May, 29 2012, 03:17pm EDT
Pro-Choice Americans Call on Congress to Stop Attack on D.C. Women's Freedom and Privacy
WASHINGTON
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, today joined Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, and other civil and reproductive rights leaders to amplify their opposition to anti-choice bills that would undermine the ability of women in the city to make personal, private medical decisions with their doctors.
The press conference comes one week after the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on H.R.3803, a bill introduced by anti-choice Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), to ban abortion at 20 weeks in the District of Columbia, without consideration for the woman's situation, including cases of rape, incest, or fetal anomaly. District of Columbia resident Christy Zink, who had an abortion at 21 weeks and five days after doctors found a cyst on the brain of the fetus and a follow-up MRI revealed severe fetal anomalies of the brain, testified at the hearing. If the ban proposed by the bills had been in effect, Zink would not have had this option in D.C.
The House bill is modeled after an abortion ban enacted in Nebraska in 2010. So far, seven more states followed Nebraska's lead and now anti-choice organizations are pressuring Congress to override local elected leaders and impose this ban on the women of D.C. Keenan addressed these attacks at the news conference. Her remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow:
On behalf of our one million supporters nationwide, I am honored to join Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, and the other leaders here today.
We believe that no woman's constitutional right to choose should depend upon her ZIP code or her income.
Unfortunately, too many members of Congress disagree with this core value--and they're using Washington, D.C. as a testing ground to interfere in the personal, private decisions that women make with their doctors. We have seen what happens to women in this city when some members of Congress try to play mayor or councilmember.
Just last year, anti-choice lawmakers in the House of Representatives used a must-pass budget bill to reimpose a law that bars the District of Columbia from using its own local dollars to provide low-income residents with access to abortion.
What happened to women as a result of this callous and mean-spirited action?
At just one local clinic here in the District, 28 women were caught in the political crossfire. They had scheduled appointments when funding was legal but...in just a matter of days...Congress intervened and these 28 women had appointments but no way to pay for them. Local charities scrambled to help - but that's just one clinic, one day.
No one knows what happened to the women with appointments for the next day or the day after that.
Can any of us imagine how it would feel to make a medical appointment only to discover that Congress has decided to intervene the day before?
What's worse is that the politicians behind this disgraceful law, most notably Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, aren't finished.
They are targeting D.C. women with yet another anti-abortion bill.
This latest attack would ban abortion at 20 weeks, without consideration for the woman's situation or protections for her health, or even in the cases of rape or incest.
The D.C.-related attacks are part of a broader War on Women.
Let's look at the facts, just in case someone tries to tell you that the War on Women is not real.
Last year, the House held eight votes on choice-related issues, the highest number in more than a decade.
And they aren't stopping.
On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to vote on a bill that, contrary to its title of the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, does nothing to address the serious issues of sex discrimination or gender bias in society. NARAL Pro-Choice America has long opposed reproductive coercion in any form--including societal pressures to have a child of a particular sex. However, this legislation is unenforceable and unworkable. It essentially turns medical professionals into mind readers by requiring them to report even suspicions that sex is a factor in a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy. It even threatens doctors and other medical professionals with prison sentences. This bill is a clear intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship and is designed to continue chipping away at a woman's right to choose.
This bill was written by the notorious Rep. Franks, who has voted against equal pay, prenatal care, and contraception.
The hypocrisy of Rep. Franks represents cynical politics at their worst.
Thus far, anti-choice House leaders have lined up no fewer than five separate bills with anti-abortion provisions for floor action this session.
This far-reaching agenda is out of touch with our country's values and priorities--and we are fully prepared to fight back against these egregious attacks on a woman's right to choose.
Last year, NARAL delivered nearly 135,000 signatures in opposition to the D.C. abortion ban.
We already have channeled thousands of messages in opposition to the latest legislative attack on D.C. women.
As we fight the battles of today, we also must change who controls the U.S. House of Representatives.
NARAL Pro-Choice America elects pro-choice candidates and supports pro-choice policies.
We know that the best way to change this situation is to elect more members who share our values and won't try to moonlight as members of the D.C. City Council.
Delegate Norton, Mayor Gray, our nationwide network of activists and our pro-choice allies here today stand with you and are ready to continue to fight for the women of D.C.
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
202.973.3000LATEST NEWS
Former Officials Say US Arms Transfers to Israel Unlawful
Despite documented abuses, said one former State Department staffer, the weapons "are just continuing to flow."
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Ahead of the release of a much-anticipated report on how U.S. weapons have been used by Israel in its ongoing military assault on Gaza, former State Department officials came forward early Friday to contend that sales to the Israeli regime have clearly violated "legal limits."
Speaking to the Washington Post, Josh Paul, who worked on arm transfer policies before becoming the most senior U.S. official in the State Department to resign over the war in Gaza, explained that in addition to international laws that Israel may be breaking in Gaza, the U.S. has violated its own binding mechanisms for how weapons sold to other nations are deployed.
