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America Stands with the City of Boston

04/22/2013 Nativegrl77

President Obama speaks to the American people about the act of terror at the Boston Marathon that wounded dozens and killed three innocent people on Monday, and says that through it all, Boston‘s spirit remains undaunted and Americans have proven they refuse to be terrorized.

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Women Deserve the Truth! Expose Crisis Pregnancy Centers

04/22/2013 Nativegrl77


	Expose the Truth!



	Check out our state-by-state information and resources on how to file a complaint in your state.

Have you seen the advertisements: “Pregnant? Scared? We can help?” They’re everywhere. Unfortunately, far too often a woman finds herself with an unintended pregnancy, isn’t sure what her options are, and calls the number on the billboard. These numbers often lead to “crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)” or “pregnancy resource centers.” Not always, but more often than not, these centers are set up to look like legitimate health clinics. But, they aren’t; instead, many give misleading information or flat out lie to the woman about her pregnancy in order to dissuade her from getting an abortion.

Do you think women deserve honest, unbiased medical information when they are seeking care? So do we. These crisis centers can only be stopped if women speak up about the false information they are receiving during their visits. If you, a family member, or friend was tricked or lied to by a CPC, we have an easy way for you to file a consumer protection complaint to help document the harmful practices of these clinics.

For help filing this complaint, you also can contact the National Women’s Law Center at 1-855-CPC-FACT or cpcfact@nwlc.org. Filing a complaint is a first and very important step in helping other women, including your family and friends, protect their health.

When women ask questions about their health or seek services, they deserve to get complete, unbiased, and medically accurate answers. Dishonest CPCs prevent women from making informed health care decisions and threaten their health. When you’re facing a decision about a pregnancy, time is crucial. Lies, inaccurate facts and delays can be harmful to your health.

It’s important to speak up — for the sake of all women.

For more information about CPCs, check out our state-by-state resources. Thank you for all that you do to protect women’s reproductive health.

Sincerely,

Kelli Garcia
Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your generous donation allows us to continue to stand up for women and their families.

Support our work today.

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Birth control makes you “sterile or dead”?

04/22/2013 Nativegrl77

Katelyn Campbell deserves our respect and encouragement for speaking out against failed “abstinence-only” programs.

Tell her county’s Board of Education to censure her principal for threatening her.

High school principal George Aulenbacher should be ashamed of himself.

First, Aulenbacher and his school district decided to subject his students to a misleading “abstinence-only” program. And then he threatened student Katelyn Campbell when she spoke out against it. To make matters even worse, right now the Kanawha County Board of Education is siding with Principal Aulenbacher.¹

This is no way to treat a brave young woman who’s speaking out for what’s right.

Help us put pressure on the Board of Education to censure Aulenbacher, and tell them that students need comprehensive sex education. Your message today will go directly to the Kanawha County Board of Education and superintendent of schools, where it can make a big impact.

Aulenbacher’s school recently brought in an “abstinence educator” who says taking birth control can lead to becoming “sterile or dead.”²

Katelyn fought back against these outrageous lies. She talked with the local newspaper, and even went on CNN.

How did Aulenbacher respond? He tried to shut her down. Katelyn says Aulenbacher called her into his office to berate her, even threatening to call her future college to tell them she has “bad character” and is a “backstabber.”³

At a Board of Education committee meeting last night, it’s been reported that members of the board stuck up for Aulenbacher and the misleading “abstinence-only” program.

It’s ridiculous that a principal would threaten a student like this, and absurd that the Board of Education would stand for it. Tell the Board of Education to censure Aulenbacher and provide students with comprehensive sex education.

Katelyn knows, like we do, that teens need accurate information about abstinence and birth control so that they can make responsible decisions that are right for them. One in four teen girls has an STD, and one third of young women will become pregnant before they’re 20 years old. These young women need information that will keep them healthy.

I applaud Katelyn for speaking out for what she knows is right. She deserves our respect and encouragement, not threats and intimidation.

Thanks for standing up for Katelyn and helping make choice real for young people like her.

Ilyse Hogue
Ilyse G. Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

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Eight Percent ~ Help S.T.O.P. Sexual Assault in the Military

04/22/2013 Nativegrl77

Bear with me for a moment as I share some numbers:

More than 200,000 women are in the active-duty military, making up 14.5 percent of the active-duty force.
Nearly 3,200 cases of sexual assault in the military were reported in 2010, yet the Department of Defense estimates the actual number of assaults to be at least 19,000 since most cases are never reported.
Of the sexual assault cases reported to military officials, only 8 percent of the attackers in those cases were prosecuted in the military court system – compared with 40 percent of similar offenders prosecuted in the civilian court system.

Eight percent. And even if the military justice system convicts a perpetrator of sexual assault, the perpetrator’s commander, someone with no legal training whatsoever, can throw out that conviction at their own discretion – even the president of the United States cannot overturn their decision.

Yesterday I stood with two of our nation’s veterans as they recounted their experiences with sexual assault in the military. When Kelly Smith first reported her assault at age 19, investigators interrogated her for eight hours and accused her of lying. Although her attacker eventually signed a confession, Smith says he never appeared before a court martial and instead retired with full honors and benefits.

I also stood next to Jeremiah Arbogast, a retired Marine Corps member, who told his story from a wheelchair. He was left a paraplegic after his failed suicide attempt – a desperate action he took after he was sexually assaulted by a fellow Marine. As Arbogast said, we still have the world’s finest fighting force – but it is being threatened by too many sexual predators who are protected and allowed to stay in the military.

I joined these truly courageous veterans and our congressional champions on Capitol Hill yesterday to call for passage of the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act, or STOP Act, which would create an independent, professional office within the military to investigate, and prosecute sexual assault, instead of leaving the decisions in the hands of commanders who can act at their own discretion. The STOP Act would still keep the authority over sexual assault cases in the military—just not in the hands of individual commanders who are not trained to handle these cases. AAUW believes the result will be the kind of confidential and thorough investigative process necessary in the face of such crimes.

Join me in urging your representative to cosponsor the STOP Act and fundamentally change how sexual assault is handled in the military.

We have to do something about those numbers I mentioned. We have to do something to prevent experiences like those of Kelly Smith and Jeremiah Arbogast from happening again. Urge your representative to cosponsor the STOP Act (H.R. 1593) today.

Thank you,
Lisa Maatz
AAUW Director of Public Policy and Government Relations

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CONGRESS

04/22/2013 Nativegrl77

The Senate will convene at 2:00pm on Monday, April 22.

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:30pm, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

At 5:30pm, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.743, Marketplace Fairness Act, and immediately proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.

As a reminder at 5:30pm today, the Senate will proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to proceed to S.743, Marketplace Fairness Act. If cloture is invoked, there would be up to 30 hours for debate prior to adoption of the motion to proceed.

5:30pm The Senate began a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.743, Marketplace Fairness Act;

Invoked: 74-20

At 5:55pm, the Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to S.743, Marketplace Fairness Act, by a vote of 74-20. By consent, all time during any adjournment, recess, or period of morning business will count post-cloture. There will be no further roll call votes tonight.

WRAP UP

ROLL CALL VOTE

1) Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.743, the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013; Invoked: 74-20

LEGISLATIVE ITEMS

Adopted S.Res.90, Standing with the people of Kenya following their national and local elections on March 4, 2013, and urging a peaceful and credible resolution of electoral disputes in the courts with a committee-reported amendment to the resolution, a committee-reported amendment to the preamble and a committee-reported amendment to the title.

Discharged the HELP committee of S.437, the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act and referred it to the Banking committee.

No EXECUTIVE ITEMS

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