pbcnow – Page 69

September 1, 2021 by pbcnow

Overturn Texas’ Vigilante Abortion Law NOW

WASHINGTON, D.C. — By not taking action on its own to block Senate Bill 8 (S.B. 8), the U.S. Supreme Court upended our system of laws in favor of vigilante justice. At six weeks, many do not yet know they are pregnant, and without access to safe abortions, millions of people in Texas could be forced to go to extreme or dangerous measures.

S.B. 8 also allows anyone to sue abortion providers and any individual who helps a person obtain an abortion- from doctors to counselors to clinic escorts -and earn a profit of $10,000 for each successful claim. This would create a roving gang of vigilante anti-abortion extremists who would be state-sanctioned harassers, following people into clinics, intimidating them at their homes, and even suing those who drive friends or family to obtain an abortion.

This legal action effectively overturns Roe v. Wade in Texas. Instead of being able to access abortion care, Texans face the harsh hypocrisy that bodily autonomy is only guaranteed to some. It’s an end-run around the Constitution, an assault on our values as citizens, and an assault on our reproductive freedom. Instead of keeping enforcement of our laws in the hands of state officials, prosecutors, and health departments, it gives members of the public that authority–replacing professional expertise and legal standing with racism, misogyny, and extremism.

Abortion providers have filed an emergency application to block the law, which is rooted in systemic oppression and disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. NOW urges the Supreme Court to act on this application immediately and protect Roe. We must continue to sound the alarm on these attacks on reproductive freedom and prevent S.B. 8 and any other similar laws from being enacted across the country. Abortion access is hanging by a thread.

August 31, 2021 by pbcnow

Justice Reform Ideas Pitched At PBC Criminal Justice Forum

Justice Reform Forum:

Arlene Ustin and Sheila Jaffe were participants in this veryimportant issue. Rosalind Murray is the Assistant ExecutivePresident of the PBC Criminal Justice Commission. Sheila was in the group working on the iCard (Informational card). She will be working on the Mental Health teams with Andrea G., another NOW member. Arlene was working with The Glades group. Their proposal is to establish a solid Reentry Center to serve returning citizens and their families, promotingtreatment programs, youth programs, employment, etc.

Arlene, Sheila and Rosalind are all past presidents of PBC NOW.

After the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police inMay 2020, the Criminal Justice Commission began holdingtown halls across Palm Beach County to listen to ideas aboutimproving the police. Saturday’s virtual event was one of thelast steps towards the CJC’s yearlong objective of presentingplans to achieve that goal.

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Justice Reform Ideas Pitched At Forum

By Chris Persaud

Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY NETWORK

More than 100 people pitched and listened to ideas Saturday onhow to improve trust between police and civilians, help peopleavoid a life of crime, and help former prisoners reintegrate intosociety.

The Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission co-hosted the virtual affair from 9 a.m. until just past noon. Amongthe Palm Beach County residents attending were current andformer police officers, local elected officials and at least oneformer prisoner.

Residents from across Palm Beach County shared and voted onideas to pitch to the Criminal Justice Commission. Theseincluded hiring full-time mental health specialists to workalongside police; training those in power about racism and howit’s embedded in institutions; and informing people charged withcrimes about their court appearance dates and how to findtransportation to them.

After the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in May2020, the CJC began holding town halls across Palm BeachCounty to listen to ideas about improving the police. Saturday’svirtual event was one of the last steps towards the CJC’syearlong objective of presenting plans to achieve that goal.

The racially diverse Saturday participants live all across PalmBeach County. Residents ranged from Boca Raton in the southto Jupiter up north, from Riviera Beach in the east to Pahokeeout west. They met in smaller virtual subgroups to hash outplans before presenting it to everyone else.

One participant, William Brannin, met with several others aspart of a Lake Worth Beach group. They suggested policedepartments hire specially trained mental health professionals tohelp officers respond safely to calls where they must deal withpeople who may have mental illness. The Delray Beach PoliceDepartment has such employees, Brannin said.

“We’re gonna see if there’s any interest with the city (of LakeWorth Beach) and see if I can get some resources with the (PalmBeach County) sheriff’s office and give that a go,” Branningsaid. “And we’ll be reaching out to Delray to see how they runtheir program and how exactly they run it and how they measuresuccess.”

