Did you know that New Mexico has one of the highest rates of women who are uninsured? Last year the legislature passed a bill that would have established the NM Health Insurance Exchange, but it was vetoed by the Governor. 

A health insurance exchange is a competitive health-care marketplace where the uninsured, underinsured and people in the individual market will be able to buy affordable health coverage under the nation’s health-reform law, the Affordable Care Act.  This exchange could offer new ways to rein in insurance companies and make sure they provide quality care and improve health outcomes.  

Each state has been tasked under the law with creating their own version of an exchange. If a state fails to create an exchange, the federal government will create one for it. In New Mexico, Governor Martinez appears to be opting to bypass the Legislature and create an exchange via Executive Order.

The Governor wants insurance industry executives, whose primary goal is to profit off our healthcare system, to to sit on governing board of the Health Insurance Exchange!!!  It would be like the fox guarding the henhouse.”

Health-reform advocates support more health-consumer voices on the exchange and Sen. George Munoz has introduced a Health Insurance Exchange bill that would be an excellent opportunity to have a discussion about the exchange and give the public a voice in the debate about how the exchange is structured.

Call the Governor at 505-476-2200 and ask her to allow the Health Insurance Exchange issue to be heard this legislative session.  Tell her, “Don’t let the Health Insurance Industry sit on the NM Health Insurance Exchange Board!  It would be like the Fox Guarding the Hen House!”

Call or email the members of HCPAC  who voted to table HB 51, Cmte. Chair Gail Chasey, Rep. Moe Maestas and Rep. Bill O’Neill, and thank them for standing with the young women of New Mexico and voting to table the Parental Notification for Minors.  You can read the statement by the NMRCRC Board on why we must oppose these types of bills.

Question: Why do we thank our legislators for voting to table bad bills instead a do not pass?

Answer: A vote to table a bill kills it, but a do not pass vote moves the bill to its next committee, or to the House or Senate for an up or down vote.

Thank you to all of those who joined in spirit at the committee hearing through facebook    twitter   or the NM Legislative webcast.  The 2012 Legislative session ends at noon on Thursday, Feburary 16th and hopefully, we are in the clear for this year!

SAVE THE DATE!!!  Legislative information and planning meeting.

Please join us at a membership meeting to discuss this year’s legislative session and help us plan for next year’s 60 day session.

FEBRUARY 26, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.

I was very sick with almost non-stop nausea and terrified when I had my illegal abortion. I had two children and was distraught to think that I might not survive to care for them. I was equally certain I could not care for a third child. The tremendous feeling of relief and well-being after

I returned home is one of the brightest memories in my life. I am daily thankful that I was able to find and afford an unlicensed, highly capable provider.

My children are adults now and I have never doubted that my decision was the right one. Coerced pregnancy benefits no one.

Politicians and community leaders who play politics with women’s health care need to have public exposure wherever they go.

Mic Check: SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

I am in California. If someone wants to read my story, my name is Jean Richards

I am a Quaker member, who was raised Episcopalian by a very progressive anti war minister.

Anyway sometime in 1979 80 I became pregnant when my IUD became dislodged without me knowing about it. I was in school and had no interest whatsoever in continuing the pregnancy,  and would have been upset if my boy friend had been interested.  I was a feminist (and still am) and am very grateful that this was before abortion stigma really took hold.  Of course I had heard of the protestors, but really my decision to have a private abortion came from the fact that I am a doctor’s daughter and was kind of a snob about it.  I wanted use my own personal doctor.

It was about five hundred dollars in those days and I did have to ask my parents for the money. They gladly gave it and never voted Republican again. My mother in particular…to the end of her days spoke about it. 

I wasn’t really that fond of my doctor but will never forget him holding my hand as I went under for the anesthesia.  After tht I was fond of him!  When I woke up I thought it had not even happened. I went home and took a codeine (another benefit of a private abortion,) called all my friends and had a party.  Five of us had had abortions that year:  I guess our periods had synchronized as we lived in close proximity.

