| WASHINGTON
- August 28 - NARAL Pro-Choice America, the leading national advocate for personal privacy and a woman's right to choose, today warned that President Bush and his allies in the Congressional leadership are planning a host of attacks on the right to choose over the coming weeks.
Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said: "The Congressional leadership has apparently decided that September will be 'Anti-Choice month.' They've lined up virtually every major initiative in the anti-choice game plan for action. At a time when Americans want their government focused on things like getting the economy going, protecting us from terrorism, fixing our schools and improving health care, the Congressional leadership is focused on getting government involved in people's private lives. We're calling on America's pro-choice majority to stand up and be counted to try to stop this onslaught."
Issues on the Congressional agenda include:
Criminalizing Medical Procedures
In the coming weeks, President Bush is set to sign dangerous anti-choice legislation that will outlaw safe abortion procedures (the so-called "partial-birth" abortion ban), which does not even contain a health exception, despite the Supreme Court's consistent holdings that such exemptions are necessary and the clear public support for them. The legislation has passed both chambers, and now awaits a House and Senate conference committee to resolve final differences in the two chambers' bills. In early August, congressional leaders reached a unanimous consent agreement to move the bill to conference shortly after returning from the summer recess.
Undermining Roe v Wade
Prior to departing for the August recess, Senate leaders attempted to gain unanimous consent to bring the Unborn Victims of Violence bill to the floor early this fall. Rather than supporting common sense measures that prevent and punish violence and provide services to women and their families, anti-choice lawmakers are promoting this legislation, which is a sneak attack on a woman's right to choose. The bill would, for the first time at the federal level, recognize an embryo as a person with rights separate and apart from the woman's. Despite claims that the bill protects pregnant women from acts of violence, its true intent is to undermine Roe v. Wade by granting embryos and fetuses unprecedented legal rights. In fact, anti-choice Senator Orrin Hatch has admitted, "They say it undermines abortion rights. It does. But that's irrelevant." (CNN, 5/8/03).
Packing the Federal Courts
When Congress returns next week, the anti-choice leadership in the Senate has promised to continue holding votes on President Bush's right-wing judicial nominees, who are narrow in their views of women's rights, staunch in their opposition to abortion, and intent on overturning decisions that have long been accepted by the courts and the public. It is likely that there could be further cloture votes on anti-choice nominees like William Pryor, Priscilla Owen, and Carolyn Kuhl, as well as Judiciary Committee action on anti-choice nominees such as Janice Rogers Brown and Claude Allen.
Maintaining the Global Gag Rule
The Senate remains poised to complete action this fall on S.925, the State Department authorization bill. This bill includes a provision authored by pro-choice Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to repeal the Bush Administration's odious global gag rule. Imposed by President Bush on his first business day in office, the global gag rule prohibits the U.S. Agency for International Development from granting family-planning funds to any foreign non-governmental organization unless it agrees not to use its own, private, non-U.S. funds for abortion services, counseling, or voicing a public pro-choice position. The Boxer amendment's fate will be determined in a closed door House and Senate conference controlled by the anti-choice leadership.
Threatening Health Care Funding
In early September, the Senate is scheduled to consider the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, the annual spending bill which funds a number of important health-related programs, including Title X. Anti-choice lawmakers frequently use this bill as a vehicle for attacks on family planning and other reproductive health services. In recent years, amendments offered have included attempts to require parental consent for minors seeking contraception at Title X clinics; proposals to limit young women's access to emergency contraception; and attempts to fund deceptive anti-choice "crisis pregnancy centers" and research on alleged "post-abortion trauma."
Promoting Abstinence-Only Programs
Credible research has repeatedly demonstrated the effectiveness of responsible sex education programs that teach both abstinence and contraception. The value of abstinence-only programs, meanwhile, has not been proven, and experts have cautioned against continued funding. President Bush has continued to make abstinence-only programs a priority and seeks to increase its funding. Anti-choice congressional leaders have responded by including dramatic funding increases for these programs in this year's Labor-HHS Appropriations bill. The Senate version of the bill sets funding for abstinence-only programs at an all-time high of $135 million.
Interfering With Doctor-Patient Relationships
The Abortion Non-Discrimination Act allows health-care companies and HMO's to restrict abortion-related services and information doctors may provide to their female patients. The bill which would effectively enact a back-door gag on abortion services and doctor-patient counseling, was introduced in 2002. The House passed the bill last year, but the Senate has never considered it. The White House and anti-choice congressional leaders reportedly consider the bill a top priority for passage in both chambers this session.
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