Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

WASHINGTON – The Ohio House has passed a bill to criminalize abortions which take place after a fetal heartbeat can be detected- this can be as early as six weeks before many women even know they’re pregnant. Although Gov. John Kasich vetoed the bill once in 2016, the legislature may have enough votes now to overturn another veto—and Governor-elect Mike DeWine has promised to sign the measure once he takes office.

This dangerous, extremist legislation – which makes no exception for rape or incest – is designed to jail doctors, punish women, and overturn the law of the land.  The author of the bill, Janet Porter, worked on Roy Moore’s Senate campaign in Alabama and defended him against accusations of sexual misconduct with teen girls. Now, she says that “we literally crafted this legislation to be the arrow in the heart of Roe v Wade.  It is made to come before the United States Supreme Court.”

The stepped-up, all-out, no-holds-barred crusade against women’s health we feared with the elevation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has begun in earnest.  With this measure, Ohio is sending Justice Kavanaugh a “save the date” card to get ready to vote on repealing Roe.  This notice needs to be marked “return to sender,” and anti-choice extremists must be stopped. NOW will continue to advocate for women’s fundamental right to healthcare – including safe, affordable and legal access to abortion  – and urges its members to lobby their representatives to do the same.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – The National Organization for Women (NOW) is proud to endorse Rep. Barbara Lee to be the next Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fifth-ranking position in leadership. If elected, Rep. Lee would be the first black woman to serve in House leadership—an historic step that is long overdue.

Congresswoman Lee is a unifier—she has spent her entire career bringing members together to advance effective policies. Working with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, she created the Poverty and Income Inequality Task Force to tackle economic insecurity, and she helped write and pass the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as well as every major HIV and AIDS legislation in recent years, building support among progressives, moderates, and conservatives.

We also know that she has the strength of character to stand up to Trump. Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress who stood up to the president when she voted against the use of force after the September 11 attacks. She was the only one who saw that attacking Iraq was an imprudent use of our military. We would have to look no further for a leader to stand against the ill-conceived militarization at our borders.

Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party and its most reliable supporters. The 2018 elections proved that people of color are continually and increasingly confronted with voter suppression efforts that denied voters fully free and fair elections. It’s not enough for Democrats to criticize voter suppression efforts and the political leaders behind them. Democrats must elect leaders that look like America, feel what voters feel, and understand the politics of exclusion from personal experience.

With a new roster of women lawmakers about to take up their positions, electing a second woman to serve with Nancy Pelosi will strengthen the Democratic caucus and send a powerful message to the country that women—particularly women of color—belong in leadership.

The next Congress will take up an unprecedented level of oversight and scrutiny towards Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda. This is why we need the best, most experienced and most talented lawmakers – and why Barbara Lee must join Nancy Pelosi in leading the most diverse Congress in history.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Today Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos announced sweeping changes to Title IX that would eliminate from schools at all levels nearly all responsibilities to protect students from sexual harassment and violence. The proposed changes would take our education system back decades to a time when there was very little recourse for students to report harassment or assault and obtain needed support. Very often victims – mostly young women – – just dropped out of school.

Coming from a conservative administration which has shown great tolerance for sexual harassment and assault, it probably should not surprise us. From the start, Secretary DeVos embraced the recommendations of groups representing formerly accused persons wanting to overturn guidelines adopted under the Obama Administration. DeVos virtually ignored survivors’ stories and it appears she did not take seriously input from college, university and school administrators about the success of their programs to better protect students, keep them in school and make campuses safer.

Along with staff and interns from NOW, I spoke out against the proposed rule change recently, citing how dangerous the changes would be for survivors. We told Department of Education officials that the changes would tip the scales in favor of alleged perpetrators and lead to higher rates of sexual harassment and violence. We know that sexual violence affects one in five girls ages 14-18, one in five college women, one in ten college men and one in four transgender and gender non-conforming students. The proposed changes, if adopted, will expand the epidemic even further.

The single most damaging provision is the limitation to responding only to complaints that happen on campus. It is estimated that 87 percent of college students now live off campus; so that vast majority of victims of harassment and assault would have little protection. Their only recourse would be to report incidents to law enforcement authorities and there is a long history of these types of complaints being ignored.

Other harmful changes include a restrictive definition of sexual harassment that would require students to endure severe harassment before the school has to respond; allowing schools to adopt a criminal standard of evidence in deciding cases when Title IX is a civil rights law and a lower standard of evidence is more appropriate; setting up a situation for unbalanced investigations where schools are required to start with the presumption that the named perpetrator is not responsible (thus the victims are not to be believed); allowing alleged perpetrators to directly question their accusers causing more trauma; and, permitting religious exemptions for schools to avoid compliance with Title IX protections placing at serious risk LGBTQIA students, pregnant and parenting students (some are unmarried), and student who need access to birth control and abortion care.

If these harmful changes are adopted – which we expect may be the case even though thousands of students, parents, and activists will protest – we will have to turn to lawmakers in the next Congress to restore Title IX’s proven protections so critical to keep students safe and in school.

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press@now.org, 202-628-8669