Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – By granting the Trump Administration’s request to allow it to bar most transgender people from serving in the military, the Supreme Court has taken another step away from judicial fairness, and towards political vendettas.

Donald Trump launched this hate campaign in a series of tweets in July 2017, abruptly declaring that “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military.”   This came as news to the Pentagon, and Donald Trump’s government once again had to catch up to his personal vitriol and discriminatory agenda.

Now, the Supreme Court has taken a place on Donald Trump’s team of enablers.  Transgender military service members have proved themselves to be dedicated, productive, patriotic individuals who deserve the nation’s honor and respect. Instead, the Court has sanctioned continued discrimination and persecution.

The ruling does not automatically mean that transgender people already serving openly in the military will be discharged, but those who seek to transition or serve openly in the future risk removal from service. This sends a terrible message to transgender people who choose to serve in dangerous, difficult jobs in the military because they believe in their country and believe in their mission.

NOW calls on military commanders not to remove these brave people from service, and for Congress to act forcefully to put a stop to this discriminatory and unconstitutional policy.

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

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, recognizing the Constitutional protection of a woman’s right to abortion care. Forty-six years later, Roe is still the law of the land—but just barely.

Since Roe, state and federal lawmakers have attempted to pass hundreds of restrictions on women. The Trump Administration has tried to block young immigrant women from getting abortions because the agency responsible for unaccompanied immigrant minors has adopted a no-abortion policy. Over the last eight years, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 424 abortion restrictions have been passed in the states.  And in 2018 alone, 15 states adopted 27 new restrictions on abortion and family planning.

Donald Trump has now succeeded in placing two justices on the Supreme Court he picked from a list of jurists compiled by anti-abortion extremists.  If the Court overturns Roe, 24 states would likely move to ban or severely limit abortion. Four states—Mississippi, Louisiana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—have already passed “trigger laws” that would automatically ban abortion if Roe is reversed.  

Roe v. Wade ended a terrifying era of back-alley abortions. Countless women lost their lives seeking basic reproductive healthcare. But Donald Trump and Mike Pence are determined to deny women control of their own bodies and deprive them of their reproductive health care rights. Pence has even said he looks forward to “Roe v. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs.”

This year, as we look back over 46 years of safe and legal abortion, we must redouble our efforts to ensure that women keep their constitutional right to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care.  

This isn’t about politics. It’s about women’s lives.

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

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

WASHINGTON – January 21 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national observance to honor the memory of the civil rights advocate.  But we should also remember that Martin Luther King Jr. was an early and dedicated supporter of women’s rights.

As a preacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama during the 1950s, Dr. King took a bold and forthright position in favor of contraception, a stance that was far from common among Southern preachers of the day.  He supported the work of Planned Parenthood and agreed to serve on the sponsoring committee of a Planned Parenthood study on contraception. He wrote of his hopes that “the federal and state governments will begin to appropriate large sums to educate people to the need for such (contraceptive) devices.”

It was The Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor, a black women’s organization formed to stop white men from raping black women, that trained Rosa Parks and others as activists.  Dr. King acknowledged the education he got from women, including black welfare mothers who opposed the Vietnam War and influenced his historic Poor People’s Campaign.

Martin Luther King Jr. marched with women who were underpaid and overworked.  He spoke out for women who were denied equality. He organized for women who were victims of oppression. He knew that women’s rights are civil rights, and helped shape many of the movements in which we participate today. NOW honors the memory and the legacy of Dr. King on this holiday.

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