Category: News

Will Westchester Medical Center Be Forced To Ban Abortions?

I didn’t know who to vote for… so I didn’t vote.

I have heard these words repeated over and over again since the November 5th Election. Why? Because the over 85,000 voters in our database who have relied on finding the bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide in their mailboxes every year – the guide that explained both who to vote for and what Choice means on a County level – did not receive it! This year, there was no ProChoice Voting Guide mailed out to our Westchester voters because we simply did not have the money.

The results are clear and Westchester has paid the price. In 2013, pro-choice candidates lost in astonishing numbers. County legislative seats that should have been wins for pro-choice candidates were losses. In District 10, (part of New Rochelle and Eastchester), the pro-choice challenger who took on the incumbent who opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman, lost by 485 votes. In District 14, (part of Yonkers and Mount Vernon), the pro-choice challenger who took on an 18-year incumbent who votes against women at every opportunity including her historic vote to deny women safe access to reproductive health care, lost by 890 votes. And there are more districts just like these two. These are races in which our ProChoice Voting Guide would have made the difference between winning and losing!

2013 stands in sharp contrast to 2012, when our support for pro-choice candidates resulted in unprecedented victories, and we elected our endorsed candidates at all levels of government. Ninety-one percent of the candidates WCLA – Choice Matters endorsed, won! Those wins could not have happened without you or our ProChoice Voting Guide. (Please make a contribution today!)

Did you know that in odd year elections like this one, approximately seven out of every nine voters are women, and of those seven, five are over the age of 50? Not your typical internet and social media users. Reaching this target population requires more traditional avenues of communication – yes, snail mail – the U.S. Postal Service. And the postage costs just keep going up.

Anti-choice extremist County Executive Astorino said repeatedly, “County elections have nothing to do with abortion.” That could not be farther from the truth, but people believed him because there was no voting guide to refute him. County government plays a very significant role in reproductive rights and the implications can be huge. Just look at Albuquerque, New Mexico. That municipality just voted on an initiative to ban abortions after 20 weeks. That could happen here.

Reproductive rights is absolutely a County issue.
The people we elect decide the County budget. Departments relating to women and families comprise a large portion of that budget. The County Executive nominates and the County Board of Legislators (CBL) confirms appointments to the Westchester Medical Hospital Board; thus the Board’s elected officials ultimately control whether the hospital will continue to provide abortions. The CBL decides whether inmates will get pregnancy tests, abortions, and prenatal care on request and without delay. The County Health Department decides which clinics will provide services and whether they will provide reproductive health services, counseling, and referrals for abortions. The County Executive appoints, and CBL votes to confirm commissioners important to the pro-choice issue including Health, Social Services, and Corrections.

Last year, those elected officials gutted all funding to the community health centers which directly impacted women. Funding for comprehensive sex education is gone, and instead, the County Executive, who is winning awards from abstinence-only organizations, vetoed a bill giving women safe access to reproductive health centers.

Sadly, WCLA – Choice Matters forecasted election night results. We put our voting guide on line but that only reached a limited number of people. In contrast, our mailed bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide reaches the all-important target audience – women – who are rushing between work and other responsibilities, and those that do not live on the internet. The mailed voting guide provides, literally, an in-hand education that can and does go from the mailbox to the voting booth.

Make a gift to Choice Matters to support our work.

In 2014, all seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and New York State government are up for election: Congress, Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, and the New York State Senate and Assembly. This election matters. Last year, we watched as a turncoat Senate Democrat turned his back on his constituents and aligned himself with the anti-choice Republican leader. Together, they blocked the Women’s Equality Agenda from coming to the floor for a vote. They made us realize how much New York has in common with Texas.

If we are not able to distribute our ProChoice Voting Guide to our database of over 85,000 Westchester County residents, November 5th, 2013 will serve as a precursor of elections to come.

But you can stop that from happening by contributing to WCLA – Choice Matters today.

