Tag Archives: National Women’s Law Center

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Critical Abortion Vote Looms – Take Action Now


Defund Planned Parenthood? Failed. Eliminate family planning funds? Nope. Still attacking women’s health? You betcha.

Since the start of this Congress, House leadership has pursued an agenda seeking to reduce women’s access to reproductive health care services. Now they are pushing H.R. 3, a bill that proposes dangerous restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion.

It’s time to send Speaker Boehner and House leadership a message. Tell your Representative to stop the attacks on women’s health and vote NO on H.R. 3.

H.R. 3 would harm women’s health and would even raise taxes on individuals and small businesses to punish private health care decisions. Now we are hearing that this bill may come to the House floor for a vote as early as next week. We must stop them. Tell your Representative to oppose this harmful bill and protect women’s health.

www.nwlc.org

H.R. 3 reduces women’s access to abortion care in many ways, but here are some of its most outrageous provisions —Raises taxes and increases costs on many individuals and small businesses with insurance plans that cover abortion, which could force individuals and employers to drop abortion coverage from their health insurance plans. It could even shut down the entire private market for insurance coverage that includes abortion.

Writes into permanent law a ban on abortion coverage for ALL women who depend on the government for their health care. This includes low-income women currently covered under Medicaid, women who will become eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, women serving in the U.S. military, federal employees, residents of the District of Columbia, women in federal prisons and women covered by the Indian Health Service.

Unbelievably, H.R. 3 contains no exceptions for circumstances where a woman faces serious health consequences, even if continuing the pregnancy could cause permanent damage to her heart, lungs, or kidneys.

We refuse to stand by as they continue their outrageous attack on women’s health. Tell your Representative to vote NO on H.R. 3 and its dangerous restrictions on women’s health care coverage today.

Thank you for helping us protect women’s access to reproductive health services. We will continue to work tirelessly to defeat this bill.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

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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As One Budget Battle Ends, Another Begins …from -Joan Entmacher and Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center


Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

from …

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

As you’ve probably heard, Congress has approved and the President signed a spending bill for the remainder of the federal government’s current fiscal year. And thanks to your support, we were able to safeguard (and even increase) funding for some vital programs.

Under this plan, which funds programs through the end of September, the budget for Head Start will increase, allowing 60,000 low-income children to continue receiving a valuable jumpstart to their education. Plus, we put the brakes on the effort to take away funding for Planned Parenthood and other critical family planning services across the country. If anti-choice politicians had prevailed, many women would have had nowhere to turn for contraception and preventive health screenings.

Unfortunately, however, these actions came at a high price: the 2011 budget agreement forbids the District of Columbia from using its own local tax dollars to give low-income women access to abortion services they need, putting an already vulnerable population at increased risk. And the agreement includes cuts to health, education and human services programs that will be detrimental to women and their families.

But the fight we had over this year’s budget is dwarfed by what we’re facing farther down the road. The House Republican majority just voted today for a budget for 2012 and beyond that would give more tax breaks to millionaires and corporations while eviscerating Medicaid, Medicare and other programs vital to women.

In supporting Representative Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, the House voted to:Cut, then cap, Medicaid, which would cause millions of vulnerable women to lose their health coverage. End Medicare as we know it, replacing the current guaranteed insurance system with a voucher program that would stick seniors with higher health care costs.

Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts, capping the top personal income tax, extending the December 2010 reduction in the estate tax for multi-million dollar estates, and lowering corporations’ tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

Put Social Security cuts on a fast-track in Congress, placing millions of women and others who rely on Social Security benefits at risk.

Other provisions in the bill would slash funding for domestic programs such as child care, Head Start, K-12 education, Pell grants, family planning and other women’s health services, job training, housing and energy assistance, and services for the elderly.

The list goes on, but here’s the bottom line: this budget would unravel the fragile safety net for millions of Americans even as it puts TRILLIONS of dollars in the pockets of corporations and the wealthy. This isn’t a fiscal plan — it’s an attack on the very idea that our society should protect its most vulnerable members and on public structures that give ALL Americans a chance at a better life.

Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

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Take Action: Celebrate the Paycheck Fairness Act on Equal Pay Day!


Happy Equal Pay Day! I know what you’re thinking: it’s hard to feel too happy when we face the facts about the wage gap these days. Did you realize that the average woman loses $10,849 a year due to the wage gap?

