The following is a statement From Marriage Equality RI on the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention:

Today legislators in Massachusetts, under the leadership Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, courageously stood up against fear, bias, and discrimination. We applaud the 155 members of the Massachusetts {legislature} who stood up against bias, defeating the amendment by a greater margin than expected. Marriage Equality Rhode Island was pleased to see the Massachusetts legislators vote against sending the civil rights of same sex couples to a popular vote. Massachusetts, always a beacon of progress and equality, has NEVER written discrimination into its Constitution. With hundreds of Rhode Island couples already married in Massachusetts, and hundreds more planning their weddings, this vote has particular significance for all Rhode Islanders. We commend our colleagues at MassEquality for this hard-won fight, and will continue to work for equal marriage here in Rhode Island. We look forward to following the standard set by our sister state, and urge the Rhode Island legislature to support the right of all Rhode Island couples to marry in their home state.

MERI believes that a civil society guarantees to all of its citizens certain civil rights; civil marriage is one of these fundamental rights. Each and every adult in Rhode Island - regardless of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation - deserves the opportunity to attain the legal protections and safeguards gained through civil marriage.

June 07, 2007

In a 247-176 bipartisan vote, the House today passed a bill that would allow federal funding of stem cell research utilizing donated human embryos. If signed into law, this bill would offer people with serious illnesses and life-threatening conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries the chance for a better life. The Senate passed a similar bill in April, reflecting the fact that an overwhelming majority of the public supports this research.

According to a recent poll, 62 percent of people in the U.S. approve of medical research using embryonic stem cells, and nearly 60 percent want more taxpayer money to be used for this promising line of research. President Bush’s 2005 veto of similar legislation and his current threat to veto this bi-partisan measure exposes his willingness to pander to his ultra-conservative supporters, regardless of the price the public will pay.

“Women are the majority of family caregivers, and the heartbreak of having a loved one with a debilitating illness and the related burden of their care could both be lifted with this bill,” said NOW President Kim Gandy. “Although George W. Bush seems stubbornly bent on pleasing his right-wing base, we urge him not to choose religious and political extremism over medical progress.”

NOW thanks members of the House and Senate for their bipartisan support. “We must continue to change the face of politics so that our leaders will put our health, our families and our well-being at the top of the nation’s priorities,” said Gandy.

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

June 6, 2007

At the very core of our liberty as modern women is the ability to control our fertility and plan our families, but there is an all-out attack on birth control in this country.

Religious and political extremists are trying to make it impossible for women to fill their birth control prescriptions or get the morning-after pill to prevent pregnancies. Their efforts to limit pharmacy access especially affect women in rural areas with few pharmacies, and low income women with limited transportation.

We congratulate Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for introducing the Access to Birth Control Act (ABC) to restore contraceptive options to those who most need them.

Thursday, May 17th from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. at Tazza, 250 Westminster St., Providence

Join RI NOW members for a drink and/or a meal and some interesting conversation about issues affecting the lives of women and girls in Rhode Island. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people and learn what RI NOW is all about. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Vanessa at vevolz@hotmail.com.

Each gift package includes the following in a silver gift box:

- One-year MEMBERSHIP in RI NOW

- RI NOW-exclusive EARRINGS with a woman-shaped charm in your choice of SILVER or GOLD

- RI NOW T-SHIRT in purple with white lettering (specify S,M,L,XL)

- RI NOW BUTTON and BROCHURE as well as our most recent NEWSLETTER

Mother’s Day Gift Packages are available for $50 (includes shipping). Quantities are limited. Contact Carolyn at president@rinow.org for more information or to order.

This new website is Targeted at the Proposed 24hr Waiting Period Legislation in the RI General Assembly and other Imminent Threats to Women’s Health Privacy.

Did you know that in Rhode Island’s democratically-controlled legislature,ONLY 12 out of 75 representatives and ONLY 10 out of 38 senators are pro-choice?

