Happy New Year!
As the new year begins, we at NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin made a list of 2008 resolutions. In 2008 we will:
- Protect a woman’s right to choose in Wisconsin
- Launch the Choice Lobby Network (look for it in February)
- Expand our Campus Organizing Program
- Protect & Elect pro-choice legislators in Wisconsin
- Continue our successful Voice for Choice program
- Grow as the political leader of our state’s reproductive rights movement
What will you do to protect choice this year? Click here to make some resolutions of your own!
Yours for Choice,
Kelda Helen Roys
Executive Director
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin
In this issue:
- Victory! Compassionate Care Passes Assembly
- Take Action: State Abortion Ban
- Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
- Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
- Talking About Choice
Victory! Assembly Votes for Compassionate Care
After five years of grassroots lobbying, public education, outreach, and constituent contacts by NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin and its coalition partners, the State Assembly passed the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill by a 56-41 margin in December.
The Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill requires all Wisconsin emergency rooms to provide rape victims with information about and access to emergency contraception. Currently, only one-third of the hospitals in Wisconsin have a policy of dispensing emergency contraception without exception. With the passage of this bill, rape victims in Wisconsin will receive immediate access to effective methods to help prevent pregnancy after a sexual assault!
For the first time in over a decade, a pro-choice bill has passed both houses of the legislature. Now, the bill approaches its final procedural hurdles: a third reading and final vote in the Assembly next week, a final vote in the Senate, and Governor Doyle signing it into law. We anticipate the bill will become law within the next month!
To read more about the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, click here.
Take Action: Another Abortion Ban
The same legislators who opposed Compassionate Care for Rape Victims and blocked health care reform are circulating yet another State Abortion Ban. Ask your representatives to REJECT this legislation.
The State Abortion Ban would replicate the Federal Abortion Ban in Wisconsin law, doubly outlawing an already-illegal abortion procedure that doctors consider the safest for women under some circumstances.
This repetitive, unnecessary proposal would allow state and local prosecutors, in addition to federal prosecutors, to investigate possible violations of the ban. We could see local district attorneys prying into women's private medical records; "investigating" miscarriages; and harassing doctors, medical workers and pregnant women and their families.
Like the Federal Abortion Ban, the state ban also does not include an exception for women whose health is in jeopardy. The ban prevents doctors from providing the best care to patients, including those in high-risk situations, and allows politicians to interfere with the personal and private medical decisions a woman makes with her family.
Speak out! Tell your state representatives to REJECT this legislation that puts women’s health at risk. Click here to be taken to our legislative action page where you can send a letter to your elected officials.
Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Join NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin in celebrating the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by pledging to protect the fundamental American values of freedom and privacy that this landmark Supreme Court decision represents. Click here to purchase tickets.
2008 Roe v. Wade Celebration & Silent Auction
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
5:30-8:30 p.m.
The Marcus Center for Performing Arts
929 N. Water St., Milwaukee
$50 ticket price
$15 limited income
Keynote Speaker: Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton
Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Cervical cancer, caused in most cases by the human papillomavirus (HPV), kills 4,000 women in the United States each year. The HPV vaccine could prevent up to 70% of cervical cancer cases and subsequent deaths.
The Cervical Cancer Education & Prevention Bill (SB 252/ AB 492), introduced in 2007 by State Senators Taylor & Wirch and Representatives Hines & Grigsby, requires the state to provide educational materials about the HPV vaccine to schools and parents/guardians and recommend vaccination for sixth grade girls.
The FDA-approved vaccine is recommended by the Center for Disease Control as a routine procedure for girls age 11-12 years old. This groundbreaking legislation can save the lives of Wisconsin women and gives Wisconsin an opportunity to be a leader in cervical cancer prevention.
Click here to learn more about the HPV vaccine.
Talking About Choice
Learn how to articulate your pro-choice values. In each newsletter, we will present a typical anti-choice statement, and show you how to effectively respond with the pro-choice facts!
Anti-Choice Myth: Abortion destroys the American family. Pro-life is pro-family.
Pro-Choice Reality: Pro-choice is both pro-child and pro-family. It ensures that women not the government decide whether and when to bear a child. Being pro-choice means supporting real access to the full range of reproductive health options, including contraception, abortion and medical care for healthy childbearing. We believe parents should be able to plan their family size. Pro-choice policies ensure that parents can give the care and love that every child deserves.