Choice Matters has been standing strong since 1972! That’s 40+ years! Choice Matters has interviewed hundreds of thousands of female voters, identified those who are pro-choice, and added them to our database. We do this every single week, each and every year. It’s our amazing database and our mailed ProChoice Voting Guide that make us victorious. We’ve always understood this. But we just didn’t have the money to print and mail out our voting guide this year – and pro-choice candidates lost across the County. We cannot afford to let that happen again next year.

Your support today will make it possible for us to send our ProChoice Voting Guide and newsletter which informs the public about Choice, elected officials, reproductive rights actions, challengers’ positions, and our critical endorsements. This voting guide newsletter scares some candidates and elected officials, and rewards others, because it holds them accountable for their actions.

Your generous contribution of $25, $100, $250 or more will help Choice Matters’ ProChoice campaign continue to identify and educate households across the county and state.

 Choice Matters is a mighty pro-choice organization with a proven strategy. That’s because you, our donors, have given us extraordinary support. We hope you will continue to do so because we need your help now more than ever. Your contribution, whatever you can afford – large or small – will make a difference. Every dollar truly counts.

Please mail your contribution today or you may securely contribute on line at www.choicematters.org.

Supporting Choice Matters is the most valuable action an advocate for Choice can take.

The 2013 Pro-Choice Voting Guide

The New York State Board of Elections issued an opinion prohibiting 501(c)(4) organizations, such as WCLA – Choice Matters, from “endorsing” or saying we “support” a candidate. To comply, our endorsements will now be made by WCLA PAC.

WCLA PAC will make its endorsements based on the candidate ratings made by the Board of Directors of WCLA – Choice Matters. Any messaging must come from WCLA PAC. Therefore, WCLA PAC will be the voice used to comment and share information during this election season.

To that end, WCLA PAC will have its own website which you will be able to access through a link on Choice Matters’ home page or by going directly to: http://wclapac.org/ (It is still under construction!)

Donations
We need you to make a donation!
You can do it on the website or you can mail it to:
WCLA
235 Mamaroneck Ave, #103
White Plains, NY 10605

WCLA PAC will use the contributions for election-related items, such as to build out its website, political outreach and to mail, if possible, voting guides to those unable to access the web. For more information, call: 914.946.5363

Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, I regret to inform you that Choice Matters and WCLA PAC are unable to mail our newsletter and yellow voting guide county-wide this year. Mailing the newsletter and voting guide out to over 80,000 Westchester residents costs $32,520. We were not able to raise that money.

We will put the newsletter and voting guide on our website. You can print it there.

Any additional dollars we raise will be used to mail out copies to those who do not access the web.

We know that this is a terrible loss. So many of us rely on the bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide and newsletter arriving in our mailboxes every year. And so many of us do not have the  time or opportunity to use the web. Unfortunately, the power of the pro-choice vote will be greatly diminished on Election Day, November 5th.

Hopefully, with your help, we can start raising funds now for next year when New York goes to the polls to vote for Governor, all of the State Senate and Assembly, and for all the members in the House of Representatives!

Yale Redefines Rape!

You can’t make this stuff up!

Yale University has officially redefined rape, which must be making some of last year’s extremist candidates happy. At Yale it will be considered nonconsensual sex and worthy of only a written reprimand.

If you are a Yale alum, tell them this won’t fly. Everyone should withhold contributions until this is changed.

Read Jezebel’s Yale Officially Declares ‘Nonconsensual Sex’ Not That Big of a Deal

 

Senator Jeff Klein is Betraying New York Women

Klein is Refusing to Bring the 10-Point Women’s Equality Act (WEA) to the Floor for a Vote!

It is either because he’s chicken or because he has simply lied to all of us!

Governor Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act protects women against gender discrimination in the work place, sex trafficking, domestic violence, and much more—plus it puts federal law as determined by Roe v. Wade into New York law. We all supported Klein for this kind of legislative focus!! But Klein is balking.

Klein is aligning himself with the Republican extremist Dean Skelos with whom he has chosen to share power. And rather than stand up for women, Klein is marching in lock step with anti-choice, right-to-life zealot Skelos. He would rather stand with Skelos than with the women of New York—and by so doing, Klein is supporting an anti-choice agenda.

