Rally for Women’s Health
Wednesday, December 2 at Noon
Capitol Square – State Street Steps
Featuring Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton
Email Sen. Russell 'Russ' D. Feingold and Sen. Herb Kohl right now to protect all women's health options in health care reform.
Report from D.C. at the prochoice rally from a public policy staffer from the Maine ACLU:
"I’m here in Washington, D.C., after a long bus ride from Maine that took me nearly nine hours -- and more than 500 miles. But nothing could have stopped me from getting here because the fight to protect reproductive rights is too important, and it’s personal.
"My own commitment to reproductive freedom is rooted in my grandmother’s story about her difficult decision to have an abortion when it wasn’t even legal. I’m sure that the hundreds of other women and men who have joined me in Washington today to take part in this lobby day have their own reasons for caring so deeply.
"But we’re all here to send a powerful message to our senators: we want health care reform that will protect reproductive freedom -- not put it in peril as the House did with their Stupak-Pitts Amendment, banning abortion coverage.
"We’re going to be heading to Senators’ offices to deliver this message in just a few moments, but it would be great if they could hear from all of you, too!
"Email Sen. Russell 'Russ' D. Feingold and Sen. Herb Kohl now. Let them know you want health care that will improve women’s lives -- not interfere with them.
"Just off the bus, my fellow bus-mates and I are ready to fight for women's reproductive freedom. Tell your senators that you want health care that will improve women’s lives not interfere with them.
"Many people have come to D.C. today because they’re alarmed by a recent rise of extremism that is influencing decisions on Capitol Hill.
"When the Stupak-Pitts Amendment was added to the House bill, it drastically altered and interfered with a woman’s ability to get the health care she needs. But what’s possibly even more alarming is that a reinvigorated extremist movement is determined to advance their own personal ideology and use the power of our government to force their own narrow view of morality on the rest of us.
"So now we all need to join together and let our senators know that this kind of thinking has no place in our government -- and it doesn’t belong in our health care reform.
"We need to come together -- whether it’s riding a bus to D.C. or clicking a button to email your senators and make sure they know we won’t let the same thing happen in the Senate.
"Whatever your reason for getting involved in this critical fight today, I hope you’ll join with me and let your senator know how strongly you feel about this. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of millions of women.
"Thanks for standing with us."
Alysia Melnick
Public Policy Counsel
Maine Civil Liberties Union
