Source: Ohio Right to Life
Washington, D.C. - November 4, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- The Ohio House overwhelmingly approved Ohio Right to Life's Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act (H.B. 214), 63-30, legislation which would prohibit abortions from being performed for the sole reason of a Down syndrome diagnosis. The legislation is sponsored by Representatives Sarah LaTourette (R-Chesterland) and Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Township).
“Ohio Right to Life commends the Ohio House for taking a stand against this devastating practice,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “Today's vote is a vote against modern-day eugenics, plain and simple. After seeing the horrors of eugenics play out in the 20th century, it is appalling that this legislation is even up for debate. While aborting a human child is always wrong, we should all agree that there is something particularly egregious about targeting babies with disabilities for destruction."
Since June, multiple Down syndrome advocates have testified before House and Senate committees in favor of the legislation. Around the world and here in America, unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are disproportionately aborted. Recent news reports have revealed these alarming trends in European countries like Denmark where 98 percent of babies with a positive diagnosis are aborted and in Iceland where 100 percent are aborted. Last week, advocate Frank Stephens, who has Down syndrome, testified before Congress, referencing such reports and saying, "I am a man with Down syndrome, and my life is worth living."
“These disturbing trends challenge us with the opportunity to be better,” said Gonidakis. “With this knowledge, we have an obligation to protect our friends with Down syndrome, not only because they can teach us to be a more loving and empathetic society, but because they, like all of us, are endowed with the fundamental right to life. With this legislation, Ohio is paving the way for a society that stands up to discrimination and defends the most vulnerable among us."
H.B. 214 has companion legislation (S.B. 164) in the Ohio Senate. The bill is sponsored by Senator Frank LaRose (R-Hudson) and has already received three hearings. Ohio Right to Life asks its members to sign its petition to pass the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act. Click here to take action now.
Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.
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The Unpopular Truth
Showing posts with label Pro-choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pro-choice. Show all posts
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Pro-Choice Caucus Leaders Blast Trump Administration for Preventing Refugees from Accessing Legally-Allowed Reproductive Health Services
Washington, D.C. - October 17, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY, 25th) and Congresswoman Diana Degette (D-CO, 1st), co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, have blasted the Trump administration for moving to prevent refugees in federal shelters from accessing safe and legal reproductive health services even in cases of rape and incest. The federal government is currently forcing a refugee in Texas to continue her pregnancy despite the fact that she has adhered to all state and federal laws while trying to access abortion services.
“The law is clear. The federal government is required to provide reproductive health services, including abortion services, to refugees in federal shelters. More than 65 million people were displaced around the globe last year alone, with many women and girls escaping unconscionable circumstances in their home countries. They should not reach American soil only to find the administration ignoring the law. That is exactly what’s happening right now in Texas, where a refugee that has met all legal requirements for an abortion under state and federal law is being held against her will in a federal shelter and forced to continue with her pregnancy. That is despite the fact that no federal funds would be used to pay for the abortion she is seeking. The administration should follow the law and allow refugees access to the reproductive health care the law requires,” said Slaughter.
“My heart goes out to this refugee, detained in Texas and trapped by the Trump administration’s increasingly draconian and cruel efforts to block reproductive rights. It is unacceptable that Trump administration officials subjected her to egregious delays in obtaining care, including requiring her to visit an anti-choice ‘crisis pregnancy center’ where she was urged to continue her pregnancy. These federal officials had no legal right to block her access to an abortion. Their unconscionable actions must be challenged on behalf of the individual in question and others who could face similar situations,” said DeGette.
Related News:
Access to Reproductive Health Care for U.S.-Based Refugees
Center for American Progress
The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have taken actively hostile stances against both immigrant and refugee communities as well as reproductive rights. President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders, currently held up in court, which block the entry of immigrants into the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries and prevent refugees in general from entering the country.1 In addition to blocking the entry of refugees, these executive orders also attempted to reduce the refugee admissions target for the current fiscal year from 110,000, set in 2016, to 50,000—the lowest number ever set in a presidential determination since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980.2 On World Refugee Day, it is critical that we examine the ways in which refugees can feasibly access the resources that they need to live healthy, sustainable lives once resettled. Refugees face many intersectional threats from the Trump administration, and refugee communities would be significantly harmed by many of the administration’s proposed actions.
Read more...
“The law is clear. The federal government is required to provide reproductive health services, including abortion services, to refugees in federal shelters. More than 65 million people were displaced around the globe last year alone, with many women and girls escaping unconscionable circumstances in their home countries. They should not reach American soil only to find the administration ignoring the law. That is exactly what’s happening right now in Texas, where a refugee that has met all legal requirements for an abortion under state and federal law is being held against her will in a federal shelter and forced to continue with her pregnancy. That is despite the fact that no federal funds would be used to pay for the abortion she is seeking. The administration should follow the law and allow refugees access to the reproductive health care the law requires,” said Slaughter.