Anyway one can never know the future but I do know myself, and my life would have been awful if I had an unwanted child at that time. I would have never met my husband or had the perfect teen who is my chosen child.  May I add that my husband comes from a country where abortion is illegal: even birth control is banned and it is one of the poorest countries on earth.   He still cries about the suffering:  had two girlfriends have back alley abortions in straw huts. Guess what they both had IUDs that fell out too: but at the time they had to self inserted IF YOU CAN IMAGINE. Fortunately both girls survived, which he knew at the time; he has recently found out that their fertility also did. But the experience ws truly dangerous and traumatic and he came to this country for his freedom and met me. now we have our pro choice (perfect student too) teen. I would never have the family I have today if it was not for abortion. And may I add my parents may have continued to vote Republican for years!

in friendship:

pro choice activist

Sunday, January 22, 2012,

3:00 pm

St Bede’s Episcopal Church,

1601 S. Saint Francis Drive,

Santa Fe, NM

Do you have a story to share about your abortion experience?  An abortion speakout is a way to begin to remove the stigma surronding abortion and share our stories in a safe, non-judgemental space.

Read some Abortion Speakout Stories

The decision of Obama Administration officials to block a change in policy that would have helped reduce unintended pregnancies among teenagers is deeply disappointing. The administration promised the American public that it would make decisions based on sound science and in the best interests of women’s health and this decision to retain the age restriction of 17 on obtaining emergency contraception over-the-counter fails on both counts. And it fails our teenagers, who need and deserve better access to basic reproductive health care. Tell the President we must do better!

Here’s what happened: Medical experts with the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that Plan B – a brand of emergency contraception – be available to all people without a prescription. Emergency contraception is a safe and effective form of the basic birth control pill and can be taken soon after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy; it does not act to cause an abortion. But at the last minute, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius intervened and blocked the FDA from removing the age restriction on over-the-counter sales of Plan B.  

While we may want our teens to abstain from sex until they are more mature, the fact is that seven in ten young people are sexually active by the time they are 17 .The age restriction of 17 poses a terrible problem for a young woman who is a survivor of rape or incest and does not have the option of talking with her parents if she was attacked by a relative or is from a violent home. It puts the young woman who had unprotected sex or a condom breakage in a difficult situation – she may not be able to get a prescription for emergency contraception in time to avert an unintended pregnancy.  

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice constantly advocates for greater public and private investment in sexuality education for youth. But we must be realistic – when teens are already sexually active, they must have access to the means to protect themselves. The decision to continue the age restriction on emergency contraception does not help them!

Please contact the Administration to protest this decision!

 Operation Rescue, Traditional Values Committee

Preparing for 2012 Legislative Session!

Early indications are that although the 30-day 2012 legislative session should be a “budget only” session, anti-choice forces are planning to introduce several anti-choice, anti-family bills.  According to their newsletters and action alerts, they are hoping to pass a “Parental Notification” bill, which would endanger and make it difficult, if not impossible, for the most vulnerable teens to seek an abortion.  Will they introduce any other bills? We don’t know, but their letter tells their supporters… “Defending traditional values is the daunting task before us. Without your support, we cannot preserve the dignity of life and marriage in the current legislative environment.”

We also know that in addition to targeting abortion providers, they are also asking their members to harass the property owner of Dr. Boyd’s clinic and theUNMBoard of Regents. UNM, along with our local providers, has been a leader in the nation in providing opportunities for future doctors to be trained in the latest and safest practices in abortion care. 

To be able to respond quickly to these attacks on reproductive justice, we must have your email address!!  If we don’t, please send in the reply strip at the bottom of this newsletter, you can also text NMRCRC to 22828, or go to our website and enter your email address.

Woman Jailed, After Self-Administered Abortion

By Amanda Marcotte, Alternet.org

Jennie McCormick, a resident of Idahoand a mother of three, has spent the past few months of her life in a legal and social situation that calls to mind the trials of Hester Pyrnne, the heroine of The Scarlet Letter. As reported by Nancy Hass of Newsweek, McCormack’s ordeal started when she learned she was pregnant by a man who was doing time for robbery.