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Axiosreports that the anticipated report by the State Department—known as the NSM-20 (or National Security Memomardum 20)—may be made public as early as Friday, though the government has already been harshly criticized by human rights groups for delaying its release beyond a May 8 deadline.
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According to that April analysis:
The final report features sixteen clear, credible, and compelling incidents that should certainly be included in the administration’s upcoming reporting to Congress as well as an 18-page appendix of additional incidents worthy of examination. It also identifies multiple restrictions on humanitarian assistance, including strikes by the IDF, that trigger Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (which bars military assistance to states impeding U.S. humanitarian aid) and should be reportable to Congress by the Departments of State and/or Defense under the terms of NSM-20.
Our findings were striking. Though Israel has attributed the 34,000 Palestinian casualties, 70 percent of whom are women and children, to alleged human shielding by Hamas, we found that in 11 out of the 16 incidents we analyzed, Israel did not even publicly identity a military target or attempt to justify the strike. Of the remaining five incidents, Israel publicly named targets with verification in two incidents, but no precautionary warning was given and we assess the anticipated civilian harm was known and excessive.
According to Axios' reporting, the NSM-20 report—which will be officially submitted to Congress for review by Secretary of State Antony Blinken upon its release—will be "highly critical report about Israel's conduct in Gaza" but stop short of "concluding it has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons."
Citing people with internal knowledge of the behind-the-scenes discussion at the State Department, Axios reports the existence of an internal "tug-of-war" in which "the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and USAID recommended Blinken conclude that Israel has violated the terms of the national security memorandum, but other parts of the department pressed Blinken to certify that it didn't."
In response to the reporting, Alexander Langlois, a contributing fellow at Defense Priorities, said the Biden administration hopes to have it both ways.
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"This is an outrageous development," said the head of the Palestinian refugee agency. "Once again, the lives of U.N. staff were at serious risk."
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The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that it was forced to shutter its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem after a mob of Israeli extremists set fire to the perimeter of the facility, causing significant damage and endangering staffers inside the building.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said late Thursday that the fire was the latest escalation by Israeli extremists who have been protesting outside the UNRWA compound for months, ginned up by the Israeli government's unsubstantiated claims about the agency staffers' ties to terrorist groups.
An independent probe released last month concluded that Israel "has yet to provide supporting evidence" that "a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations."
In his statement Thursday, Lazzarini said U.N. staffers have "regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation" and that the East Jerusalem compound "has been seriously vandalized and damaged."
"This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of U.N. staff were at serious risk," said Lazzarini. "In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored."
This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem.
This took place while UNRWA and other UN Agencies’ staff were on the compound.
While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage… pic.twitter.com/ZqHFDNkiWC
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) May 9, 2024
Attacks on the agency's East Jerusalem headquarters began in February after Arieh King, the far-right deputy mayor of Jerusalem, called on the Netanyahu government to kick the UNRWA "out of Israel and specifically from Jerusalem."
Lazzarini said that demonstrations "became violent" this week when Israeli protesters "threw stones at U.N. staff and at the buildings of the compound."
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Espen Barth Eide, Norway's foreign affairs minister, said Friday that he was "shocked" by the attacks on UNRWA's East Jerusalem headquarters and echoed Lazzarini's call for an investigation.
"As host country, Israel has a duty to protect U.N. personnel and premises at any time. The incidents must be investigated, those responsible must be held accountable. UNRWA is the lifeline for millions of Palestine refugees."
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UNRWA wrote in a social media post Friday that it has been forced to close 10 of its 34 medical points in Rafah amid the Israeli military's attack on the city.
"Forced displacement and military operations in Rafah are worsening an already catastrophic situation," the agency said. "We need a cease-fire now."
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"What we know about Gaza is only tip of atrocity iceberg."
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Three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at the notorious Sde Teiman prison camp in the Negev desert offered horrifying accounts of the treatment of Palestinians held there, tellingCNN that the facility's doctors have amputated limbs due to handcuffing injuries, allowed detainees' wounds to rot, and carried out vicious beatings.
A medic who worked at Sde Teiman's field hospital said that Palestinian detainees there are stripped "of anything that resembles human beings" and that the harassment and torture are done not to "gather intelligence" but "out of revenge" for the October 7 attacks.
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At the field hospital, CNN reported, "wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws."
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"We were told they were not allowed to move," the whistleblower said. "They should sit upright. They're not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold."
CNN finally sheds light on Israel's shocking and barbaric torture chambers: thousands of people, detained for months:
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention centerhttps://t.co/XuOL4IaFQS
— Nimer Sultany (@NimerSultany) May 10, 2024
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Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, said in response to the new reporting that "what we know about Gaza is only tip of the atrocity iceberg."
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