“My heart goes out to this refugee, detained in Texas and trapped by the Trump administration’s increasingly draconian and cruel efforts to block reproductive rights. It is unacceptable that Trump administration officials subjected her to egregious delays in obtaining care, including requiring her to visit an anti-choice ‘crisis pregnancy center’ where she was urged to continue her pregnancy. These federal officials had no legal right to block her access to an abortion. Their unconscionable actions must be challenged on behalf of the individual in question and others who could face similar situations,” said DeGette.
Related News:
Access to Reproductive Health Care for U.S.-Based Refugees
Center for American Progress
The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have taken actively hostile stances against both immigrant and refugee communities as well as reproductive rights. President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders, currently held up in court, which block the entry of immigrants into the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries and prevent refugees in general from entering the country.1 In addition to blocking the entry of refugees, these executive orders also attempted to reduce the refugee admissions target for the current fiscal year from 110,000, set in 2016, to 50,000—the lowest number ever set in a presidential determination since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980.2 On World Refugee Day, it is critical that we examine the ways in which refugees can feasibly access the resources that they need to live healthy, sustainable lives once resettled. Refugees face many intersectional threats from the Trump administration, and refugee communities would be significantly harmed by many of the administration’s proposed actions.
Read more...
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Congressional Leaders Condemn Anti-Choice Provisions in 2018 Appropriations Bills
Source: House Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY, 25th)
Washington, D.C. - September 5, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) and Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-1), co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, and Nita Lowey (NY-17), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, condemned the anti-choice provisions included in Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bills as Congress considers these measures this week. There are an unprecedented number of anti-women provisions included in this legislation and additional amendments offered that attack women’s health and the constitutionally-protected right to choose. These attacks come despite the fact that members of the Pro-Choice Caucus have been instrumental in helping pass every bill to fund the government since 2011.
“We are in the midst of an unprecedented attack on women’s health care rights. From trying to zero out Title X family planning funding to eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, there is apparently no length the Majority won’t go to attack the women of this country. Republican leaders in Congress are playing with fire by including these amendments given that members of the Pro-Choice Caucus have been needed to pass every bill to fund the government for the last six years. That support is being put at risk by the Majority’s decision to include these provisions. There is an easy fix, and that is for the Majority to remove them from these bills. Anti-women provisions have no place in any government funding bill,” said Slaughter.
“This year we have seen repeated Republican efforts to attack and undermine women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health care. Our fight is far from over,” said DeGette. “The House Republicans’ appropriations minibus is riddled with arbitrary and offensive anti-woman policies. The Pro-Choice Caucus strongly opposes these shameful riders and will not allow them to be included in any government funding bill.”
"The 2018 appropriations bills represent a sustained and multi-faceted assault on women's health care," said Lowey. “These bills go far beyond the majority's floundering effort to strip health insurance from 20 million people by repealing the Affordable Care Act. With funding cuts and terminations, and poison pill riders targeting women's legal health choices, contraception, and family planning at home and abroad, the majority is making clear they will stop at nothing to attack women's health care."
Washington, D.C. - September 5, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) and Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-1), co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, and Nita Lowey (NY-17), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, condemned the anti-choice provisions included in Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bills as Congress considers these measures this week. There are an unprecedented number of anti-women provisions included in this legislation and additional amendments offered that attack women’s health and the constitutionally-protected right to choose. These attacks come despite the fact that members of the Pro-Choice Caucus have been instrumental in helping pass every bill to fund the government since 2011.
“We are in the midst of an unprecedented attack on women’s health care rights. From trying to zero out Title X family planning funding to eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, there is apparently no length the Majority won’t go to attack the women of this country. Republican leaders in Congress are playing with fire by including these amendments given that members of the Pro-Choice Caucus have been needed to pass every bill to fund the government for the last six years. That support is being put at risk by the Majority’s decision to include these provisions. There is an easy fix, and that is for the Majority to remove them from these bills. Anti-women provisions have no place in any government funding bill,” said Slaughter.
“This year we have seen repeated Republican efforts to attack and undermine women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health care. Our fight is far from over,” said DeGette. “The House Republicans’ appropriations minibus is riddled with arbitrary and offensive anti-woman policies. The Pro-Choice Caucus strongly opposes these shameful riders and will not allow them to be included in any government funding bill.”
"The 2018 appropriations bills represent a sustained and multi-faceted assault on women's health care," said Lowey. “These bills go far beyond the majority's floundering effort to strip health insurance from 20 million people by repealing the Affordable Care Act. With funding cuts and terminations, and poison pill riders targeting women's legal health choices, contraception, and family planning at home and abroad, the majority is making clear they will stop at nothing to attack women's health care."
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