Florida NOW

Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

The National Organization for Women fiercely condemns the Trump administration’s manipulation of the judicial system to to prevent Jane Doe from receiving abortion care.

These despicable, underhanded tactics are nothing new. For years we have watched federal, state, and local lawmakers attempt to chip away at women’s constitutional rights to reproductive care.

Jane Doe’s story bring this reality into sharp focus, because the facts of the case are so devastating. The Trump administration is forcing an undocumented teenage girl to remain pregnant, with nearly incoherent logic predicated on the promotion of birth over the protection of women.

The burden is clearly undue–and, unsurprisingly, has been placed squarely on the shoulders of an already vulnerable young woman. We applaud her strength as she endures the Trump administration’s drawn out court case, and continues to raise her voice for access to reproductive rights.

She persists, and so we will resist. No other woman should be forced to endure what Jane Doe has. We demand #JusticeforJane, and an end to the legal hurdles that rob all women of their bodily autonomy.

Contact
M.E. Ficarra, press@now.org, 951-547-1241

Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Rep. Frederica Wilson spoke out against Donald Trump. At the National Organization for Women, we are proud to raise our voices in support of her.

After Donald Trump’s callous phone call to Myeshia Johnson, the pregnant widow of fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson, Rep. Wilson publicly decried Trump’s offensive remarks. The congresswoman demonstrated fierce courage in speaking out; but her bravery has been met with threats and abuse from misogynistic individuals.

Rep. Wilson has been forced to miss votes in Washington, D.C. due to these threats–sharply emphasizing how sexism damages our democracy.

But Rep. Wilson’s story is about more than a few missed votes. The vicious backlash against the congresswoman is symptomatic of a larger problem that women face. Countless women, especially women of color, are living their own version of Wilson’s story–where they are silenced, shamed, and told by men that they don’t belong.

To the woman who are pushed aside by misogynists: keep pushing back. You belong here. And Rep. Wilson belongs in Congress. NOW is proud to support the congresswoman during this challenging time–along with women everywhere speaking truth to power.

Contact
M.E. Ficarra, press@now.org, 951-547-1241

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made turning back the clock on women’s reproductive rights central to its new mission.

A draft of its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan states unequivocally that the goals of HHS are contingent upon “serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception.” This alarming and unproven definition of when life begins directly undermines the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade that affirms the constitutional right to safe and legal abortion.

As a Member of Congress, recently departed HHS Secretary Tom Price sponsored the “Right to Life Act,” a bill that defined life as beginning at conception and would give zygotes (or a “preborn human person”) full legal rights with no exception for rape, incest, or threat to a woman’s life.

Now, the strategic review process begun by Tom Price continues under the leadership of religious conservatives like Teresa Manning, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, an anti-abortion activist who once claimed that the “efficacy” of birth control is “very low” and that “family planning is something that occurs between a husband and a wife and God.”

HHS has opened the door for a barrage of actions against women, particularly low-income women and those who are most vulnerable. Their recent move to shred the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers cover birth control is just the first example.

The draft of the HHS strategic plan is open for comments through October 27. The National Organization for Women encourages every citizen to go on record objecting to this medically unsound, politically extreme, and morally indefensible mission statement.

A woman’s reproductive choices should be between herself and licensed physician, not Congress, not the President of the United States, and not the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.

Contact

M.E. Ficarra, press@now.org, 951-547-1241