[ REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS / AFFORDABLE HOUSING / EDUCATION / EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION / HEALTH CARE & MEDICAID / JOBS & WAGES / MARRIAGE EQUALITY / PAY EQUITY ]
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Abortion: In the 20 years prior to Roe v. Wade, it was estimated that over one million women died from illegal abortions. Forty percent of women between the ages of 14 and 20 will experience an unplanned, unwanted or forced pregnancy; we must help them avoid the cruel option of illegal and medically risky abortions. Control over one’s body and reproductive life is a fundamental human right and we must stand up for the ability of women to obtain health care services without economic, religious or government limitations.
Birth Control and Family Planning: Birth control includes the Pill, IUD, condoms, abstinence, sponges and pregnancy termination. Access to birth control is a necessity for many women, yet the government, employers and insurance companies restrict access. Conservative politicians are trying to halt young women’s ability to use birth control, even in emergencies. They have already slashed family planning funding for developing countries, endangering the health and lives of millions of poor women around the globe.
Emergency Contraception (EC) and RU486: Two reproductive health care options are being held hostage by religious and conservative minorities. Emergency contraception (EC), or the morning-after pill, is a high dose of legal and safe birth control hormones that prevent implantation and conception. Many women are unaware that EC even exists and some medical facilities will not prescribe or mention it to rape and incest victims. Women who do know about it may have to fight to get a doctor’s prescription and find a pharmacy ready to sell it. The drug is most effective when taken immediately, which is why it should be available over-the-counter. RU486 (mifepristone) is not contraception, but is a safe and effective method of using hormones to terminate a pregnancy early in the first trimester.
Support for Mothers and Children: Sadly, the same people who want to force women to carry every pregnancy are not supportive of these women with unwanted pregnancies, or their children when they are born. Women, regardless of their income or circumstances, must be able to make a decision whether to bear children and should be supported during their childbearing with programs and health care to ensure healthy children and families.
Reproductive freedom is not just a women’s issue, it is a family, community, and national concern. Ask your elected officials how they intend to preserve women’s reproductive rights and promote better access to care. Support the candidates who make a real commitment to protect reproductive freedom.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Everyone should have a safe and affordable home where they can live and raise their family. We must work toward ending homelessness and helping communities provide decent and safe housing for children for children, women, families, seniors and disabled individuals, regardless of employment or economic circumstances. Making sure that every individual has safe, decent and affordable housing is everyone’s issue, but it especially affects women and children.
EDUCATION
We must demand quality education and good schools for our children, women, families and our communities. Having quality education is everyone’s issue, but it especially affects women and children.
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): This federal law requires that public schools conduct yearly standardized testing and when schools fail to measure up, they face being turned over to private corporations! Congress has failed for several years now to fund the NCLB adequately and many states and local school districts do not have enough funds to meet the new—and arbitrary—mandates. This law is wasting school budgets on paperwork and teachers are forced to use valuable class time to prepare students for the test, not in teaching their subjects. NCLB, instead of assisting our children and our schools, is punishing them. Teachers are disheartened and leaving the profession, and our children are being left behind.
Vouchers: Vouchers are payments made from the federal government—using your tax dollars—to help pay for children’s tuition at private or religious schools. Vouchers will further reduce funding for already hurting public school systems. Children of wealthy families that don’t need vouchers will use them to go to private schools, while the rest of our children will be left attending severely under-funded public schools. Economic, religious and racial diversity—important in safeguarding our democracy—will disappear in public schools.
Rising Cost of College: A college degree is becoming more necessary to obtain a middle class standard of living. This year, 64% of graduating college seniors will be in debt due to college loans, a doubling over the last eight years. States are disproportionately cutting higher education funding, driving up the cost for students. Across the nation this year, state-supported colleges increased tuition an average of 7.7%. Will your children or grandchildren be able to afford college?
Early Education: A child who attends pre-school is more likely to perform better throughout their schooling, to graduate from high school, and to attend college. Since pre-school is not universal, there are limited openings in government-assisted early education programs such as Head Start. As a result, children of color and children from low-income families are less likely to attend pre-school, hindering their chances of success in later life.
Equal Opportunity: Girls were guaranteed equal opportunity in their education under a law called Title IX. Even though they still face hurdles in their schooling, politicians continue to try to undermine this initiative. Title IX has opened doors to science, business, and sports for girls and young women. We need to protect Title IX.
EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION
Emergency contraception, often termed EC or the “morning after pill,” is essentially a larger dose of safe and legal birth control pills. When taken within 2-3 days after unplanned or involuntary sexual activity or rape, it can prevent conception and allow women to avoid unwanted pregnancies or pregnancy termination procedures. Making it difficult—if not impossible—for women to obtain EC is poor medical care and endangers girls and women’s health and reproductive options.
JOBS & WAGES
We must have training for and access to good jobs and decent wages for all workers if we care about the economic health of women, their families, and our communities.
Minimum Wage/Living Wage: The federal minimum wage remains stuck at a mere $5.15 per hour—not enough to support an individual, let alone her family. Conservative politicians have fought even a slight increase to the minimum wage. Women are the majority of minimum wage workers—which is the basic reason for their persistent poverty. What is really needed is a living wage where a full-time employed person is paid enough to cover basic human needs: rent, food, utilities, and health care—an amount generally $10 to $12 per hour. In the absence of a living wage, there is a continuing need for government assistance programs that help workers upgrade education and skills, assure Unemployment Insurance and subsidize childcare, transportation and health insurance.
MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Loving and committed couples must have the right to marry regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Same-sex partners face economic and social discrimination when they are denied the rights and responsibilities of legal marriage. We must oppose the fear, intolerance and hate and work to permanently erase the social, political and economic divide between gay and straight families.
PAY EQUITY
Wage Gap: On average, women are paid only 76 cents for every dollar a man is paid. The wage gap especially harms women of color: an African-American woman receives only 69 cents for every dollar a white male is paid, and a Hispanic woman gets only 56 cents. Families lose an average of $4,000 each year due to the wage gap; over the course of her career, the average woman loses about $250,000 due to sex discrimination in pay. As women fall further behind economically, so do their families and their communities. The gap between rich and poor is the largest since the 1930’s.
Rising Poverty: The Census Bureau states that a total of 34.6 million people—including 12.1 million children—are living in poverty, and the numbers continue to rise every year. One-fifth of all households headed by single working mothers dive below the poverty line. For single mothers, work-related expenses such as childcare can take as much as one-third to one-half their income. If women were paid the same amount as men in comparable jobs, there would be far fewer women and children living in poverty.
Glass Ceiling: The glass ceiling is a term used to describe invisible barriers that prevent women from being promoted to better-paying positions in the workplace. Women have to work harder than men to be promoted and men are often picked over more qualified women for management positions. The Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution (ERA) has not been adopted and current laws are inadequate. Without the ERA or stronger laws, the glass ceiling will continue to hold women down. When women are paid less, families have less money for their children’s education, less savings to meet emergencies, and greater retirement insecurity.
Nov 05 2005 05:19 pm |
News |