If Klein refuses to bring the WEA to the floor for a vote, Klein should be deemed anti-choice.

Klein, when a NYS Assemblyman, won his primary for New York State Senate because he challenged his opponent’s record on Choice. I know because I was there. It was my first real election battle and I made sure that Klein won against his opponent who had a “mixed” voting record on reproductive rights.

Klein swore then, as he has every election since, that nothing would stand between him and fighting for a woman’s right to comprehensive reproductive rights — which includes the right to have an abortion. And we, Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion (WCLA) – Choice Matters has been there every step of the way, standing up for him.

BUT NOW, Klein is turning his back on women.

Why Would Klein Betray His Supporters? Because he wants to advance his personal political career and doesn’t care who he throws under the bus. Forget the women who voted for him because of his promises, and WCLA – Choice Matters’ support.

That is a huge MIS-calculation by Klein. As WCLA – Choice Matters has told you for years, the vast majority of New Yorkers (and U.S. residents) support comprehensive reproductive rights.

Please click here to view a current comprehensive Quinnipiac poll.

Voters thought that they had elected a progressive ‘independent’ candidate. Sadly, when it really matters most, Jeff Klein is betraying every one of us.

If Senator Jeff Klein refuses to bring the 10-Point Women’s Equality Act to the Floor for a vote, up or down, we will consider Senator Jeff Klein anti-choice, anti-woman and anti-family.

And Senator Jeff Klein will have launched his own personal war on women.

Amazon’s Support for the Victimization of Women

The website UltraViolet has exposed “the Ex” shooting target being sold on Amazon.  This comes on the heals of  Amazon selling t-shirts that advocated for rape and domestic violence.

The manufacturers of the “Ex”, Zombie Industries, are making a joke out of domestic violence.

“A shooting target mannequin named the “The Ex,” a large-breasted woman who bleeds when shot, is being sold on Amazon.com. It’s manufactured by Zombie Industries, a company that was featured at the NRA convention last weekend.

Let’s review the facts: 57% of mass shootings involve incidents of domestic violence. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the chance that a woman will be murdered by 500%. 54% of women killed with guns are killed by intimate partners or family members. Gun violence against women is a serious problem.

The sole Amazon.com review says, “This was a very original, cool way to kick off a bachelor party for a firearm enthusiast, such as myself.”

Go to UltraViolet’s website and sign their petition telling Amazon to stop selling the “Ex”

 

Noam Bramson vs. Rob Astorino – The Facts

The lines have been drawn for this November’s elections and everything is at stake. Every seat in Westchester County government is up for grabs — including that of the County Executive. One can honestly say that November will determine the fate of  our County for years to come. This year’s election will be about values and a vision for the future and it will determine whether we recognize the rights of all people or only those of a select few.
The candidates in the County Executive’s race are set. It will be a matchup between Democratic nominee New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson and Tea Party favorite incumbent Rob Astorino.
Westchester voters have a clear choice between a social progressive, Noam Bramson, and a far right extremist, Rob Astorino, who is way outside the mainstream.Bramson supports a woman’s right to choose and marriage equality.
Astorino adamantly opposes both. Astorino also opposes abortion in cases of incest, rape or to save the life of the woman. He has even gone so far as to deny women the most basic of rights – safe access to reproductive health centers – for which he received accolades from the NYS Right to Life Committee. (Read it here!)

Astorino also opposes comprehensive sex education, cutting all funding in the County budget to Planned Parenthood’s educational programs. This past fall Astorino was honored for his anti-Choice extremist positions by a Bronx-based organization, Program Reach, that developed an abstinence-only sex education program and councils pregnant youth from an anti-abortion rights perspective. (Read it here!)

