Virginia NOW PAC Endorses Terry McAuliffe for Governor

May 30, 2013 – The Virginia Chapter of the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee enthusiastically endorses Terry McAuliffe for governor and calls on all fair-minded Virginians to reject the extremism of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli.

McAuliffe will be a dynamic leader in ending the Republican “War on Virginia Women” that is not only threatening Virginia women’s sense of security but also discouraging businesses from locating here. He will move us forward on economic growth, jobs, good schools, quality health care for our fragile families, and safety from violence in our homes, on our campuses and throughout our communities.

Virginia NOW – dedicated to advancing women’s rights and social justice for all - is fed up with cruel policies aimed at our state’s girls and women. We need a governor who works for solutions, not stalemates. McAuliffe’s focus on creating good jobs, educating the workforce and closing the pay gap between women and men is what Virginia needs.

Virginia’s current political leadership has turned our state into a national embarrassment. The Cuccinelli-McDonnell record on women’s progress is zero and their attempts to undermine women’s access to health care are calculated and heartless. The number of Virginia’s woman-run businesses is precariously low and Virginia ranks among the worst states in the nation in terms of equal pay for women. McAuliffe’s commitment to a thriving economy, fairness and justice is the right way to build Virginia and appeal to businesses and families.

In the tradition of Senator Tim Kaine, McAuliffe understands that women’s issues are family issues and economic issues. He has pledged to take action  against the economic discrimination that results in women making 78 cents to a man’s dollar for the same job and to ensure that Virginians have comprehensive health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Cuccinelli has fought a losing battle against making health insurance more affordable and available and is a leading foe of the ACA requirement that insurance policies cover contraception as basic preventive health care (he calls it a “sterilization mandate”).

We deserve a better Virginia than the narrow-minded, regressive leadership of Ken Cuccinelli and his Tea Party allies. We need the common-sense, bipartisan leadership that Terry McAuliffe will provide as governor.

VA NOW website       Terry McAuliffe for Governor

Melissa Harris-Perry on VA’s GOP     (4 segments on 5.26.2013)

Turn Anger Into Action

April 12, 2013 – The Virginia Board of Health today defied the recommendations of legal and medical experts – and the protest of thousands of Virginians – in voting 11-2 to subject women’s health centers that provide abortion care and other reproductive and sexual health services to medically-unnecessary building requirements. These targeted regulations on abortion providers (TRAP) require Virginia’s first-trimester abortion providers to comply with architectural standards written for newly-constructed hospitals – standards not required of any other outpatient facility or existing hospital in the commonwealth. As approved by the Board of Health, these unprecedented regulations will likely force the majority of first-trimester abortion providers in Virginia to close due to the expense and difficulty required to reconstruct existing facilities.

Virginia NOW labels these regulations the “Cuccinelli-McDonnell clinic-closing regulations” because they are a result of the political agenda and anti-women ideology of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Governor Bob McDonnell.  As you know, Cuccinelli is running to be the next governor. If elected, he will be in position to further escalate his blatant career- long crusade against women’s access to reproductive health care. What can we do?

We’re activists! We’re angry, outraged, sad. What should we do to express our feelings? My personal response: get involved in the political process by working for candidates who will safeguard women’s rights and defeating candidates who will take away our rights and freedoms. By getting involved I mean REALLY INVOLVED – going to political meetings, volunteering for a candidate, giving money to candidates, going door-to-door for a candidate, making phone calls, doing data entry, handing out literature, talking to your neighbors. You get the idea. Perhaps you could be a candidate yourself. 

What will you do? Post a message on the Virginia NOW facebook page or email legislativevp@vanow.org and I’ll post it for you (anonymously if you wish).  

Make this a turning point. Turn anger into action. 

Thank you for all you do to safeguard women’s health and lives. 

Marj Signer, Virginia NOW Legislative V-P

legislativevp@vanow.org

Getting Active at the Virginia General Assembly

The Virginia General Assembly began its current session January 9 and is scheduled to conclude February 23. Virginia NOW is tracking a number of bills and will send out alerts when it’s necessary to take action.

We are proud to represent the interests of Virginia women during the session and to be a resource to NOW chapters. We hope you’ll get organized and excited to take a trip to Richmond for a day or two, or even more! Our lobbying team would be happy to email/call/chat with you about some ways to help out in your own town. But remember, physical presence and people power are what change the course of history–the Commonwealth NEEDS us all!

So, what are we doing?

On Mondays– through Feb 18, starting at 1:30pm
We will meet right outside the main entrance of the General Assembly Building (910 Capitol St Richmond VA)
Join Vicki – NOW’s Volunteer Lobbyist – and the Alliance for Progressive Values Women’s Taskforce, and Unite Women as we talk with Delegates and Senators on issues we, as advocates of women’s rights and social justice, are concerned about or support. If you have never met with your Delegate or Senator before, do not feel pressured or unimportant. Remember, we are strong in numbers and no one will be asked to speak who is not comfortable doing so. This is a chance to learn hands on with like-minded and supportive people.

On Wednesdays– through Feb 13, starting at 8:30am
7th Floor West Conference Room of the General Assembly Building (910 Capitol St Richmond VA)
Join our lobbying team as we attend the League of Women Voters’ Roundtable. The Roundtable is a place to hear updates on legislation, hear from Delegates and Senators on a variety of issues, and network with women and men from MANY different community groups working on similar issues as NOW. After the Roundtable, there will be an opportunity of us to talk with Delegates and Senators regarding our legislation.

