By Bethany Woolman, Communications Fellow, ACLU of Northern California
In California, we shackle pregnant women in prison.
And despite widespread opposition, we will continue to do so.
Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have ordered county jails and prisons to stop shackling pregnant women. The bill, AB1900, required new guidelines on restraining pregnant women and would have encouraged counties to adopt these policies. It had overwhelming bipartisan support and passed the legislature without a single "no" vote.
The governor, however, opted to let the dangerous practice of shackling pregnant women continue.
Imagine you're a soldier stationed overseas and discover you're pregnant. If you want to have an abortion but are living in a country where it's illegal, you might as well be living in pre-Roe v. Wade America. Why? Current federal law prohibits almost all abortion services at U.S. military hospitals, even if a woman pays for the procedure herself.
It seems the Bush administration has developed an exit strategy -- unfortunately the target is right here on our home soil. The still-in-office Bush administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone, and those birds are named Health Care and Reproductive Rights.
It is proposing a complicatedly worded (the main clause has a triple negative) rule. It would demand that any organization or institution that receives federal aid from the Department of Health and Human Services will not be eligible for aid unless it signs a written certification saying that it will not refuse to hire providers, doctors or nurses that refuse to provide abortion and even many forms of contraception.
(Proudly cross-posted at Ditch Crazy Dana, Southern California's resource for fighting back against the sheer insanity of Dana Rohrabacher. : ) - promoted by atdleft)
I've had it. I'm sick of it. And I won't take it anymore. Dana Rohrabacher simply has to go. NOW!
Simply put, Crazy Dana is batshit insane. In fact, TOO BATSHIT INSANE to even be allowed inside our nation's Capitol, let alone serving another term in Congress. He doesn't represent our values, and he can't get our logic. This is the final straw, and now it's time for us to plan how to restore sanity to our Congressional office.
(Follow me after the flip for more on how we can really DITCH CRAZY DANA...)
However, our local friends at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties are NOT taking this lying down. They're planning their next actions... AND THEY NEED OUR HELP! If you're a progressive activist in Southern California, and if you care about women's reproductive rights, then you need to follow me after the flip to find out how you can take action.