Former Delray Beach police officer Rose Newbold presented anidea from that city’s subgroup to “fund Racial Equity Institutetraining for Delray Beach decision-makers.”

The North Carolina-based Racial Equity Institute says itsapproach “is designed to help leaders and organizations whowant to proactively understand and address racism, both in theirorganization and in the community where the organization isworking.”

Their goal includes helping organizations measure their progressto become “anti-racist,” the group’s website says.

The subgroup covering the Wellington, Royal Palm Beach,Loxahatchee Groves areas proposed making an information cardgiven to defendants alongside their notices to appear in court.The cards, written in English, Spanish and Creole, would informthe recipient about when their court date is and how they can getthere if they can’t legally drive or don’t own a car.

People who do not attend their court dates get charged with afailure to appear and can be sent to jail without bail. “This cardwould be given at the point of citation in the field by the issuingpolice officer,” said participant Jo Anne Davis. “It gives theinformation to the people so they can get to their courtappearances on time. … It will prevent a lot of re-arrests.”Additionally, she said, “It will cut the costs of housing offendersand cut the county budget.”

Each subgroup voted on one idea out of a set of three andpresented them to the larger group.

CJC board members will decide which of the winning ideas canbe implemented before they are presented to the Palm BeachCounty Commission in the coming months, CJC ExecutiveDirector Regenia Herring said.

“We really need to take action on what they presented becausethey gave us some wonderful ideas,” Herring said. Local electedofficials who attended Saturday’s session included Palm BeachCounty Commissioner Gregg Weiss, Lake Worth BeachCommissioner Sarah Malega and Riviera Beach City CouncilMember Julie Botel.

The CJC co-hosted the virtual forum with Community Partnersof South Florida, Everyday Democracy and Safety + JusticeChallenge. The CJC, created in 1988, works with representativesof the courts, law enforcement and the business sector toimprove the criminal justice system.

August 26, 2021 by pbcnow

No Deadline on Equality

NOW Celebrates Women’s Equality Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One hundred and one years after the 19th amendment was certified, guaranteeing women the constitutional right to vote, women have used our vote as our voice. And by making our voices heard, we’ve been able to break countless barriers. From recently welcoming our first woman Vice President, Kamala Harris, to electing a record-breaking 143 women into the U.S. Congress, each year, we continue to find new walls to push down in our crusade for equality, whether it’s in education, employment or even our health care system.

However, as impressive as our progress has been, our efforts towards equality cannot be guaranteed until we enshrine them in our constitution and ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Many of the strides women made in the last 150 years are actively being overturned before our eyes. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Women’s Law Center analysis shows that women’s participation in the workforce decreased to 57 percent, the lowest since 1988. Women are making an inequitable choice between being caretakers for their families or maintaining a career during this unprecedented time. Women are also still fighting to close pay gaps while navigating environments that poorly address discrimination and harassment. And, many states are seeking to pass more restrictive reproductive healthcare legislation while the Supreme Court is evaluating the securities awarded to women in Roe v. Wade.

Low-income women, women with disabilities, women of color, immigrant women, and the LGBTQIA+ community continue to be disproportionately affected by the current structures of our political systems – structures that provide no clear pathways for justice and don’t protect survivors against domestic violence, harassment, and sexual assault. This is why NOW supports an intersectional interpretation of the ERA that uplifts the needs of all women, especially those from marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Ratifying the ERA is a top priority for NOW. We will continue to advocate for its passage by applying pressure on our elected officials until it is outlined in our bill of rights. Without the ERA, women cannot fully step into their roles as full citizens protected under the constitution. The threat of regression remains.

This Women’s Equality Day, NOW urges the Senate to pass SJ Res 1, eliminating the timeline for ratifying the ERA. Women were deliberately left out of the constitution, and it’s way past time to correct this oversight and ensure “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged… on account of sex.” There is no deadline on equality; pass the ERA, NOW.

Advocating for Women & Girls

Overturn Texas’ Vigilante Abortion Law NOW

Justice Reform Ideas Pitched At PBC Criminal Justice Forum

No Deadline on Equality

NOW Celebrates Women’s Equality Day

Palm Beach County NOW

Contact