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June 27, 2018 by admin

Anthony Kennedy’s Retirement Changes Everything

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

June 13, 2018 by admin

Donald Trump’s and Jeff Sessions’ Cruelty Towards Immigrant Families Has No Bounds

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions are turning our nation of immigrants into a country of cruelty. They have issued an edict to forcibly remove young children from the arms of their parents, as families seek refuge from dangerous conditions and lethal violence. Children are being torn from their parents, shipped off to ‘foster’ families at the taxpayers expense and we have no idea if these families are licensed, speak Spanish or if these children are being labor or sex trafficked. There is no specific law, no regulation, no political consensus to support this obscene and unlawful policy. It is pure pandering to Donald Trump’s morally bankrupt political base. It is legally indefensible.

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions would take a wrecking ball to the Statue of Liberty and replace it with barbed wire and guard dogs.

In addition to snatching children from their immigrant parents, AG Sessions has now doubled down on the politics of cruelty by undermining hard-won protections for immigrant women and girls fleeing domestic violence. He has single-handedly changed existing policies that protect tens of thousands of women seeking protection from unimaginable abuse, denying their legal right to apply for asylum in the U.S.

This afternoon at 2pm, in front of the Customs and Border Protection Building, NOW is joining other allies to protest the administration’s despicable actions. NOW calls on Congress to exercise its moral duty to protect immigrant families, particularly women and children. Hearings must be held and legislation drafted to end this reprehensible policy. If judges and courts are overwhelmed, appoint more judges. If lawmakers refuse to act, then women will lead the charge to replace them at the ballot box. We must take action NOW to ensure these survivors are protected, not persecuted for seeking the inalienable right to safety and freedom.

Contact

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

June 9, 2018 by Florida NOW

Champion Gender Equality: Social Decency with Action

The Palm Beach County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOWPBC) was created in 1972 by female professors at Florida Atlantic University to fight for equal pay and tenure.

This was also the year that Congress passed Title IX (prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools and providing women equal opportunities to participate in sports) and NOWPBC presented its first Susan B. Anthony Feminist of the Year Award to a 13-year-old athlete for her successful battle to play on an all-male Boca Raton sports team. Today, Susan Hamill is a law professor at the University of Alabama.

And yet, 45 years later, The Palm Beach Post reported in its front page article -“Gender equality? FAU gave feds false numbers, ranked near bottom” on May 18, that FAU submitted false data to the federal government. There are costly consequences. The Post revealed how most women receive no scholarship money, are discouraged from speaking out and find it necessary to work multiple jobs to cover increasing tuition and school fees while male athletes disproportionately received more scholarship dollars, thereby widening the gender gap.

It’s not the first time FAU tarnished its reputation by placing money above principle. In 2003, the university sponsored a naming rights competition for its new $70 million football stadium. It initially declared the for-profit private prison company, the GEO Group Inc., as the winner for its $6 million deal. Students and the community rose up in indignation, and GEO was dropped.

But now FAU has the opportunity to right this wrong and to be in compliance with the law of the land. This also presents a chance to make a statement for social justice. Indeed, now is the time for university leaders to do it.

ARLENE R. USTIN, DELRAY BEACH

Vice President of the National Organization for Women Palm Beach County.