March, 06 2014, 12:28pm EDT
NARAL Pro-Choice America and Texas on Clinic Closures in Rural Texas
TEXAS
Today, two reproductive health clinic closures were announced in rural Texas, as a result of Texas House Bill 2, disproportionately affecting low-income women in the south and east of the state. These were the only clinics in East Texas and Rio Grande Valley.
"The closure of Whole Women's Health clinic is a tragedy for women in Texas and indicative of the cost when we allow politicians to use deceitful back-door tactics to rob us of our fundamental rights," said Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America President. "The majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose the healthcare and reproductive options best for us, yet anti-choice lawmakers have run rough shod over that sentiment and now are endangering the lives of the state's most vulnerable women. While it is our hope that this bill will be overturned, this situation is a painful reminder of why we need federal legislation like the Women's Health Protection Act to ensure that the Constitution and women's rights, regardless of where they live, are respected."
"Safe, legal options for women in need of abortion care are now nonexistent in south and east Texas, and that is no accident," said Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. "Anti-choice lawmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they pushed for the abortion restrictions in HB2 and these clinic closures are exactly the result they were seeking."
A survey from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project found that 7 percent of women who were seeking abortion care reported trying to self -abort at some point during their pregnancy.
A rally will be taking place today, March 6th, at 5 p.m. local time at the Texas Capitol, 1100 Congress Ave., Austin, Texas 78701.
NARAL Pro-Choice America fights for reproductive freedom for every body. Each day, we organize and mobilize to protect that freedom by fighting for access to abortion care, birth control, aid parental leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination.
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In 24-1 Vote, Hawaii State Senate Demands Permanent Cease-Fire in Gaza
"Hawaii can be proud of its leadership role in carrying the movement to force an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza to the 'state' level," said one advocate.
Mar 22, 2024
In a near-unanimous vote, Hawaii's Senate on Thursday became the first state legislative body in the U.S. to endorse a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, adding to the mounting domestic pressure on President Joe Biden to force an end to Israel's monthslong assault.
The Hawaii Senate, which is dominated by Democrats, voted 24-1 to approve a resolution urging U.S. President Joe Biden and members of the state's congressional delegation to "publicly call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and continue negotiations for lasting peace."
State Sen. Kurt Fevella (R-20) was the lone no vote on the resolution.
Fatima Abed, founder of the Hawaii-based advocacy group Rise for Palestine, said in a statement Friday that the resolution's passage was a "monumental accomplishment, and Hawaii can be proud of its leadership role in carrying the movement to force an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza to the 'state' level."
"But it is only the first step in a long road to peace and the promise of liberty and the equal rights Palestinians deserve," Abed added.
In testimony supporting the cease-fire resolution, advocacy groups estimated that Hawaii residents contribute roughly $13 million per year in federal taxes that are used to aid Israel's military, which has killed at least 32,000 people in Gaza in less than six months.
The Hawaii Senate's move came hours before Russia, China, and Algeria voted down a U.S.-led U.N. Security Council resolution that described a cease-fire as "imperative" but did not explicitly call for an end to the bloodshed. The three nations that opposed the resolution said they did so because the U.S. measure did not clearly demand a cease-fire.
According to a recent Reutersanalysis, dozens of U.S. city councils have passed resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel's continued bombing and obstruction of aid fuel one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history.
As of last week, at least 78 members of Congress have called for a cease-fire in Gaza, a running tally by the Working Families Party shows.
Hawaii's two Democratic senators, Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, have both expressed support for a temporary cease-fire in the Gaza Strip—a call that falls short of the Hawaii Senate's demand.
The other two members of Hawaii's U.S. congressional delegation—Democratic Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda—have not called for a cease-fire.
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No 'Clear Message of Peace': Russia, China, and Algeria Vote Down US Gaza Resolution
"Only by ceasing hostilities we can alleviate the immense suffering and ensure that large-scale humanitarian assistance reaches those in need," said Algeria's ambassador to the United Nations.
Mar 22, 2024
Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S. resolution at the United Nations Security Council that called a Gaza cease-fire "imperative" but stopped short of demanding a halt to Israel's monthslong assault on the besieged enclave.
Algeria, which does not have veto power, joined Russia and China in opposing the U.S. resolution, which 11 Security Council members supported. Guyana abstained.
Friday's 11-3-1 vote came just over a month after the U.S. used its veto power to tank an Algeria-led resolution demanding "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire that must be respected by all parties."
Amar Bendjama, Algeria's ambassador to the U.N., said Friday that he was speaking not only for his country "but as a representative of the whole Arab world" as he explained their shared opposition to the U.S. resolution. Bendjama said Algeria proposed edits to the U.S. draft, but the final resolution left central concerns "unaddressed."
