Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Organization for Women (NOW) is proud to participate in today’s National Day of Action to Stop the Bans on abortion.  Speaking out, taking action and disrupting the patriarchy is in NOW’s DNA, and our collective voices, shared commitment and energetic activism is needed today to ensure reproductive freedom and justice.

The fact is that the laws rolling out around the country to ban or restrict abortions are out of step with the 7 out of 10 voters who believe that access to abortion care should be legal. Such restrictions eliminate access to quality family planning services and reproductive health care, perpetuate cycles of poverty, and disproportionately impact women of color, immigrant communities, young people and people with low incomes.

This is why national NOW and our grassroots chapters and activists across the country are participating in today’s events. We are letting lawmakers know that we will continue to provide fierce resistance to these extremist and immoral bans. NOW firmly believes women have the constitutional right to safe, legal, affordable and accessible abortion care and we are here to make sure that doesn’t change.

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 
202-570-4745

Statement by National Organization for Women President Toni Van Pelt:

Washington, D.C. — Today the U.S. House of Representatives took a stand for LGBTQIA rights by voting to provide consistent and explicit non-discrimination protections across many areas, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally-funded programs and jury service.

The National Organization for Women applauds the passage of The Equality Act (HR 5), which would ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity are covered under federal civil rights laws. We thank the bill’s sponsor Rep. David Cicilline, (D-R.I.), and all of the members who voted in favor of the legislation.

Currently, this country has no explicit protections at the federal level on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to public accommodations, and for many federally-funded programs, because there are no federal sex discrimination protections in these areas. This Act would remedy that fact by providing explicit non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Now we demand that the Senate pick up the mantle and ensure that sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity are among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation under law.

It is far past time for Congress to enact such protections for the LGBTQIA+ community and The Equality Act must become law in this legislative session.

Contact

Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate took another step today to aid and abet Donald Trump’s radical anti-abortion agenda by voting to confirm Wendy Vitter to a lifetime position on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Trump doesn’t believe in the separation of powers or care about the rule of law.   He only wants to populate the government and the courts with sycophants and ideologues who will do his bidding, shred the Constitution and reverse decades of protections for women’s health.

Wendy Vitter has been one of the extremist anti-choice lobby’s most vocal and ambitious advocates—seeking to not only repeal Roe v. Wade but to demonize a woman’s fundamental human right to determine her reproductive life.”

While moderating an anti-abortion panel in 2013, Vitter promoted the junk science theory that abortion is linked to breast cancer and oral contraceptives can cause women to be assaulted and murdered.  She spoke at a rally protesting Planned Parenthood and accused the organization of “killing over 150,000 females a year.”

As General Counsel to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, Wendy Vitter has a long record of extreme hostility to reproductive freedom, and now she will be able to impose that radical agenda on court decisions that will cause irreparable harm to women.

NOW calls on the Senate to take back the blank check it gave to Donald Trump when it comes to judicial nominations, and stop confirming narrow-minded extremists like Wendy Vitter.

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745