Bramson supports NY SAFE, the legislation passed by Governor Cuomo and state legislators that is aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill while respecting the rights of legal gun owners.
By contrast, Astorino refuses to say whether he supports or opposed common sense gun safety laws. We do know, however, that Astorino believes that County property should be used for hosting gun shows. As soon as he took office four years ago, Astorino revoked a ban on gun/sniper shows that had been in effect since shortly after the shootings at Columbine.
To get a clear picture of the economic difference, click here.
You can also check out Astorino’s Numbers Game.
Bramson supports the Women’s Equality Agenda (WEA) proposed by Governor Cuomo. The Agenda is a 10-point proposal that will “break down barriers that perpetuate discrimination and inequality based on gender” and ensure that all of New York’s 10 million women, including Westchester’s 496,016, get a fair deal.
Click here to read more about the Agenda.
By contrast, Astorino refuses to mention the Agenda – as though if he ignores it, maybe all of us women will go just go away…?

It is time for the Women of Westchester to join the Women for Westchester forces and demand that Astorino make his position on the WEA clear.

To join Women for Westchester (W4W) write to: Catherine@WomenforWestchester.com

Eden Foods Doesn’t Want to Pay for Employees’ BC

Special Thanks to Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda, and Karin, the UltraViolet team!
Sign the Petition at the Bottom!
The Boycott is having an affect.

“Soy milk. Organic beans. Gluten-free pasta. A radical agenda to ban birth control coverage for their employees.

Eden Foods is one of the country’s major organic foods companies, and their products can be purchased at Whole Foods, local markets, and coops across the country. They claim they stand for “purity in food,” and now, they also stand for a right-wing crusade against birth control. The company is suing the Obama Administration over the rule that insurance companies must cover birth control under the new healthcare law. Why? Because as CEO Michael Potter put it, they believe that “these procedures [birth control] almost always involve immoral and unnatural practices.”1

That’s right. Because Eden Foods’s CEO is ideologically opposed to birth control, the company thinks they have the right to dictate to all their employees what health care they will have access to. That doesn’t just affect their employees. It’s a dangerous precedent that they are asking the court to set for all workers going forward. But progressive-minded people make up a huge portion of Eden’s customers–people who are likely to think that a boss shouldn’t be dictating their employees’ private health care decisions. And the CEO has already said “we’re getting a lot of feedback” and that the push back against them on social media “is a big deal.”2

Employers have no right to interfere with the reproductive health care of their female employees. If we all speak out now to add to the outrage, we can show Eden Foods and other businesses that are watching the controversy that their lawsuit is bad for publicity and bad for their bottom line.

Sign the petition to Eden Foods’s CEO, Michael Potter.

Making sure employees’ health insurance covers birth control matters:

  • 1 in 3 women has had trouble affording birth control.3
  • Women who had better access to the pill earned 8% more than those who didn’t by the time they were 50.4
  • Young women who can obtain the pill are 12% more likely to enroll in college.5
  • 99% of women who’ve had sex have used birth control.6

Michael Potter and Eden Foods are spreading lies, like claiming that certain companies are already exempted from the birth control mandate and that some religions are exempted and others aren’t.7 Neither of these is true. The truth is, only houses of worship are exempt, and religiously affiliated organizations like hospitals and schools can push the cost of birth control coverage onto the insurer.8

And Potter’s reason for suing? “Because I’m a man, number one and it’s really none of my business what women do.”9 But by entering this lawsuit, Potter is making it not just his business but every other employer in America’s business what kind of health care their female employees get.

Employers can’t flout laws just because they don’t like them. Allowing employers to dictate whether or not their employees have access to birth control is wrong and un-American.

We need to let Eden Foods and their CEO, Michael Potter, know that trying to deny their employees basic health care like birth control is bad for business. Sign the petition to Potter right away.”

Add your name.