"We echoed the demands of millions of people and humanitarian actors for an immediate cessation of hostilities," said Bendjama. "Regrettably, the draft resolution falls short of our expectations. It fails to adequately address these main issues and the immense suffering [being endured] by the Palestinian people."
"Those who believe that the Israeli occupying power will choose to uphold its international legal obligation are mistaken," he argued. "They must abandon this fiction."
Bendjama, who cited the 32,000 people killed by Israel so far and the tens of thousands more wounded or permanently disabled, said the draft of the resolution "does not convey a clear message of peace" and "tacitly allows for continuing civilian casualties and lacks clear safeguard to prevent further escalation."
Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Vassily Nebenzia, argued the U.S. resolution was "not enough" and accused the Biden administration of "deliberately misleading the international community."
Outside analysts also criticized the U.S. resolution. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said that while the resolution is "significantly stronger" than previous U.S. drafts, "it still falls short of a clear and unequivocal demand for an unconditional cease-fire."
Craig Mokhiber, a former U.N. official who resigned in late October over the international body's failure to respond to Israel's assault on Gaza, said the U.S. measure "is not a cease-fire resolution. It is a ransom note."
Instead of clearly demanding a cease-fire, the U.S. resolution proposed more ambiguous language expressing "the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, and alleviate humanitarian suffering."
The resolution also tied support for a cease-fire to "the release of all remaining hostages."
Parsi said in a statement Friday that "undoubtedly, Biden's rhetorical shift in favor of a ceasefire is noteworthy, but the devil is in the details."
"The unnecessarily convoluted operative clause raises concerns that this shift is less straightforward than it could and should be," Parsi added.
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UN Panel Says IDF Appears Set on 'Physical Destruction of Palestinian Children'
"Children in Gaza can no longer wait, as each passing minute risks another child dying of hunger as the world looks on," said the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Mar 22, 2024
A United Nations panel said Thursday that the Israeli military's siege of Gaza appears "calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian children," pointing to the growing number of kids starving to death as Israel obstructs the delivery of humanitarian aid.
"They are cut off from food, even crumbs are not easy to find," the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a statement. "A little girl wept in front of the BBC's camera, crying, 'I miss bread.' The occupying power has blocked or severely restricted food and other life-essential supplies and aid."
At least 27 children have died of malnutrition or dehydration in recent weeks, a toll that the U.N. panel said is "likely to be significantly higher" and is "set to rise" as Israel's blockade and attacks on aid convoys continue. An alarming analysis released earlier this week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that Gaza's entire population—roughly half of which is children—is "facing high levels of acute food insecurity."
"Children in Gaza can no longer wait, as each passing minute risks another child dying of hunger as the world looks on," the U.N. committee said.
Children are also at high risk from ongoing Israeli bombings, which have inflicted immense physical and psychological suffering on Gaza's children. Israel's military has killed more than 13,000 children in the territory since October 7, a figure that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) called "astronomically horrifying." Save the Children estimated that between October and January, an average of more than 10 children per day in Gaza lost one or both of their legs due to Israeli attacks.
"I think these numbers that we're seeing out of Gaza are just staggering," Catherine Russell, UNICEF's executive director, said earlier this week. "We haven't seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world."
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child #UNCRC delivers its strongest statement. Gaza: Halt the war now to save children from dying of imminent famine. #childrensrights @lexpsy pic.twitter.com/uXHtxonlVz
— UNChildRights (@UNChildRights1) March 21, 2024
The U.N. panel on children's rights called attention to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) January ruling ordering the Israeli government to "enable the provision" of humanitarian aid and do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide—directives that Israel has been accused of systematically violating.
"Since the ICJ order on 26 January, and as of 19 March, an average of over 108 Palestinians have been killed and another 178 injured every day in Gaza, and children are amongst them," the committee said Thursday. "The looming invasion of Rafah will take the fragile situation to the breaking point, putting the lives of 600,000 children at immediate risk, and will rapidly reach the tipping point of famine."
"While reiterating its calls for the remaining children held hostage to be released immediately," the panel added, "the committee also calls on all parties, including the General Assembly and the Security Council, for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to protect hundreds of thousands of innocent children's lives."
The statement came as the United States, Israel's chief arms supplier, proposed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution declaring that an "immediate cease-fire" is "imperative." The U.S. has repeatedly stonewalled and vetoed cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council in recent months even as its top officials, including President Joe Biden, have expressed concerns about the grisly civilian death toll in Gaza.
In a scathing op-ed for The Guardian on Thursday, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor wrote that "the international human rights architecture is creaking under the weight of the hypocrisy of countries who profess support for a rules-based order yet continue to provide weapons to Israel that kill more innocent Palestinians."
"There exist no moral arguments," wrote Lawlor, "that can justify the continued sale of weapons to Israel by states that respect the principle of the universality of human rights."
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