Take Action NOW! President Obama is on the brink of a decision that could deny access to basic birth control. Under intense lobbying from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the president is poised to potentially expand an already sweeping refusal clause that allows employers to deny birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Letter Urges Congress to Reauthorize VAWA (PDF)
The National Task Force Against Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women (of which NOW is a member organization) sent a letter to Congress asking for support in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA's programs support state, tribal and local efforts to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Emergency Contraception Betrayal: Does President Obama Really Oppose Family Planning?
In a stunning betrayal of women, the Obama administration has sided with radical right politics in rejecting the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to remove an age restriction on emergency contraception.

NOW Urges Obama Administration Not to Cave in to Catholic Bishops
The National Organization for Women calls on the Obama administration to stand up for women and not give in to demands from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that would deny birth control coverage for millions of women.

Letter Urges President to Reject Refusal Clauses (PDF)
NOW President Terry O'Neill sent a letter to President Obama opposing all refusal clauses in regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act that would allow organizations to deny contraceptive coverage to employees. Reportedly, Catholic bishops are pushing for broader exemptions, even though a sweeping refusal clause is already in interim regulations.

Please call Melinda for any questions about PSNOW-
760-333-8304