Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON–The Supreme Court has ruled in the NIFLA v. Becerra case that fake women’s health centers can continue to lie, discriminate and deceive women who seek a full range of reproductive health care services. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked Justice, Neil Gorsuch, delivered the deciding vote against women.

So-called “crisis pregnancy” centers are political, not medical entities. They were created to promote the anti-abortion agenda of religious extremists. The California legislature found that the nearly 200 centers in the state used “intentionally deceptive advertising and counseling practices that often confuse, misinform, and even intimidate women from making fully-informed, time-sensitive decisions about critical health care.”

To counter these propaganda factories designed as clinics, California required them to post notices that free or low-cost abortion, contraception, and prenatal care are available through public programs. The Supreme Court has struck down that requirement, giving a green light to ideologues who would hijack the public health system for their own political agendas.

Donald Trump has a vision for the Supreme Court that is dangerous to women’s health. He has set the Supreme Court down an anti-abortion road that will surely lead to an attempt to repeal Roe v. Wade. We will oppose Trump’s anti-choice appointments to state and federal courts, and to the Supreme Court. Junk science and religious extremism have no place in our legal system or our politics. Women deserve the truth.

Contact

Dee Donavanik, press@now.org, (951) 547-1241

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

WASHINGTON–We celebrate Pride month in June to coincide with the annual anniversary of the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City. Stonewall is considered to be the spark that ignited the modern LGBTQIA+ activist movement, following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a known LGBTQIA+ venue on Christopher Street in New York’s Greenwich Village.

Stonewall patrons and their supporters rose up in protest of the early-morning raid, taking to the streets and chanting “gay power.” Out of an oppressive police action, a mass movement was born. In protest against legal injustice, a new civil rights movement was energized.

Many groups over the years have been inspired by this movement, and NOW is proudly among them. We have never been content to sit back and watch events unfold around us.

We march, we organize, we take action, we push for meaningful social change.

We work with lawmakers to enact urgently needed legislation, and to block measures that take away our rights.

We strive to overcome discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all areas, including employment, housing, public accommodations, health services, child custody and military policies.

NOW is committed to educational efforts that combat the adverse effects of homophobia, promote positive images in the media and ultimately ensure civil rights protection for all. NOW asserts the right of LGBTQIA+ people to live their lives with dignity and security, and marriage equality for all.

LGBTQIA+ people are still considered second-class citizens by powerful institutions and leaders. The Trump Administration has now refused for the past two years in a row to issue a simple declaration of support for Pride Month, although the White House has proclaimed June as Great Outdoors Month, National Ocean Month, National Homeownership Month, African-American Music Appreciation Month, and National Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

NOW is determined to stand up to the Trump Administration’s discriminatory agenda and attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights, and to work tirelessly to pass the Equality Act to ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity receive the full force of protection under our laws and in the workplace.

We celebrate Pride Month, and we also heed the call of history, which rang forth on the streets of Greenwich Village back on June 28, 1969.

Contact

Dee Donavanik, press@now.org, (951) 547-1241

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

WASHINGTON–This changes everything. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement opens uncharted, unimagined territory for women’s rights.

Now, Donald Trump will have the chance to radically alter the Supreme Court for generations to come. Never mind repealing every initiative of the Obama Administration-the Trump Supreme Court could erase programs going back to the New Deal!

But it will start with Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump’s next Court pick will promise to repeal Roe and block access to women’s reproductive health care. And starting today, Donald Trump and his enablers in the Republican party will make every conversation about the Supreme Court.

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell think they’ve just handed themselves a winning hand in the next election, but this week’s primary results dramatize how determined women are to elect candidates with strong, feminist priorities. Now, those voters have an even greater incentive to build a blue wave in November.

NOW is saddened and alarmed by Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, but we are more determined than ever to strengthen our grassroots movement and win overdue victories for women. We’re calling on Trump to hold on proposing nominations and urge the Senate to not approve any nominations until after this election. It’s time to hold the Trump administration accountable and do what’s right.

Contact

Dee Donavanik, press@now.org, (951) 547-1241