California NOW Responds with Outrage to Passage of National Unborn Victims of Violence Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:Rachel Allen (415) 302-0159, prdir [at] canow.org

March 26, 2004

CALIFORNIA NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN RESPONDS WITH OUTRAGE TO THE PASSAGE OF ‘UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT,’ (H.R. 1997)

“The U.S. Senate’s actions today are a despicable and transparent attempt to undermine abortion rights as guaranteed under Roe v Wade,” said CA NOW executive director, Helen Grieco, responding to the Senate passage of the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” (H.R. 1997). “The failure of the Senate to pass Senator Dianne Feinstein’s “Mothers Protection Act” confirms that conservative legislators and their constituents care nothing about women’s safety, health or freedom.”

Under the disguise of maternal and fetal protection, H.R. 1997 uses a strategy to redefine the Fourteenth Amendment (which guarantees equal protection of the law to persons, not fetuses), to cover "a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development," so that even fertilized eggs, zygotes, blastocysts or embryos are included in the definition.

"If members of Congress really wanted to address the pervasive problem of violence against pregnant women, they should call for increased funding for domestic violence education and for enforcement of existing laws. They should enforce the Violence Against Women Act, not make a mockery of it as this administration has done," said Grieco. “Any injury inflicted on a woman, pregnant or not, should be prosecuted as a crime against the woman.”

"The approach taken in this bill is deeply misguided and does nothing to enhance protection for a pregnant woman. Its passage by the Senate was fueled by misleading language covering up the true intentions. It was then carried forth by the mainstream media who continued to misrepresent the issues,” said Grieco, adding, “CA NOW calls on all those outraged by this underhanded attack on reproductive rights to join us in taking our collective voice to Washington, D.C. for the “March for Women’s Lives,” April 25.

Senator Feinstein can be reached in her DC office at (202) 224-3841, her San Francisco office at (415) 393-0707, or her Los Angeles office at (310) 914-7300.
Email:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax (202) 228-3954
Senator Boxer can be reached in her DC office at (202) 224-3553, her San Francisco office at (415) 403-0100, or her Los Angeles office at (213) 894-5000.
Senator Boxer can also be reached via this web site: http://www.senate.gov.

The Honorable Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax (415) 956-6701


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