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Judge John E. Sprizzo of the Federal District Court of Manhattan acquitted Bishop George Lynch and Brother Christopher Moscinsk of blocking a women's clinic driveway because of their "sincere moral beliefs."
Sprizzo, in his ruling, said that he had the power to acquit the men even if they are guilty. The state is not able to appeal because of double jeopardy constraints.
These two have been arrested more than 20 times for the same offense. Sprizzo himself had issued an order against blocking the clinic under the Clinton-pushed Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994.
I wonder what actions will be tolerated next because of someone's "sincere religious beliefs." Wife beating? Interfering in a woman's access to contraception? Lynching "uppity Negroes" who try to exercise their right to vote? Refusing to hire women because they should be at home taking care of their husbands and children?
from Irene Stuber's Catt's Claws 4/11/97 issue #153
According to the Northern Star, the school newspaper for Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Ill, "...Certain towns have put the weed Queen Anne's Lace on an `Offensive Weed' list", the same list includes marijuana and ragweed. Insisting that it is a wildflower, a local citizen who was growing the weed in her yard got in trouble with authorities. She took them to court and won. She now grows as much as she wants.
What's the concern about Queen Anne's Lace? The seeds of Queen Anne's Lace have long been used as a contraceptive - a tablespoon a month to keep your menstrual cycle regular - some say a teaspoon after sex.
For more information about naturally contraceptive plants, see Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance by John Riddle, Harvard University Press 1992
from Irene Stuber's Catt's Claws 4/11/97 issue #153
NOW is waging a battle to keep in place a ban that was passed last year by Congress to prohibit misdemeanor domestic violence offenders from owning or possessing firearms (felons are already prohibited, but few domestic violence offenses are prosecuted as felonies). Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) is sponsoring H.R. 26 that would make application of the ban prospective, excusing anyone who prior to September 30, 1996 was convicted of a domestic violence offense, while Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) is offering H.R. 445 which would exempt government employees (police, military, etc.) from the ban. Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) is also sponsoring a repeal of the ban (H.R. 1009).
Members of Congress are responding to a campaign conducted by some police departments and professional organizations, backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), to limit the effectiveness of the ban. Men who beat their wives or children do not deserve the privilege of carrying a firearm - and if it costs the offender his job, well, in the words of the theocratic right, that's the wages of sin.
Immediate action is required: contact members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees: House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Chair Bill McCollum (R-FL), full committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Senate Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Let them know that this is a bad bill. Also contact your representatives and Senators Robb and Warner to let them know of your opposition to these bill.
Legislation is being readied to add new categories of hate crimes to federal statutes. Hate crimes based on sex-, gender-, or sexual orientation-based would be prohibited.
Immediate action is needed: Write, call, fax or e-mail your member of Congress to urge the inclusion of sex and sexual orientation as categories in the hate crimes statutes. Also contact members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, especially Sens. Biden, Leahy, Toricelli, Durbin, Campbell, Specter, Sessions and House Judiciary Chair Henry Hyde (R-IL).
The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced on March 19th by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) (S.J. Res. 24), with 14 Senate co-sponsors, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) (H.J. 66), with 44 House co- sponsors. The language is the same as has been introduced each Congress for many years.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed by 295-136 on March 20th H.R. 1122, the (so-called) "Partial-Birth" Abortion Ban Act of 1997, sponsored by Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY), chair of the Rules Committee, which contains a very narrow life exception, but no provision to allow an abortion to preserve a woman's health.
In addition to criminalizing this particular abortion procedure, this bill also contains some very disturbing provisions. H.R. 1122 would impose criminal penalties for physicians who perform the procedure of up to two years in prison and a fine. It also allows the father of the fetus and the maternal grandparents if the woman is under age 18 to sue the doctor. Criminal prosecution of the woman having the abortion is specifically prohibited. However, some legal scholars independent from the abortion debate believe that, if H.R. 1122 became law, a woman who had an abortion would probably be subject to civil lawsuits from the man who impregnated her or from the fetus's prospective grandparents.