Realizing that she couldn’t afford another baby, nor the $500 fee and two trips to get an abortion (becauseIdahorequires women to wait 24 hours after their first visit to the doctor to “think it over”), McCormack resorted to buying RU-486 from a vendor online. The police eventually arrested McCormack and charged her with an illegal abortion, claiming that she was overIdaho’s legal limit of 20 weeks for an abortion. Since the exact gestational age can’t be determined, charges have been dropped for now, but prosecutors are retaining the right to re-charge McCormack. In the meantime, she’s become a pariah in her community, been fired from her job, and even had to face social workers who are basically denying her aid to care for her children.

Even in super-liberal New York City, a woman is being prosecuted (albeit in a less drastic way) for a self-abortion…

Calendar items for 2012

 Save the date!  We will be commemorating the Roe v Wade anniversary at a local church inSanta Fe on the afternoon of January 22nd.  Our Prayerfully Pro-choice service will include several clergy speakers and an abortion speak out.  Make sure we have your email address so that we can send your invitation!

 Annual Roe v Wade Rally!  Monday, January 23rd,12:00noon, NM State Capitol Bldg.  Inside, in the Rotunda where it’s warm! To maximize our visibility, wear pro-choice t-shirts, buttons and stickers!  No signs are allowed inside the Capitol.

2012 Legislative Session  January 17th—February 16th, 30 “short” session.  According to the NM Constitution, the 30 session is for the sole purpose of preparing the state budget.  However, the Governor can put any of her priority bills on the “Governor’s Call”.  We anticipate she will include at least one anti-choice bill on her call.

Forty-six years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Griswold v. Connecticut decision legalizing contraception, we are still fighting to make contraception available and affordable for all! Help is on the way, however, if the Affordable Care Act health reform law is fully implemented in a way that recognizes women’s needs. First, millions more women will become eligible for Medicaid in 2014, giving them public health insurance that covers family planning. Next, women just above the Medicaid eligibility threshold will be able to buy subsidized health insurance through state or federal exchanges and there is hope that the federal government will include contraception in the benefits package required for those private insurance plans.

But for women with private insurance – either through their employers or, eventually, through the state insurance exchanges – the key to affordability of birth control will be removal of those co-pay and deductible requirements. That decision will be made by officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) later this summer, after they receive a report from the Institute of Medicine on which women’s health services should be added to the list of preventive services that are already exempted from co-pays and deductibles in private insurance plans.

“Why would we want to get rid of something (birth control) that has been named one of the top 10 great public health achievements of the 20st century?” asks Raising Women’s Voices co-founder Byllye Avery “If anything we should be increasing funding for family planning!” She wants you to tell HHS that contraception is prevention by signing the petition on RWV’s website and doing everything we can over the summer to build public demand for this next important milestone in improving women’s access to affordable contraception.

You Can’t Be Pro-Choice Unless You Support Equal Access

Over the past two months, members of the Obama Administration have issued statements that show a continuing need for education about the damaging impact of federal funding bans on women’s lives, and the positive role that the federal government must play in helping women to obtain the abortion care they need. The National Network of Abortion Funds recently issued this memo to the Obama administration:

If recent statements are any indication, the Obama Administration would very much like to rewrite what it means to be “pro-choice.” The Administration continues to claim that it supports the right of a woman to make her own decision about whether and when to have a child. But it turns out that the Administration only stands firm when that woman has economic resources.

It’s more than a contradiction in terms and much more than a “compromise” to deny access to abortion care to a low-income woman. The 120,000 women who called our abortion funding hotline for help last year can tell you what it really means. Not having enough food for the children you already have. Having the electricity shut off because you need that money to pay for an abortion. Selling your car, even though you need it to get to work. Not being able to return to college next semester.

Yes, we understand that many in Congress would like to end the legal status of abortion altogether. Because funding restrictions are a step toward that goal, capitulation will only embolden our opponents and get us even more onerous obstacles blocking a low-income woman’s path to an abortion.

The reproductive rights, health, and justice communities will fight – until we win – for the ability of every single woman to make the decision she feels is best for herself and her family. We will keep working until we have restored federal Medicaid coverage of abortion – and ensured it is once again available on the same terms as coverage for women continuing a pregnancy. Because nothing less will guarantee that a woman can make this fundamental decision for herself.

Continue reading at RH Reality Check.

