May 4th, some of us joined forces with NYC for Abortion Rights at Bryant Park and then with a march to Time Square. We stood up and said, “NO” to the homophobic anti-abortion hate group Focus on the Family. They are here to generate extremist reactions to the Reproductive Health Act, and we are here to say, “Not in our city, not in our State – NOT NOW, NOT EVER.”
On May 2nd, the Somers Town Board convened its work session. Some of us were there to thank the Town Board for refusing to entertain a resolution opposing the Reproductive Health Act that Carmel and the Putnam County Legislature had passed in April.
Thank you to the handmaids who came out, representing the chattel from the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Speak Up – Speak Out! Women’s lives depend on it.
Today, Tuesday, January 22, 2019, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade,the NYS Assembly and Senate passed the Reproductive Health Act sending it to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign into law. AND HE DID!
(Please remember that this Trump Administration and Supreme Court are overtly and outspokenly committed to overturning Roe.)
New York – as of today – finally has legislation that takes abortion out of the penal code, that means no longer legislating abortion as homicide, and instead providing women with 21st century medical reproductive health care.
This could not have happened without YOU!
Choice Matters has been working tirelessly to pass this bill since 2006.
However, not until you voted in 2018 to give NYS a pro-choice Senate with a Democratic majority could we make this pro-woman healthcare, pro-woman’s civil rights law a reality.
We thank you for your support and ask you to recognize that we work day in and day out to pass pro-choice legislation to protect your right to Choose. Now we will focus our attention on making sure that NYS has a budget that enables women who live on the financial borderline to actually be able to use this law!
Sincerely,
Choice Matters Staff
by Catherine Lederer-Plaskett
President/Chair of the Board
The successful appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is more than disturbing. Survivors from all over the country spoke out and millions called, protested, and marched. Chief Justice Roberts received numerous misconduct complaints against Kavanaugh from the DC Court of Appeals, which Roberts has refused to investigate. Kavanaugh lied under oath to the US Senate. The so-called FBI investigation refused to interview the many who offered credible information. And during his own testimony, Kavanaugh showed that he does not have the temperament for the job. But still, the Senate voted to confirm him.
This is not the first time this group of white old men rammed a candidate onto the Supreme Court, and unless we work smart it will not be the last.
By Estella Johnson
The 20-week abortion ban is targeted at older women who are more likely to have pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies. Women who have an amniocentesis to determine the health of the fetus would no longer be able to use the results as the tests can first be done at 17-18 weeks and take two weeks to complete, placing a woman beyond the 20 week deadline. https://choicematters.org/2017/10/06/20-week-abortion…o-big-deal-think/
This article gives a little background on 20-week bans and lists examples of those bans in the country as of September 12th, 2018. https://rewire.news/legislative-tracker/law-topic/20-week-bans/
This article by The Guttmacher Institute talks a bit about the background of abortion rights in this country, highlights current law around the issue. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-later-abortions
This article by the NYT talks about the proposed bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks that recently failed in the US Senate. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/politics/senate-abortion-ban-20-weeks.html
By Estella Johnson
In 2013, the North Dakota State Senate approved a bill that would ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected- something that usually occurs around six weeks into a pregnancy. This law in theory would ban almost all abortions. Many women do not know until much later in a pregnancy that they are pregnant at all. Under this bill, women seeking abortions would not face criminal charges; however, doctor’s caught performing abortions after a heartbeat is detected could face five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Pro-choice advocates in North Dakota suspect this bill is an attempt to close the only remaining abortion clinic in the state, which is located in Fargo. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-dakota-senate-approves-6-week-abortion-ban/
In 2015 the 8th circuit court of appeals struck down the North Dakota 6-week abortion ban. According to the court, the ban violated the Supreme Court precedent that makes abortion legal until the fetus is viable outside the womb (usually around 24 weeks).https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/north-dakota-abortion-ban-120467
In 2016, the Supreme Court decided to not review the case, permanently blocking North Dakota’s fetal heartbeat law. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/25/464311731/supreme-court-rejects-north-dakota-s-bid-to-save-strict-abortion-law
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds plans to sign a bill to ban abortion after 6 weeks. The ACLU has already stated that it plans to sue if the law gets signed. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/iowa-governor-says-shell-sign-6-week-abortion-ban-into-law
An Iowa judge temporarily blocked the 6-week ban from going into effect until a lawsuit brought forth by Planned Parenthood and the Iowa branch of the ACLU is resolved. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/390241-judge-temporarily-blocks-iowas-six-week-abortion-ban
By Estella Johnson
This group of articles, in the bulleted posts below, discusses one of the most blatant attacks on a woman’s right to choose: the six-week ban, also known as the heartbeat bill. These bills—which several states have tried to establish as law in the past decade— would make abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected illegal. Detection of a heartbeat can typically occur as early as six weeks. This is so early in a pregnancy that many women do not even realize that they are pregnant. For this reason, these six weeks bans are effectively a ban on all abortions. The articles in this section focus specifically on attempts to implement six week bans in the states of Iowa and North Dakota. Although the North Dakota ban has now been permanently blocked by the courts, the fight to keep abortion legal in Iowa continues.
