[PAA-Discuss] Good news, bad news & challenges for Choice

[Juli3 at aol.com]

A new  message from your friends at People For the American  Way.
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Dear Juli,

There was good news, bad news and some more bad  news today in the battle 
to protect women's fundamental right to  make decisions about their own 
bodies. 

The good news  first ... The South Dakota legislature roundly defeated the  
"justifiable homicide" bill, which conceivably could have made the  murder 
of reproductive health care providers legally defensible on  the grounds 
that the act could have been considered "defense" of a  fetus. Tens of 
thousands of PFAW activists across the country spoke  out against that shocking 
piece of anti-choice fanaticism and,  thankfully, most South Dakota lawmakers 
saw just how dangerous the  bill was. 

Now, some bad news from South Dakota  ... It looks like part of the 
motivation behind the extreme  "justifiable homicide" bill was to pave the way for 
another attack  on choice that the Right hopes will appear reasonable in 
comparison.  A new South Dakota bill, this one widely expected to pass, would  
require a woman seeking an abortion to first visit a religious  "crisis 
pregnancy center" for counseling and to prove that her  decision was not made 
under coercion. 

The South Dakota  legislature has twice tried to pass a statewide ban on 
abortion but  citizens overwhelmingly voted down the ban by ballot initiative 
in  2006 and 2008. "They seem to be taking an end run around that," said  
State Sen. Angie Buhl, a member of PFAW Foundation's Young Elected  Officials 
Network and a leader in the fight to protect reproductive  freedom in South 
Dakota. "They recognize that people don't want a  ban, so they are trying to 
seek a de facto ban by making it  essentially impossible to access abortion 
services." 

We are  working with Sen. Buhl and others to determine how we can  
effectively help to stop the crisis center bill, but in the  meantime, please do 
what you can to raise awareness about this awful  legislation. And if you or 
anyone you know lives in South Dakota,  legislators need to hear from their 
constituents to OPPOSE HB1217.  The number to call for the South Dakota state 
legislature is (605)  773-3251. 

And now, some more bad news, this time  from our nation's capitol ... 

Today in Washington,  House Republicans were able to pass an amendment by 
Rep. Mike Pence  that would eliminate all federal funding to Planned 
Parenthood  clinics. The amendment further reduced support for women's health  care 
in a spending resolution that, if passed, would also eliminate  all Title X 
family planning funds. Title X clinics provide  everything from annual exams 
and cancer screenings to contraceptive  services and treatment for sexually 
transmitted infections.  

We need to pull out all the stops to defeat this right-wing  attack on 
choice and women's health in the Senate. 

_If you  have not signed our petition in support of Planned Parenthood yet, 
 please do so now._ 
(http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=qZvP_zL_bo068b2H1ablIw..)  If you have, please help spread the word to  get more signers. 

Thanks, 

Diallo Brooks, Director of  Field and Mobilization 

P.S. Attacks on Planned Parenthood  and draconian cuts to women's health 
services are proving a great  way for Republican politicians to ingratiate 
themselves to their  right-wing base. But as you can see in this 2008 chart 
from Planned  Parenthood showing percentages of the services their clinics  
provide, it's not just a woman's fundamental right to make her own  choice on 
abortion that's being trampled. 
  
____________________________________
 


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