Survey Shows Support for Abortion Services

by Rev. Carleton Veazey

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) applauds the findings of a major new survey released today that shows strong support for access to abortion among Millennials (those ages 18-29), mainline white Protestants, African American church-goers, and other religious groups. The survey confirms RCRC’s position that most Americans who are affiliated with a religious tradition support access to legal abortion. The Public Religion Research Institute of Washington, DC, conducted Millennials, Religion and Abortion Survey, which it describes as the largest national public opinion survey on the influence of religion and moral values on the abortion issue. However, the conclusion of the survey – that young people are conflicted about the morality of abortion – differs from our experience with young people on more than 60 campuses, through our Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom program. Millennials have grown up in the most diverse and pluralistic society in America’s history and recognize and respect differing moral views about abortion, which is very different from saying they are conflicted about abortion. In our experience, Millennials support access to abortion services in large part because they believe that individuals should be able to obtain the health and medical services that they themselves determine they need – based on their religious and moral values, conscience and circumstances. In a significant finding, 59% of Millennials surveyed said they think that “abortion can be the most responsible decision a woman can make in certain circumstances.” The survey findings indicates that clergy and religious leaders have a responsibility to speak up in support of women who have had an abortion and to provide assurance that abortion is not a sin and is not condemned or even mentioned in the Bible. Seventy-eight percent of women having an abortion have a religious affiliation, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a public policy and research organization.

Operation Rescue Now Targeting Dr Carhart and Germantown, MD

After last summer’s unsuccessful attempt to intimidate providers and abortion rights supporters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Operation Rescue has announced plans for a “Summer of Mercy 2.0, targeting Dr. LeRoy Carhart in Germantown, MD, July 30-August 7.

Forty minutes from Washington, DC the targeting of this clinic in Germantown is a convenient opportunity for Operation Rescue to attempt to solicit media and donations for their continuing campaign of harassment against legal and safe abortion providers. But it also attracts unstable extremists who are dangerous and unpredictable. The Religious Coaltion for Reproductive Choice will be joining together with other Pro-choice organizations to mount a serious and determined showing of public support for Dr. Carhart and the Germantown, MD, clinic.

Dr. Carhart was a close friend and colleague of Dr. George Tiller, and hasn’t just provided medical care to women in need. He’s also:

• challenged repressive laws at the level of the Supreme Court (most notoriously with Carhart v. Gonzalez)
• shared his medical expertise with other doctors and increased the number of providers who can handle the difficult procedures he specializes in
  publicly spoken out against the hatred of the anti-abortion movement, never being intimidated by their threats.

We are gathering messages of support to Dr. Carhart and the clinic staff. To send your message, go to: www.rcrc.org and click on “Summer of Trust-Faith in Action” link.

Last summer we were all shocked and saddened by the news of Dr. George Tiller’s assassination. Since then, women who needed late term abortion care have had nowhere to turn, until now.

To address this need, the staff of Curtis Boyd, MD PC has decided to provide late term abortions into the third trimester on a case by case basis. They are honored to have Dr. Susan Robinson and Dr. Shelley Sella, both of whom worked with Dr. Tiller, joining their staff to perform these procedures.

Appointments for late abortions are now available. The NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is working closely with Dr. Boyd’s staff to provide Chaplaincy services to patients through our Clergy for Choice Network. We will also be needing more home stay hosts. Can you open your heart and your home to Dr. Boyd’s patients? Contact us.

From the Executive Director

What do you think about our Newsletter’s new look? In these financially difficult times, we must be creative and thoughtful in how we use your donations. One of the changes we have made is to send a condensed version of our newsletter through the postal mail and encourage you to check out the full version on our website.

The New Mexico Religious Coalition has joined with Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, as the Regional Coordinator for New Mexico. RWV is working to make sure women’s voices are heard in the health reform debate and women’s concerns are addressed by policymakers developing national and state health reform plans. You can find out more at www.raisingwomensvoices.net.

We would also like you to welcome Felicia Salazar, our Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom-UNM, campus organizer. We would also like to thank the staff of the UNM Women’s Resource Center for volunteering to be our campus sponsors and look forward to educating, organizing and empowering UNM students to put their faith into action and advocate for pro-choice social justice.

