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Green Party National Women's Caucus Demands Equal Rights GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL WOMEN'S CAUCUS Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Spokesperson Contacts: Outlawing Healthcare Choices Galvanizes Women WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the wake of news that South Dakota has outlawed most abortions, women leaders in the Green Party resolved to increase their struggle for Women until women's equality is enshrined in the Constitution. "Although the South Dakota situation has brought this matter to a head, oppression of women is part of our history in the United States and the world," said Morgen D'Arc, the Green Party's National Women's Caucus Founder and one of the first Co-Chairs. "In a nation that exports principles of democracy at the barrel of a gun, principles that are based on the equality of people, no administration - either Republican or Democrat - in the history of the United States has ever placed the quality of women's lives, much less their equality, at the forefront of American policy," continued Ms. D'Arc. "It's time we changed that. It's the 21st Century." On Monday, February 27, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill, which was passed by the state legislature in February after supporters argued that the recent appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito made the Supreme Court more likely to overturn reproductive rights. The bill outlaws all abortions, including those performed in cases of rape or incest, except when necessary to save a mother's life. "South Dakota can pass whatever laws they want, of course," said Lee Jeronimo, Green Party candidate for Texas Supreme Court, "but in this case they're doing no more than passing a flagrantly unconstitutional statute and hoping to bait the U.S. Supreme Court into upsetting settled law regarding women's rights over their own bodies." Several other states have pending legislation that would ban abortion including Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Proponents of these bills cite concern for life and 'souls' while making no such concerned provisions in the form of education or health care for the same lives and souls after they are born. "The hypocrisy of the proponents of these bills saddens us, knowing that taxpayer dollars will be spent to further oppress women in ways that won't address the problems of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies," said Katey Culver, caucus member and Green Party candidate for U.S. Cong. Dist. 7th of Tennessee. "So much more could be accomplished for women if states invested in scientific and medically based public education on reproduction, family planning and birth control. Education level plus reasonable access to contraception have been shown to be the most effective factors in reducing unplanned pregnancies and thereby abortions," continued Ms. Culver, who also serves as co-chair of the Green Party of Tennessee, one of the states with legislation pending. "We should be investing far more in our young women, investing in their education, health care and economic opportunities." For the Green Party, the right of women to control their own bodies is nonnegotiable, and Greens call it essential for every woman to have the right to safe, legal abortion. <http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#998980>. In addition, Greens support universal single-payer health care, including the availability of publicly funded contraception and abortion for women living at poverty levels. <http://gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#999378> "A woman's right to choose is essential," said Rae Vogeler, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate <http://www.VoteRae.org>. "If a woman cannot control her own body, she cannot control her own life. This is about Equal Rights, not just choice. The general public does not engage in discourse of denying men options in their personal reproductive health care. Equal Rights recognized under the Constitution is the best way to make sure each woman can control her own body and reinforce the principle underlying a woman's right to choose articulated in Roe versus Wade." MORE INFORMATION National Women's Caucus
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