Thanks for speaking out,

Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda, and Karin, the UltraViolet team

Sources:
1. Eden Foods doubles down in birth control flap, Salon, April 15, 2013

2. Ibid.

3. Survey: Nearly Three in Four Voters in America Support Fully Covering Prescription Birth Control, Planned Parenthood, October 12, 2010

4. Women Who Took the Pill Had an 8 Percent Higher Income by Age 50, Yahoo! News, March 6, 2012

5. The Social and Economic Benefits of Women’s Ability to Determine Whether and When to Have Children, Guttmacher Institute, March 2013

6. Women Who Use Birth Control Are the 99 Percent, Mother Jones, February 10, 2012

7.Statement from the President of Eden Foods, Eden Foods, April 17, 2013

8. Contraception Mandate Clarified To Accommodate Religious Groups, Obama Administration Announces, Huffington Post, February 25, 2013

9. Eden Foods doubles down in birth control flap, Salon, April 15, 2013

2. Ibid.

“You Deserve Rape”

“You Deserve Rape,” was the text of a poster held by an open air preacher. This was his response to April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sounds much like Todd Akin on the subject of rape. Below is the text of the article from the BuzzFeed

DeserveRapeenhanced-buzz-25878-1366910582-10

No, Seriously, This Guy Is Holding A “You Deserve Rape” Sign

UPDATE: The “open air preacher” holding the sign has responded to online criticism. In case that wasn’t enough, sign creator “Brother Dean Samuel’s” Twitter feed confirms his somewhat misogynistic ideology. (via the Arizona Daily Wildcat)

A University of Arizona student sparked outrage Tuesday by holding up a sign reading, “You Deserve Rape” and preaching that women who dress like “whores” bring rape upon themselves in protest to a sexual assault awareness event being held that night.

Dean Saxton, a junior who regularly preaches on the University of Arizona campus under the name “Brother Dean Samuel,” told the Arizona Daily Wildcat that “his sermon was meant to convey that ‘if you dress like a whore, act like a whore, you’re probably going to get raped.'” Saxton decided to make the sign and deliver his sermon on Tuesday in opposition to a “Take Back the Night” event planned for Tuesday night and because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“I think that girls that dress and act like it,” Saxton told the Daily Wildcat, “they should realize that they do have partial responsibility, because I believe that they’re pretty much asking for it.”

Despite widespread anger from students and faculty, the university’s administration did not remove Saxton or his sign. In response to a request for comment, Kendal Washington White, interim dean of students, said, “We find [Saxton’s actions] to be vulgar and vile. However, it is protected speech. He has yet to, at this point, violate the student code of conduct.”

 

Calling All Women for Westchester

We are proud to announce the formation of Women for Westchester (a.k.a. Women 4  Westchester.)
And we need you!

Women for Westchester (W4W) is an alliance of our county’s residents committed to advancing legislative bills, social policy, and actions that enable women to participate more fully and equally in society.

W4W’s first focus will be the Women’s Equality Agenda.

Introduced by Governor Cuomo, on January 29, 2013, the Women’s Equality Agenda will “break down barriers that perpetuate discrimination and inequality based on gender.”  The Women’s Equality Agenda will help ensure that all of New York’s 10 million women, including Westchester’s 496,016, get a fair deal.

The Women’s Equality Agenda’s 10-Point proposal is:

  • Equal Pay for Equal Work
  • Stop Sexual Harassment in All Workplaces
  • Ensure Just Restitution for Victims of Discrimination
  • Strengthen Laws Against Human Trafficking
  • End Discrimination Against Families
  • End Discrimination Against Tenants
  • Stop Housing Discrimination
  • End Pregnancy Discrimination
  • Protect Domestic Violence Victims Seeking Orders of Protection
  • Protect Reproductive Health Care Decisions

Women are discriminated against in almost every aspect of their lives and, sadly, these inequalities only increase throughout a woman’s life. Did you know that women are twice as likely to live out old age in poverty than men?

Click Here to Read More Details about the Agenda

Join Women for Westchester as we move forward.

W4W will ask every elected official and candidate for office throughout Westchester to sign our petition in support of the Women’s Equality Agenda 10-point proposal. The principles are clear.

As Lt. Gov. Duffy said, “Over the years, New York has fallen behind on important women’s issues, and for this reason, it is essential for the Women’s Equality Act to become law this year. With the commitment and support of passionate advocates like all of you,”… “our voices will be heard and we can make New York a fairer, more equal state for women in 2013.”

W4W is looking for volunteers from throughout the County.

Please email us at: Catherine@WomenForWestchester
so that we can get organized!

Women for Westchester is affiliated with WCLA – Choice Matters.