Legislative Priorities 2010

The legislative session is halfway through and we need your support for to pass our priority bills before the 2010 Legislative Session ends. No anti-choice bills have been introduced, so this session gives us the opportunity to put all of our energy into passing these priority bills:

• Requiring that all students take Health Education as a Graduation Requirement. In addition to students learning about Nutrition, Hygiene and Drug Abuse resistance, this bill will make sure that all student are taught Sexuality Education from a Certified Health Educator. Rep. MH Garcia
• Allowing and Regulating Stem Cell Research in New Mexico. This bill would allow Stem Cell Research in New Mexico, including Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and would prohibit Human Cloning. Rep. Al Park
• Formation of a Task Force to Study the Causes of Unintended Pregnancy and Make Policy Recommendations. Sen. E Griego

Make sure that we have your current email address so that we can let you know when to take action on these important bills!

Scott Roeder Convicted of First Degree Murder of Dr. Tiller!!

The first-degree murder conviction of Scott Roeder in the death of Dr. George Tiller serves the cause of justice, and we thank the prosecutors and jury for their clear message that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated. We pray the verdict sends a clear message to other violent extremists that there is no justification for murdering abortion providers and that their crimes will be punished to the full extent of the law.

It rests on all of us to take action to stop the hate. We must demand that government ensures the safety of abortion providers and clinics. We must speak out clearly against legislation that restricts access to reproductive care. We must challenge at every moment hate-mongering, fear, and lies.

Dr. Tiller was a champion of women’s health and a brave and committed physician who never backed down from providing a medical service to women in need. We celebrate his life and praise his family for their service and support. Let us emulate their commitment to women’s health and in this way honor Dr. Tiller’s life and his memory.
]]> http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2010/feed/ 0 http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2009/ http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2009/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:22:44 +0000 NMRCRC Admin http://nmrcrc.org/?p=135 read more]]> Dr. George Tiller: Dedicated to Women’s Rights, Justice, and Liberty for All

Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

June 1, 2009

Today, we mourn the death of a humble, courageous man who dedicated his life to justice, liberty and freedom – Dr. George Tiller. George Tiller was murdered yesterday in his church, a place of peace and worship. This good doctor put his life on the line every day to make sure that safe, legal abortion was available to women in the greatest need, women with late-term complications and emergencies, who often had nowhere else to turn. He did so in respect for each woman he served and in the service of a great and noble cause – preserving the promise of reproductive freedom for all women.

Dr. Tiller had a powerful vision that sustained his daily actions of courage. In a letter thanking RCRC for our support during the hate-filled assault on his Wichita clinic in the summer of 2001, he wrote: “Together, we will create a society and a paradigm shift so that every pregnancy is an invited guest in the woman’s body and a welcome addition to her family.”

Dr. Tiller was a military man. He was proud of his service to his country and to the cause of freedom – and he felt that providing abortion services was part of this country’s commitment to upholding women’s rights and democracy. He hung an American flag at the clinic every day. After that summer assault on his clinic, he suggested to an RCRC staff member that those who harassed and threatened abortion providers and women needing services were tyrants – and he felt that in providing services, no matter the danger and difficulty, he was standing up to tyranny.

George Tiller was continually harassed – his home, church and clinic were picketed, his clinic was burned down, he was shot in both arms by a demonstrator who is now jailed, and he was recently targeted for investigation only to be acquitted by a jury just a few months ago. But he never backed down.

George Tiller began providing abortion services in the 1970s. We cannot say with certainty what motivated and inspired this man to persevere, despite almost daily threats. Perhaps it was the model of his father, also a doctor, who provided abortion services before it was legal to do so. After his father’s untimely death in a plane crash, George Tiller took over the practice. Some women patients began to ask discreetly, “Are you going to help us out like your father did?” And so he did. This strong family connection is in the great tradition of American values.

Women in the greatest medical need came to Dr. Tiller’s clinic in Wichita; women in the final weeks of pregnancy, with crushing medical conditions were among his patients. His clinic was a warm, welcoming place. Once past the gauntlet of angry demonstrators, women found a compassionate staff, a well-run medical practice, and the sense they were respected and safe.