On Fridays– through Feb 15) starting at 11am
We are meeting at the gate of the main entrance to the General Assembly Building (910 Capitol St Richmond VA)
Join Richmond NOW, Unite Women, and Women United as we take on the General Assembly, suffragist style. We will be standing together with protest signs demanding different aspects of women’s rights and social justice issues. Let’s make our voices heard – and visible! These signs are being professionally made, but if you have a specific opinion and would like to bring your own sign, the more the merrier. This is a peaceful assembly of feminist activists, so we please ask that if someone does come up and makes a degrading or negative remark about one of our signs, we do not engage in any way! Focusing on people who are fighting for injustice does no nothing for our goal of moving VA and our Nation forward.

Where Senate Candidate Tim Kaine Stands on Our Issues

NOW/PAC has endorsed former governor Timothy Kaine for U.S. Senate from Virginia.

Kaine has been a champion of equal rights and opportunities throughout his career.

Marj Signer of VA NOW, National NOW President Terry O’Neill, Tim Kaine

On reproductive rights, he states: “I strongly support the right of women to make their own health and reproductive decisions and, for that reason, will oppose efforts to weaken or subvert the basic holding of Roe v. Wade.”

He opposes proposed federal “personhood” legislation as “a damaging policy, which could ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade and ban access to some forms of FDA-approved birth control.”

On other issues that are crucial to women’s lives – equal pay, health care, violence against women, educational excellence, civil rights and LGBT rights – we can count on Kaine to protect and advance women’s well-being and rights.

From Tim Kaine’s website:

On my first day as Governor, I signed an executive order that banned discrimination against state employees based on race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, veteran status or disability. I also convened the Virginia Sexual Violence Commission and adopted many of their recommendations, which improved Virginia’s prevention and response to sexual violence in the Commonwealth.

I have been a strong supporter of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guarantees equal pay for equal work.

I strongly support the right of women to make their own health and reproductive decisions and, for that reason, will oppose efforts to weaken or subvert the basic holding of Roe v. Wade. We all share the goal of reducing unwanted pregnancies and abortions. The right way to do this is through education and access to health care and contraception rather than criminalizing women’s reproductive decisions.

Kaine’s new radio ad is an example of his understanding of and commitment to NOW’s issues:
“Some politicians would turn back the clock for women. Instead of creating jobs, they tried to tell women what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. Take George Allen. He’d allow employers to deny coverage to women employees for mammograms and contraception. He supports legislation that could outlaw some forms of contraception. Yet, he voted against family and medical leave, and opposes measures to give equal pay to women.

“Tim Kaine has a different view. He supports family and medical leave and equal pay for women. It’s not just about right and wrong. It’s about economic opportunity for women, which helps all our families. Kaine believes women can make their own health decisions – government should not intrude. The difference is clear. George Allen would turn back the clock. Tim Kaine would move us forward.”

From Kaine’s statement at Planned Parenthood “women are watching” bus tour in Virginia
“Often, these issues are pushed by the other side as wedge issues. They want to use wedge issues that divide us. Women’s lives are not political issues, women’s lives are not wedge issues. Women have the ability to make their own health care decisions and their own moral decisions.”

“There has never been a time when we’ve needed fewer wedge issues. The two sides are already too far apart. We need more glue issues that can bind us together.”

We Will Not Be Silenced & We Will Continue to Fight!

Supporters of women’s reproductive health converged on the Board of Health meeting Sept 14 in Richmond to press our case. Many of us were denied admission to the meeting so we held an impromptu meeting outside. The Board dealt a blow to women’s health and well-being by voting, 13-2, to reverse regulations it had previously adopted that exempted women’s clinics from onerous and unnecessary construction requirements. This fight for women’s clinics and women’s health care is not over!!

Kobby Hoffman (left) and Tannis Fuller of Charlottesville NOW

Josh Kadrich

Connie Boyer of Richmond NOW

L-R: Joan Dix, Charlottesville; Logan Smith, Henrico; Mary Coiner, Richmond; Pat Fishback, Richmond

Mother and Daughter for Reproductive Rights: Rebecca Samawicz (left) and Justine Manning

Leila Choudhury of Henrico

Evelyn Waring, RN – came despite a huge cast on her leg because “I’m a nurse and this is about health”

We will not be silenced! When we were not allowed in the meeting or overflow rooms and our voices were silenced, we gathered for an impromptu hearing.

Stop Cuccinelli-McDonnell from Shutting Down Women’s Health Centers

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Governor Bob McDonnell are once again putting Virginia women’s health and safety in jeopardy.This Friday, September 14, the Virginia Board of Health must vote AGAIN on new regulations for women’s health centers that provide five or more first-trimester abortions a year. The Board of Health is being bullied to do what Cuccinelli-McDonnell want: force women’s clinics to close. We must urge the Board of Health to stand strong for women’s health.

1) Send a message to each Board member asking them to base their vote on women’s health and safety. We are partnering with the ACLU of Virginia on this.

2) SHOW UP Friday and bring friends. The location of the Board of Health meeting is Perimeter Center, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond. It is expected to be crowded so arrive early if possible.
7:30: Outside demonstration as Board members, officials and press arrive
8:30: Pack the meeting room & sign up to speak
9:00: Board of Health meeting begins
10 to Lunch: Public comment period
Afternoon: Discussion and vote/s (last time they snuck a re-vote in at the end of the day)

Background:
Earlier this summer, Virginia women won a victory when the Board of Health voted to exempt existing women’s health centers that provide first-trimester abortion from politically motivated and unnecessary construction regulations. Instead of forcing health centers to close their doors (as Cuccinelli and McDonnell hoped), the vote ensured that the majority of health centers would remain open to continue providing essential medical care. The Board’s vote was legally sound and medically correct.

The Attorney General attempted to bully the Board in to changing their vote. On July 16th, he refused to certify the Board’s vote by inaccurately declaring the Board’s action as out of the Board’s authority. Now, he’s forcing the Board of Health to vote again on the proposed regulations this Friday.