From the President
October 5, 2017: Women’s Rights Under Attack Again. The GOP Moves In For the Kill
Posted on December 11, 2023 at 12:00 AM
This happened while you weren’t looking. The diversion of inane tweets, hurled insults, and a pre-occupied media are the perfect cover for nefarious acts.
The latest of these occurred in the House of Representatives, which passed legislation Tuesday, October 3, 2017, that criminalizes abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The vote was 237 for and 189 against, largely along party lines. An action that failed in 2013 and 2015 this time around has support from both the President and Vice President.
“The administration strongly supports H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and applauds the House of Representatives for continuing its efforts to secure critical pro-life protections.” This was the statement issued by a White House that remained criminally silent for days on waiving the Jones Act that might have saved countless “born” lives and helped to avert an humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.
It is tragic that we are pushing legislation that “will respect the sanctity of life and stop needless suffering” of UNBORN fetuses as we remain blind and deaf to the suffering of the LIVING amongst us who are denied justice and opportunities to live full, healthy, productive lives.
While this bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, it is time for an uproar from women and all progressives to ensure our leaders don’t throw us under the bus. Once again, largely old white men are trying to exercise control over the bodies and will of women.
“This dangerous, out-of-touch legislation is nothing more than yet another attempt to restrict women’s access to safe, legal abortion,” said a spokesperson from Planned Parenthood.
And, further, as NARAL Pro-Choice America points out, “Bans on abortion care after 20 weeks are a blatant attempt to deny women their constitutional rights.”
These constitutional rights are in ever greater peril under this administration as Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court is viewed as a win for the anti-abortion forces throughout the country. We need to be vigilant and make our voices heard.
Nuchhi Currier
President
(Note: More information about the 20-week abortion ban, on both the federal and state level, is available from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.)