Don’t let anti-choice legislators decide what is best for you:
We hope YOU will Decide, RI! http://YouDecideRI.blogspot.com

April 18, 2007

Providence, RI – Today the US Supreme Court upheld the nation’s first abortion procedure ban – a ban enacted by George W. Bush and conservatives in Congress. The grave impact of this ban will undoubtedly impact women in Rhode Island.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the federal abortion procedure ban usurps a woman’s ability to make critical health care decisions with her physician. That this ruling includes no exception for the health of the woman immorally places a higher value on the fetus than on the living, breathing human being who is carrying it,” said Carolyn Mark, President of the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization for Women.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in making this decision, has potentially opened the floodgates to ending safe, legal abortion and provided an opening for a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for 34 years. With this decision, the women’s health exception enshrined in Roe and protected in Casey has been virtually eliminated.

The law is so vaguely written that it may ban the most common abortion procedure used after 12 weeks of pregnancy, and there is no exception to allow its use if the woman’s health is in serious danger. The joint ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood is a major step in the campaign to outlaw all abortions, first by chipping away at and then by fully overturning Roe v. Wade.

Said Ms. Mark: “President Bush used his allies’ control in Congress to push through anti-abortion legislation, and he used their power to confirm anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court—justices who have now upheld that same legislation. We must stop the stacking of the federal courts and work toward a congressional majority – at the state and national level - that supports women’s rights.”

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

April 18, 2007

Today the Supreme Court upheld this nation’s first abortion procedure ban — a ban enacted by George W. Bush and conservatives in Congress. Five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — both installed by Bush and a Republican-majority Senate — ruled that the law does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.

Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts the law and disregards the U.S. Constitution.

The law is so vaguely written that it may ban the most common abortion procedure used after 12 weeks of pregnancy, and there is no exception to allow its use if the woman’s health is in serious danger. The joint ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood is a major step in the campaign to outlaw all abortions, first by chipping away at and then by fully overturning Roe v. Wade.

Bush used his allies’ control in Congress to push through anti-abortion legislation, and he used their power to confirm anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court — justices who have now upheld that same legislation.

The National Organization for Women and other advocates predicted as much, and fought tooth and nail against the confirmation of Roberts, and even more passionately against Alito, who replaced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Now we see that apparently, everything Roberts and Alito said at their confirmation hearings about respecting precedent was a pack of lies.

When the time came for women’s rights supporters in the Senate to prevent confirmation of Sam Alito, the “fifth vote” against abortion rights, only 25 senators stood up for women. And indeed he was the fifth vote for the majority in today’s decision. The senators who voted to end the Democratic filibuster, thus allowing Alito to join the court, must be reminded that their failure led to this day. We must stop the stacking of the federal courts and work toward a congressional majority that supports women’s rights.

Tellingly, seven years ago in Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court ruled against an almost identical ban enacted in Nebraska. The clear precedent set by Stenberg in 2000 was the reason three U.S. Courts of Appeal declared the federal ban unconstitutional. But last year the Bush administration pressed on with appeals to the Supreme Court by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

So why did Gonzales forge ahead when a clear precedent had been set only six years earlier? And why did the court uphold this ban, effectively undoing that precedent? In the dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains it quite clearly:

“Though today’s opinion does not go so far as to disregard Roe or Casey, the Court, differently composed that it was when we last considered a restrictive abortion regulation, is hardly faithful to our earlier invocations of the ‘rule of law’ and the ‘principles of stare decisis.’”

In other words: The Supreme Court changed, stupid!

This is a clarion call for feminists, progressives and everyone who cares about justice, equality and democracy. We must link arms and say “No more.”

We must elect a Congress that will repeal this ban and a president who will sign the repeal.

November 2008 can’t come soon enough.

Legislative Agenda

On Thursday March 15th, RI NOW members will get together to share a meal, get to know each other better, and talk about issues that are important to women and girls in Rhode Island. This is a great “first-event” to attend, if you’ve been wanting to learn more about RI NOW and meet some of our members. This ‘Food for Thought’ will be at Twist on S. Angell St. in Providence at 8 p.m. Please join us for dinner or just coffee. Please RSVP to Carolyn at president@rinow.org so we can reserve a table. Hope to see you there!