Reformation Lutheran Church, Dr. Tiller’s church, also sought to be a safe place for all people. In a statement yesterday, church members wrote: “…we reject any notion that violence against another human being is an acceptable way to resolve differences over any issue. We must always strive to engage in peaceful discussion. Our faith calls us to this. Our humanity demands it.”

With members of Dr. Tiller’s church, we pray for healing and peace to be restored. We pray for Dr. Tiller’s family, for the clinic staff, for patients and their families, for friends, and for our country.

We pray for George Tiller – a true American hero, who lived his life according to his values and his faith, who was selfless and fearless in the line of danger to the very end.

From Your Executive Director: There’s Good News and Bad News!

After 8 long years of the Bush Administration’s repeated attacks on reproductive justice it is clear in the first 6 months, progress has already been made by the Obama Administration in several critical areas.

The Obama Administration moved quickly to rescind the Bush administration “religious refusal” rule (also called a “conscience clause”), which vastly expands the leeway for healthcare personnel to refuse to provide abortions or even refer patients to another provider who does perform abortions.

President Obama signed into law the Affordable Birth Control Act, which closed a loophole in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 that had resulted in skyrocketing prices for Birth Control prescriptions for College Health Centers and Public Health Family Planning Clinics.

The FDA announced that emergency contraception (Plan B) will now be made available to 17-year-olds without a prescription and will review the Bush Administration ruling that denies EC to young women under 17 without a prescription.

And for the first time ever, abstinence-only-until-marriage funding was cut, by $14 million, in the 2009 budget, and President Obama’s 2010 budget zeros out this wasteful and ineffective program. In his first week in office, President Obama overturned the global gag rule, which prevented US foreign aid recipients from counseling women about the availability of safe abortion services and from advocating for the liberalization of abortion laws and restored US contributions to the United Nations Population Fund, providing $50 million to the UN agency that funds family planning assistance internationally.

President Obama’s decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research is expected to provide a major boost to one of the most promising but controversial fields of biomedical research in generations.

So in the face of so much progress, so quickly, in addition to the tragic assassination of Dr. George Tiller, what could the bad news be?

The election of President Obama and the progress toward Reproductive Justice has been a strong recruiting tool for anti-choice activists, causing them to mobilize in ways they never needed to during the Bush Administration.

The Susan B. Anthony List* says its supporters sent more anti-abortion-related letters, e-mails and faxes to Obama and lawmakers in the first quarter alone than during each of the last two years.

The American Life League reported a 30 percent increase in donations over last year. And they plan to increase their staff in Washington and, after their post-election website crash, recently upgraded their computer system to handle their surge in online activism.

More than 261,000 people signed an online petition calling on Notre Dame to withdraw its invitation for President Obama to speak at the Catholic university’s May 17 commencement. The petition says Obama has carried out “some of the most anti-life actions of any American president,” including expanding taxpayer-funded research on embryonic stem cells.

As much as we would all like to finally relax and let our guard down, the assassination of Dr. Tiller reminds us that we cannot afford to. Anti-choice activists are mobilizing to oppose the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sotomayor. Here in New Mexico, St. Vincent Hospital is pulling back from its promises that doctors would not be required to comply with Catholic teaching when treating their patients, and abstinence-only sexuality education advocates continue to present their failed programs as the answer to New Mexico’s increasing teen pregnancy rate.

Just to make up the gains we lost in Reproductive Justice in the last 8 years, we need your continued support. And if we are to make any progress toward moving Reproductive Justice forward, we will need more than that. Please share this newsletter with your friends, family and worship community. Our speaker’s bureau is available to meet with your bible study group, women’s circle or prayer meeting. Ask a friend to volunteer with you as a patient escort or state fair booth. And don’t forget to join our monthly donor club, the Flame-Tenders, so that more of your donation can go directly to our work. Because your regular donations allow us to reduce our fundraising staff time, we can spend more time expanding our programs. We can’t do it without you!

*(a 501c4 advocacy organization, with a Political Action Committee, whose goal “is getting more women active in the political and legislative arena. We need both women candidates, as well as grassroots activists speaking out against abortion.” Close to half of the candidates it endorsed in recent campaigns have been pro-life men.)

