Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

We’ve seen the frightening headlines from around the country, with state after state enacting 20- week abortion bans, six-week abortion bans and egregious laws that harm women’s health clinics. A legislator in Texas went to the most extreme measure of proposing a bill that would actually give women the death penalty for having abortions.

And the latest attacks are among the worst: Georgia’s governor just signed into law one of the most extreme bills in the country, which bans abortions at six-weeks, and the Alabama legislature just voted to ban all abortions in the state.

This dangerous legislation isn’t just happening at the local level. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing for a bill requiring a nation-wide 20-week abortion ban, which if passed, would further victimize women typically facing a devastating medical crisis in their pregnancies.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) strongly opposes these dangerous and immoral proposed laws and is launching a petition that will be delivered to representatives in the U.S. Congress and in the state legislatures.

We want these policymakers to see that our thousands of grassroots activists in their states stand with the vast majority of the public who believe that women have the right to safe, legal, accessible and affordable abortion care.

NOW’s petition to stop abortion bans is available here.

Contact

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

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