But we do have something worth celebrating this Equal Pay Day. The Paycheck Fairness Act is being introduced in both Houses of Congress today!

Ask your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act in honor of Equal Pay Day!

In the last session of Congress, we worked hard to get the Paycheck Fairness Act passed in the House and this important bill fell just a few votes short of moving forward in the Senate. We couldn’t have done it without people like you who helped tell Congress that Women Are Not WorthLess. Now we need your help again!

Take action and ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act now!

On Equal Pay Day, we recognize the day that the average woman’s wages finally catch up to those of her male counterparts in 2010. With the Paycheck Fairness Act, we can start to close that wage gap and Stop Discounting Women and their families. Will you take action today?

Thank you for all your support and, again, happy Equal Pay Day!

Sincerely

Fatima Goss Graves

Vice President for Education and Employment

National Women’s Law Center

P.S. We’ve put together some great new resources in honor of Equal Pay Day. Be sure to check out our new factsheets on pay secrecy, the “factors other than sex” loophole in the Equal Pay Act and how the Paycheck Fairness Act resolves it, an update on the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the wage gap’s implications for women in this economy. And in other fair-pay news, don’t forget to vote in the last round of Wal-Mart Manager Madness!

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Paycheck Fairness Returning to Congress: Act Now


Next Tuesday is Equal Pay Day, the day when an average woman’s wages will catch up to those of her male counterparts in 2010. That’s right — the wage gap equates to over THREE MONTHS’ worth of women’s work. A steep discount, and it’s outrageous!

Fortunately, some of our allies in Congress think that the wage gap is as outrageous as we do. So in honor of Equal Pay Day, they are reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act on Tuesday!

Ask your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act today!  www.nwlc.org/fairpay 

Women Are Not WorthLess

Ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act and Stop Discounting Women today!

As you probably remember, and with the help of thousands of activists like you, the Paycheck Fairness Act passed the House and fell just a few votes short of moving forward in the Senate in the last Congress. It was close — the closest we’ve ever been.

Take action — ask your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act now!

Let’s make sure that this year, on Equal Pay Day, Congress knows that Women are Not WorthLess! Thank you for all of your support in the past, and let’s get geared up to see Paycheck Fairness through to the end in the 112th Congress!

Sincerely,

Fatima Goss Graves

Vice President for Education and Employment

National Women’s Law Center

P.S. The women of Wal-Mart took their fight for fair pay all the way to the Supreme Court last week! Did you see our Wal-Mart Manager Madness bracket? Pick your “favorites” today as we whittle down the Egregious Eight to the Foul Four. The Sexist Slam-Dunk will be unveiled next week on Equal Pay Day, so stay tuned!

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Up Close and Personal at the Supreme Court …a message from Fatima Goss Graves


As I sat in the Great Hall of the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday and watched the lead attorney for Betty Dukes, the former Wal-Mart greeter, argue on behalf of her and the other women of Wal-Mart, I was more certain than ever that their cause is just and must prevail. Wal-Mart v. Dukes illuminates the fact that equal pay and a fair shot at promotion are still a dream for many working women across the country.

Please help support the Center’s efforts on behalf of the women at Wal-Mart and all women and girls nationwide.

As you may know, the National Women’s Law Center co-authored an amicus brief in Wal-Mart v. Dukes on behalf of 32 other organizations, setting out why the sexist treatment of Wal-Mart’s female employees was clearly discriminatory and why the case is so important to working women everywhere.

If the Supreme Court gives the green light to the women of Wal-Mart to proceed as a class, as it should, it will mean that these women, who first filed their lawsuit 10 years ago, will have their day in court at last. They will finally have the chance to equalize pay and promotions at the country’s largest employer. And the Supreme Court will send an important message that no company is too big or too powerful to be held accountable.

Several years ago, the Center led a coalition pressing Congress to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and today that legislation is the law of the land. Now the Center is continuing the fight for fair pay. Through our work on the Wal-Mart case, advocacy, public education and much more, the Center will not rest until the job is done.

Please help support the Center’s efforts on behalf of fair pay for women and all the other issues on which we work.

On behalf of women and families everywhere, thank you for your generous help.

Sincerely,

Fatima Goss Graves

Vice President for Education and Employment

National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please donate today. And you can also watch Center Co-President Marcia Greenberger discussing the case on ABC Weekend News, NBC Nightly News, and PBS NewsHour.