Category: Updates

Astorino – NOT an Equal Opportunity Advocate!

A few simple words from Astorino about his family speak volumes on his views on women.

Astorino has called Albany a “cesspool of corruption” “where he’d never allow his two daughters to work.” (Click here to read Newsday, 3/7/2014)

What about his son? Astorino has two daughters and a son. Is he saying it’s okay for his son to work there but not his daughters? Does he think boys are stronger or smarter than girls? That girls can’t handle what life throws their way, but boys can? That girls should be sheltered but boys are tough?

No wonder Astorino opposes the Women’s Equality Agenda, and comprehensive reproductive rights including abortion – all of which help women have control over their own lives.

This statement was made on the statewide stage by a man who wants to be governor of New York State where we have been at the forefront of fighting for equal opportunity for all people.
_______________________________________
REMEMBER Astorino’s anti-woman record:
â–ªAstorino has opposed abortion under any condition.**
â–ªHe vetoed a law that would have given women safe access to reproductive health centers.
â–ªHe opposes comprehensive sex ed and cut funding to those programs.
â–ªHe supports abstinence-only education, and has won an award for it.
â–ªHe gutted all funding to community health centers that serve women and their families.
▪Astorino has called the reproductive health component of the Women’s Equality Agenda, which would bring abortion legislation in New York into the 21st century and take it out of the penal code, the equivalent of “infanticide.”

The Demise of Abortion Rights in New York State

The end of abortion rights in New York State is coming, and not with a bang but with a whimper. Its demise is already in full swing. The cause is the election of politicians like Jeff Klein and Michael Kaplowitz who claimed to be pro-choice advocates to get our votes but then aligned themselves with anti-choice extremists immediately upon their election. The deceptive tactics of the Kleins and Kaplowitzs are effectively facilitating the erosion of a woman’s right to choose right here, right now.
These elected officials – Klein to the New York State Senate and Kaplowitz to the Westchester County Legislature – lied to the pro-choice community to get elected, and then consciously turned their backs on their constituents for their own political gain.

Why? Because New York State is a pro-choice state with the vast majority of voters supporting comprehensive reproductive rights, which includes abortion. Eighty percent of New Yorkers support the passage of the Reproductive Health Act “which is aimed at protecting reproductive freedom for women, ensuring a woman’s right to make private health care decisions regarding pregnancy. At least two-thirds of voters from every party, region and demographic group support it, with the exception of self-identified conservatives who support it 64-29 percent.” Sienna Research Institute

Decisions Made for Personal Gain, at Our Expense
Jeff Klein, immediately after being re-elected to the New York State Senate to represent SD 34 (Pelham and part of Mount Vernon and the Bronx), aligned himself with the Republican anti-choice extremist Dean Skelos. Klein claimed it was an act of independence. In reality, it was a power-grab by a self-absorbed, egocentric politician who thought it was more important to enhance his own personal power than to stand up for women who elected him and make up his constituency.
Did you know that it was Senator Klein who refused to bring the 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda to the floor of the Senate for a vote – just because anti-choice Skelos did not approve?

Unfortunately, Klein would rather stand with Skelos than with the women of New York—and Klein doesn’t care that by doing so, he, Klein, is empowering and advancing an anti-choice agenda.

Let’s remember that Jeff Klein, when he served as a NYS Assemblyman, used WCLA – Choice Matters and the issue of Choice to win his primary for New York State Senate. 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. Clearly, he lied.

And then we have Michael Kaplowitz who was just re-elected to represent CLD 4 (New Castle and parts of Yorktown, and Somers). Kaplowitz has had his eye on being Westchester County Board Chairman for years. So, as soon as he was re-elected, Kaplowitz went to the anti-choice legislators with whom he had voted to pass the 2012 budget that gutted funding to community health centers, food pantries and senior nutrition programs, and dramatically raised the cost of childcare, to negotiate his deal. Kaplowitz agreed to support Jim Maisano (who voted against ensuring safe access to reproductive health care clinics) for the position of Westchester County Board Vice – Chairman and to appoint Sheila Marcotte (who opposes abortion rights even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman) as Budget Committee Chairperson in exchange for making Kaplowitz the new Westchester County Board Chairman. 

It is important to understand that the Budget Committee is, in fact, the most important committee for women’s rights. The departments that relate to women and families comprise a large portion of the county budget. The Budget Chairperson decides what will appear on the agenda and who will be heard.

Kaplowitz single-handedly empowered the anti-choice minority on the Board at the expense of women throughout Westchester County. Now this minority can work with Westchester’s right-to-life extremist County Executive who has already imprinted an anti-choice agenda on his administration – ending sex education funding, receiving awards for abstinence-only program support and vetoing the most basic of rights, safe access to reproductive health care. Kaplowitz, personally, has empowered this County Executive zealot, Rob Astorino, who called abortion “a straw man” as he prepares to run for governor.

Call to Action
These men – Klein and Kaplowitz – are just two examples of politicians who have betrayed our trust, pretending to be our allies while working against us. They made promises to the pro-choice majority and are reneging. They are hurting us on the local and state levels, and they think we are not smart enough to see through their charade.

But I know they’re wrong because we have you — and it’s your commitment, your unwavering dedication to protecting women’s health and rights that will make the difference this year. Please, make your gift right now.

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.”

 

300 Bills working to ban abortion & we’re talking zumba… Why?

There are 300 bills out there, across the country, that would ban or severely limit access to abortion at a state level, and North Dakota’s Governor just signed into law a ban on all abortions as early as six weeks.

And I’m talking to you about zumba…why?

Because to fight back, we need to reach a broader base of people, people who don’t consider themselves political, but definitely believe women should have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare – that includes abortion.

Newspaper articles tell us about these women: they don’t identify with the label “pro-choice,” but definitely support comprehensive reproductive rights.

These women vote and they are crucial to the protection of our rights.

So how do we reach them?

By going to them! We need to get up and go to them.
We need to involve people where they are, not where we are.

Choice Matters has decided to take on that challenge — of reaching out and involving the pro-choice public that does not come out to marches and rallies, and in turn stay under the radar.

Choice Matters is hosting Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness, on Saturday April 6th at the YWCA in White Plains.

Why? Because people really do want to have a fun, and Zumba is the rage across the country, with women of all ages and demographics.

I invite you to look at our facebook page Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness. Most of the people registered so far would never think of going to an event to hear a speaker or attend a rally.

We are focusing on where people are and they happen to be doing something that’s both fun and good for their health. Maybe that’s the key. After all, isn’t reproductive rights about healthcare and being able to make safe healthy choices?