From June 2001 NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2001, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

NOW 'Emergency Action' Backed

NASW support sends a message that "we oppose the so-called gag rule."

By Corinna Vallianatos, NEWS Staff

NASW's National Committee on Women's Issues in April endorsed Emergency Action for Women's Lives, an action campaign by the National Organization of Women (NOW) that was kicked off by a march in Washington, D.C.

The April 22 march initiated NOW's declared "state of emergency" to "save women's rights to self-determination and reproductive freedom."

NOW President Patricia Ireland highlighted the group's objectives in a statement that read: "The Emergency Action for Women's Lives will target the U.S. Senate to protect our rights and to stop the packing of the U.S. Supreme Court with anti-abortion-rights nominees."

Ireland went on to say, "The Bush administration is committed to actions and strategies that limit reproductive freedoms, such as eliminating life-saving stem cell research, criminalizing abortion providers, reducing availability of birth control and denying funding for sex education that actually educates students about sex."

Following the march, NOW launched two weeks of state-based lobbying during the Senate's spring break. This included "virtual lobbying" to "inundate senators with e-mails when they return to the nation's capital," according to Ireland's statement.

Evelyn Tomaszewski, staff for the NASW women's issues committee, said, "We saw people showing up to march who were really concerned. NASW's support and participation in the emergency action is a clear message that we oppose the so-called gag rule recently reinstated by the Bush administration and will not support any further erosion of reproductive health rights in the U.S. or internationally."

The "gag rule" prohibits any U.S. family-planning funds from going to overseas groups that provide abortions or engage in abortion-related advocacy even with privately raised, non-U.S. funds.

Tomaszewski said NASW is concerned that the Bush administration plans to "reinstate numerous pre-1993 laws and regulations that restricted access to family-planning and abortion services in the U.S. and internationally and clearly undermined a client's right to self-determination."

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