xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT For Week ending June 17, 1994 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, gopher.WELL.com, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, distribute and TAKE ACTION. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx STUDY SHOWS CONTINUING DECREASE IN NUMBER OF ABORTION PROVIDERS A significant new study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute shows an 18% decrease in the number of abortion providers in this country between 1982 and 1992. Entire states, such as North and South Dakota, have only one abortion provider each, and 94% of non-metropolitan areas have no providers at all. The national campaign of anti-choice terror and violence is clearly having an impact and if these trends continue, abortion will become a right in name only. (NARAL press release 6/16/94) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PLANNED PARENTHOOD LAUNCHES WATCHDOG NEWSLETTER ON THE RADICAL RIGHT Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has launched "Front Lines Research," a newsletter devoted to exposing the far-ranging anti-choice, anti-democratic agenda of the radical right in America. Subtitled "In Defense of Reproductive Health, Education, and Democracy," the publication documents the activities of an organized, well-funded movement whose members seek not only to deny women access to abortion, but to "reclaim America" in the name of narrow sectarianism. "Front Lines Research" will be published eight times a year and distributed to policy makers, the media, and other interested parties. "Most Americans may not realize that the same forces responsible for the past decade of violence against reproductive health clinics are now fast encroaching upon social institutions -- from local school boards to state legislatures to the national Republican Party," said PPFA President Pamela J. Maraldo, Ph.D. "But with the publication of 'Front Lines Research,' the shadowy machinations of the radical right are being brought to light. Featured in the issue are: -- A special report on Human Life International (HLI), the world's largest and most important anti-abortion organization. With 53 branch offices on six continents, the group promotes homophobia and anti-Semitism as it seeks to "re-Christianize" Europe and America. -- A report on the radical right's takeover of the Vista, Calif. school board. Soon after winning a majority on the school board, radical-right activists moved to implement the medically inaccurate and religiously-biased "Sex Respect" sexuality education curriculum. -- The results of a new Planned Parenthood study of the radical right in California. Candidates for state political office in California are being recruited and financed by certain radical right millionaires. "Front Lines Research" exposes the power players behind this powerful theocratic movement that is rocking California politics. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the world's oldest and largest voluntary reproductive health care organization, is dedicated to the principle that every individual has a fundamental right to choose when or whether to have a child. Planned Parenthood's 164 not-for-profit affiliates operate nearly 1,000 clinics in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Planned Parenthood centers provide medical and educational services for 4 million Americans each year, regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or economic circumstances. The Public Policy Institute is a PPFA project dedicated to researching the religious/political right and developing educational tools and policies to counter its activities. 6/15/94 /CONTACT: Roberta Synal, 212-261-4660, or Mona Miller, 202-785-3351, both of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. (Planned Parenthood press release 6/15/94) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CATHOLIC CHURCH TO OPPOSE FEMINIST INFLUENCE AT U.N. POPULATION CONFERENCE The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church voted on Tuesday to oppose what they portrayed as a pervasive feminist influence at a forthcoming U.N. population conference, saying measures on abortion and women's rights sponsored by the United States reflected "cultural imperialism." An extraordinary gathering of 114 of the 139 cardinals warned that the measures would legitimize "abortion on demand, sexual promiscuity and distorted notions of the family." In recent months, the Vatican has begun a campaign in countries that will send delegates to Cairo, and Pope John Paul II has denounced the measures on several occasions. The issue reportedly remained contentious in the meeting earlier this month between President Clinton and the pope in Rome. The Vatican's choice of the New York cardinal to sound the alarm apparently reflected the view that much of the language that the church finds offensive comes from American feminists. In specific terms, the Vatican fears that some draft language will weaken the family as society's most basic social and moral arbiter, lead to abortion on demand and spread access to contraception, all in direct contravention of church dogma. "The agenda of this document is far broader than in the past," said Joan Dunlop, president of the International Women's Health Coalition, a private group that works with women in developing countries. "The Vatican's inflammatory language is a smoke screen; they are threatened by women having a say in their own lives." Sally Ethelston, a spokeswoman for Population Action International, another private population group, said: "Women should not die or suffer irreparable physical harm as a result of unsafe abortions because of a group of 114 celibate men." Even before a three-week preparatory conference in New York in April, the pope went to extraordinary lengths to oppose the proposals, calling Clinton by telephone to discuss it and personally reprimanding the conference's secretary general, Dr. Nafis Sadik of Pakistan. The conference is to lay down guidelines for the next 20 years on how governments deal with population growth. The current population is estimated at 5.7 billion and could rise to 10 billion within the next two decades. The Cairo conference is seeking ways to stabilize world population at 7.2 billion by 2050. (6/15/94 N.Y. Times News Service) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom News, Culture Watch, Political Woman, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, C-Span, CNN, Reuters, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, Administrative Director, CARAL-North .