Clinic Arsonists Sentenced to Federal Prison

On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Conway accepted plea agreements that set the prison terms for Sergio Baca at 46 months and Chad Altman at 40 months. The NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice attended the sentencing hearing in support of Dr. Boyd and his staff. Here is Dr. Boyd’s statement, that was given by a member of his staff at the hearing:

Your honor, for years we were picketed by a man who carried a placard stating: “What Man Would Allow His Baby to Be Aborted?” Although many men love and care for their children (a blessing for any child and a good for all of society), love for a woman and child and a commitment to raise that child is not what our picketer’s sign was about. That sign says that women and children should be the property of men–without rights of their own. Fortunately for all of us, that woman negating (if not hating) sentiment is not the law of our land. In America women do have rights, granted by law: abortion is legal.

On the night of December 6th, 2007, these two men took violent action against us based on the belief that they were above the law: a belief that they were entitled to control a woman’s life, her decisions and her body, since one of them thought he had impregnated her. There was no love for that woman. They were no longer in a relationship, and there was no commitment to support, love and care for the baby she might have. These two men destroyed our medical office in an arson that had enough fire power to destroy the entire medical complex in which it was housed. Only the prompt response of the Albuquerque Fire Department and the firefighters who risked their lives to put out the blaze saved the other offices.

Although we have no wish to harm these dangerous men, it is essential that as a community we not condone their actions. They destroyed our clinic, endangered lives, and denied abortion services to women they did not know, whose stories of need, endangered health, and desperation they can neither imagine nor respect.

Because we believe that justice tempered by mercy is our best hope for a safe and fair society, that hatred and revenge serve no good end, we agreed that these men who mercilessly damaged us could plead guilty to a lesser charge.

We work every day to see that women’s rights are a reality–that women are able to legally and safely end pregnancies they cannot in good conscience carry further. Yet we lost our own sense of safety in the world. It took us nearly a year (and incalculable time and money) to rebuild our office. We are still rebuilding our sense of safety in this world.

Because we were targeted as abortion providers and because we take such pride in our work, it is tempting to see this as solely a crime about abortion. It is not. The principle at stake here is an American ideal written into law: in America we should not destroy another’s home or business because we happen to disagree with them. Today these men are brought to justice as an affirmation of the American way.
]]> http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2009/feed/ 0 http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2008/ http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2008/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:18:25 +0000 NMRCRC Admin http://nmrcrc.org/?p=133 read more]]> Bush Administration to Expand Religious Refusal Rule

In its waning days, the Bush Administration is set to push through new rules that could devastate women’s access to basic reproductive health services. If implemented, these regulations could preempt our state laws that protect women’s access to health care and undermine the nation’s fragile network of safety net providers that serve low income women. The regulations go on to expand the definition of abortion to include some of the most common forms of contraception, including many birth control pills.

The Administration justifies this attack on critical health care services by claiming it is showing respect for individual conscience and religious freedom. In so doing, they impose through government mandate a single religious ideology and trample on the commitment of major religious traditions to accessible reproductive health care.

Specifically, the draft proposed regulations:

• PERMIT institutions such as St. Vincent Hospital as well as individuals to refuse to provide women access to contraceptive services and information.
• PERMIT health care providers to refuse to perform any service they deem morally objectionable – which raises critical questions about access to all health care services.
• REDEFINE pregnancy as beginning with fertilization of the egg – counter to the government’s own longstanding policy, as well as that of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which state that pregnancy begins with the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
• REDEFINE abortion to include common methods of contraception which may work by interfering with implantation. Birth control pills and IUDs could be disallowed.
• CONFLICT with requirements of the Title X family planning program to ensure that women have access to a broad range of contraceptive options and that pregnant women receive non-directive counseling upon request.
• TRUMP New Mexico state laws that protect women’s access to reproductive health care,including our law requiring health insurance plans that provide drug benefits to include coverage of contraception; and our law that requires hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape survivors.

These regulations are in draft form and have not been officially released by the Health and Human Services Department. There is still time to take action right now to prevent the release of these proposed regulations. We’re asking you to tell President Bush and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt that you oppose this assault on individual rights, religious freedom and medical access by going to the Federal Action Center and let them know that you believe that these regulations are an affront to religious freedom.