Our own Senator John Warner is one of the sponsors of this bill. Contact your Representative and Senators ask her/him to vote against this bill.
Talking points to stress:
Following extensive lobbying by reproductive rights, family planning, and international aid groups, both the House and Senate passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 36) in February allowing for release on March 1st, 1997, of $385 million in funds for international family planning programs. The funds had been withheld because of restrictions adopted in the budget passed by last year's Congress.
Remember to thank members of Congress who were strong advocates for family planning.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is expected to introduce sometime in April a bill that would require private insurance plans which cover other prescription drugs to also offer coverage for contraceptive drugs, devices and services.
Advocates reported that women of reproductive age spend about 68 percent more than men in out-of-pocket expenses on health care. Much of that cost is due to the fact that insurance plans, by and large limit or exclude coverage for contraception. A survey by the Alan Guttmacher Institute showed that Health Maintenance Organizations frequently provide more coverage of contraception than do traditional insurance (indemnity) plans.
Virginia Gov. George Allen (R) recently signed into law two bills pertaining to insurance coverage of contraception; one requires coverage in state employees' health plans and the other requires private insurers who also cover outpatient prescription drugs to "make available" coverage for any FDA-approved prescription contraception drug or device.
Activists can help in the search for co-sponsors, especially on the House side. Let your member know that this is an important bill that deserves her/his support. Original co-sponsors there are Reps. Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and Nita Lowey (D-NY). There should be strong bipartisan support for the legislation, so contact both Democrats and Republicans.
Next year, women throughout the nation will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, NY. Everyone, that is, but those who use the U.S. Postal Service. Despite the fact that there are already too few women on stamps, the USPS has decided not to issue a postage stamp commemorating this landmark event in women's history.
But U.S. Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and 40 other members of Congress are out to change that decision, and they need our help. They will be meeting soon with the Postmaster General and the Chair of the USPS' Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, and they need to show popular support for the proposed women's rights stamp.
Please write to the Postmaster General and to the Chair of the Citizens' Committee very soon, forwarding a copy of your messages to Rep. Maloney's office so she can take them with her to the next meeting.
Write: Mr. Marvin Runyon, Postmaster General, USPS, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20260-0010 or phone (202) 268-2500
Copy your message to: Dr. Virginia Noelke, Chair, Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, USPS, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 202600-0010 or phone (202) 268-6555
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, 1330 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, or FAX 202-225-4709
To commemorate Mother's Day, here are a few wishes to help us be better mothers & to take better care of our mothers:
Violence against women manifests itself in many ways. Economic Violence Against Women, using the power of the purse (the ability of a woman to find food, clothing, and shelter) to subject women to other forms of violence, includes forcing women either to marry or to have a lifetime of extreme poverty ("compulsory heterosexuality"), valuing women solely for our reproductive abilities ("forced motherhood"), refusing women entree into high status and high pay professions, the witchcraft trials, and in some cases, wife buying and dowry.
In many societies, dowry was instituted as a way to protect women financially. When a woman married, she was given what would be her inheritance if had been born a man. Her husband became responsible for investing the money wisely. Unless the woman was found guilty of adultery, the dowry was returned to her in the event of a divorce. Her dowry could not be pledged as a debt, creditors could not demand payment for a man's debt from a woman's dowry, her husband could neither sell or bequeath her dowry, and upon her death, her dowry went to her children.
sunshine@pinn.net
Sunshine for Women encourages you to support our feminist sisters by purchasing their books, reading them, disseminating the ideas they contain, but most especially, by making their book available to our sisters, our daughters, and the community at large by requesting your school library, your public library, and area bookstores to carry their books. Remember it is not enough to write literature, history, and theology, we must pass these works on to future generations. Help us to preserve these works for a new generation by putting them on library bookshelves.
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