Post by Moses on Jul 6, 2005 20:25:30 GMT -5
FEATURES | summer 2005
Ms. Urgent Report
Hanging By A Thread:
What’s At Stake If We Lose
The Supreme Court
....If the makeup of the Supreme Court shifts, women could lose most, if not all, of the constitutional gains we have made since the mid-1960s — and that includes the right to privacy.
....If Roe v. Wade — last affirmed by a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court ruling — is reversed, legal dominion over abortion reverts to the states. Many of today’s state legislatures would ban abortion or even make it a criminal act.
Next, the radical right would probably push for limiting availability of contraceptives — first for teenagers, then for single women. Finally, they might try to withhold certain types of contraception from married women.
Pharmacists who say their religion forbids birth control are already refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions. Will new, more conservative courts back them up?
But rolling back reproductive rights is only the first act in a nightmare scenario that could come to pass if right-wing judges take over the federal courts and the nation’s highest court. On Page 36, we point out four other crucial women’s rights that could easily be lost with the change of just one or two votes on the Supreme Court.
The majority of people in this country, men and women, do not want to go backward on women’s rights: The polls are clear on this, as preeminent national pollster Celinda Lake, who has followed reproductive-choice issues for more than two decades, points out on Page 37.
So what can you do? You can and must let your friends and community know what’s going on. Kathy Bonk, one of the nation’s leading feminist communication analysts and strategists, has outlined some concise talking points (see Page 38) that you can use to advocate for a federal judiciary that will preserve our cherished rights.
Don’t be left out of this debate. Women’s voices are needed in this fight — we have way too much to lose.
Ms. Urgent Report
Hanging By A Thread:
What’s At Stake If We Lose
The Supreme Court
....If the makeup of the Supreme Court shifts, women could lose most, if not all, of the constitutional gains we have made since the mid-1960s — and that includes the right to privacy.
....If Roe v. Wade — last affirmed by a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court ruling — is reversed, legal dominion over abortion reverts to the states. Many of today’s state legislatures would ban abortion or even make it a criminal act.
Next, the radical right would probably push for limiting availability of contraceptives — first for teenagers, then for single women. Finally, they might try to withhold certain types of contraception from married women.
Pharmacists who say their religion forbids birth control are already refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions. Will new, more conservative courts back them up?
But rolling back reproductive rights is only the first act in a nightmare scenario that could come to pass if right-wing judges take over the federal courts and the nation’s highest court. On Page 36, we point out four other crucial women’s rights that could easily be lost with the change of just one or two votes on the Supreme Court.
The majority of people in this country, men and women, do not want to go backward on women’s rights: The polls are clear on this, as preeminent national pollster Celinda Lake, who has followed reproductive-choice issues for more than two decades, points out on Page 37.
So what can you do? You can and must let your friends and community know what’s going on. Kathy Bonk, one of the nation’s leading feminist communication analysts and strategists, has outlined some concise talking points (see Page 38) that you can use to advocate for a federal judiciary that will preserve our cherished rights.
Don’t be left out of this debate. Women’s voices are needed in this fight — we have way too much to lose.