Responsible Education About Life or Unproven Abstinence Only?

In recent years, hundreds of millions of federal dollars have been poured into unproven abstinence-only education for teens. While most sex education programs teach the value of abstinence, abstinence-only education does not provide basic information on preventing sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. Advocates of abstinence-only education oppose reproductive choice and women’s equality and seek to make narrow religious beliefs the law of the land. Make no mistake—they don’t represent most people of faith, who overwhelmingly support providing accurate information about sexuality.

Instead of wasting all that money and putting our children’s lives at risk, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) supports the Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL), (H.R. 1653, S. 972), federal legislation to provide $204 million to states for programs that provide honest, medically accurate, complete, age-appropriate sex education; programs that the public almost universally supports and that studies show can be effective in helping teens stay healthy. Senator Jeff Bingaman is a co-sponsor of the REAL Act.

As people of faith, we believe it is a moral imperative to provide children and teens with all the information they need to make responsible and informed decisions about their health.

Why the REAL Act is needed.

• Each year, there are 750,000 teen pregnancies, 82% of which are unintended.
• 31% of young women become pregnant at least once before the age of 20.
• Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school.
• Each year, 9 million teens and young adults acquire an STD.

What REAL Would Do

Provide states with much needed funding for programs that would:

• be required to be age-appropriate and medically accurate;
• teach that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and stress the value of abstinence while they also teach about the benefits of contraception and protection;
• encourage family communication about sexuality;
• refrain from teaching or promoting religion;
• teach negotiation skills for young people;
• teach young people about the effects of alcohol and drug use on responsible behavior.

Major faith traditions representing millions of Americans support comprehensive sexuality education. In keeping with our nation’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, they oppose civil laws that would impose specific religious views about sex education on all Americans. Please ask Representative Tom Udall to co-sponsor the REAL Act, and while you are there please thank Senator Bingaman for his support.

Support the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

It’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over and soon the State Fair will be here. And with it comes one of the New Mexico Religious Coalition’s most important projects, our information booth in the Manual Lujan exhibit hall.

Each year thousands of New Mexicans stop by our booth to pick up information, sign a petition or share their opinion. Every year we hear the same question, “Aren’t all religious people against abortion?” Of course our answer is “No! Many New Mexicans and their denominations are pro-choice!” They are usually surprised and pleased when they find out that their denomination supports reproductive choice and that they can join us as a person of faith who is pro-choice.

But we must reach out to thousands more citizens of the state who still mistakenly believe being pro-faith and pro-choice is a contradiction. Nothing could be further from the truth! The fact is, freedom of choice is a mainstream religious and democratic principle. Because we are pro-faith and pro-choice we:

• assisted 12 women with grants averaging $145 each for travel expenses to the state’s only abortion providers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Since 2000 we have assisted 124 women. Our clients typically get by on less than $800 a month to care for themselves and their families.
• provided pastoral support to the staff of the Abortion Acceptance Clinic after it was fire bombed last December and provided escorts to the patients at their temporary clinic. We continue to provide escorts for patients at the Planned Parenthood clinic. These wonderful volunteers provide a comforting buffer between the patients and the hurtful words shouted by protestors.
• are a member of New Mexicans for Responsible Sexuality Education whose mission is to advocate for comprehensive sex education in our state’s public schools.
• are sponsoring two student organizers for our SYRJ or Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice Chapter at the University of New Mexico. Last year UNM SYRJ helped organize a campus wide response to a recent visit to the University by “Justice for All” an anti-abortion group that uses graphic 20 ft tall displays equating abortion to the lynching of African Americans, the Holocaust of WWII, the killing fields of Cambodia and the massacres of Native Americans during the Indian Wars.

If you haven’t made a donation this year, please do so right away, and if you have, please consider making an extra donation. We have a lot of work to do. We must continue these critical programs and we must be actively involved mobilizing our families, friends, neighbors, and congregations to register and to vote their conscience in the fall elections.
]]> http://nmrcrc.org/2011/10/nmrcrc-newsletter-2008/feed/ 0