Send a Coat Hanger to 20 Pro-Choice House Dems who supported Stupak Amendement

Just received this email action alert:

As we all prepare for the next steps in the fight to stop abortion restrictions in health care reform, one critical question remains unanswered:

Why did 20 pro-choice House Democrats vote to approve the Stupak amendment, the most serious assault on abortion rights in a generation?

Advocates for Youth is partnering with CREDO Action to send these Democrats a message.

Sign our petition and CREDO Action will send a coat hanger to the 20 formerly pro-choice Democrats who voted to take away women's rights.

Tell these 20 Democrats - all of them men, by the way - to reconsider their vote and urge Congressional leadership to do everything they can to ensure that health care reform does not take women back to an era of coat hangers and back alley abortions.

Advocates for Youth is working with CREDO Action to collect as many signatures as possible by next Tuesday, November 24. Add your name to the list of those taking a stand for women’s reproductive rights!

We still have time to stop this dangerous language from being included in the final health care reform bill. Young people are organizing on campuses and in communities in preparation for a National Day of Action on December 2 – and I’ll be in touch with more information about how we can all get involved with these efforts. I look forward to working with you in the coming weeks.

Together, we can make sure that Americans get the health care reform we all need – without sacrificing women’s health and lives along the way!

Thank you for all you are doing to help with these important efforts.


Sarah Audelo
Program Manager, Youth Activist Network

sign Senator Boxer's Stop the Stupak Amendement petition

photo: On June 29, 2009 Senator Boxer spoke @ the Feminist Majority Foundation in Los Angeles. Senator Boxer addressed FMF interns and staff as well as the Women’s Political Committee.

I received this email message from US Senator Barbara Boxer today:

Ten days ago, the US House of Representatives passed the Stupak Amendment, which would be one of the biggest setbacks to women's health in recent decades — unless we stand together and stop it.

That's why we are launching a petition, because women must not be denied access to safe and legal medical procedures.

You know I will be there speaking out on this issue at every stage of the process and everywhere I can. But as the details of the Senate's health care bill are worked out, we need to be sure that all our voices are heard clearly on this issue.

Join me by signing the petition and help build pressure to remove the discriminatory, extreme, anti-choice Stupak Amendment from the final health care reform bill!

Petition Text:

We the undersigned oppose inclusion of the Stupak Amendment in any health care reform legislation because it would be one of the biggest setbacks to women’s health in recent decades.

The Stupak Amendment overturns a difficult and delicate compromise that has held firm for decades: Women can use their own private funds for legal reproductive health care procedures, but federal funds cannot be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.

The Stupak Amendment discriminates against women by taking away health coverage they already have — and tells women who participate in the new health insurance exchange that they can’t even use their own funds to buy a policy that includes abortion coverage.

The Stupak Amendment is discriminatory, extreme, and just plain wrong.

We urge the defeat of any effort to include this amendment in the final health care reform bill sent to President Obama.

In friendship,
US Senator Barbara Boxer

Stupak Amendment Info Session/Happy Hour in DC on Wed Nov 18

Campus Progress invites you to...

The Stupak Amendment and You: A Happy Hour/Info Session

When: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Where: Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005

Pissed off about the Stupak amendment? Confused about what it means for women's health and how it affects health care reform?

Join Campus Progress for a conversation with Jessica Arons, Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress and Kierra Johnson, Executive Director of Choice USA, about the amendment and what we can do to ensure that the final health care bill provides real, comprehensive health care to all Americans and doesn't infringe on the rights of women.

Click here to RSVP

Pizza will be served, and complimentary beer and wine will be available for those over 21.

Sponsored by Campus Progress. If you have questions, please email speakers@campusprogress.org.

If you can't make it to the event but want to learn more about Campus Progress and their coverage of the Health Care Debate, then check out these Crib Notes.

you can help ... Defend Women's Rights in the US Health Care Bill

The US House of Representatives passed a health care bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, last week.

Yay, right? The bill contains some good news for young Americans.

Emmmm yeah, except ... the bill contains a clause known as "The Stupak Amendment" that prohibits the funding of abortion by the new federal insurance program - the "public option" - and prohibits the use of federal subsidies to purchase other insurance that covers abortion.

More specifics about the clause here.

You can do something about this.

The US Senate still has to pass their own version of the health care bill before this bill can become law. You can help keep anti-choice clauses like the Stupak Amendment out of the US Senate bill by participating in this campaign created by the League of Young Voters.

For additional info about this see Planned Parenthood's statement "Planned Parenthood Condemns Passage of Stupak/Pitts Amendment" and this November 8th New York Times article "For Abortion Foes, a Victory in Health Care Vote."