xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT For Week ending February 12, 1994 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, gopher.WELL.sf.ca.us, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, distribute and TAKE ACTION. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT LOBBY LAUNCHES ITS INITIAL ATTACK Beginning Monday February 14, the Christian Coalition plans to distribute 32 million postcards urging fundamentalists to lobby Congress to exclude abortion from a national health care plan. Added to last weeks dump of 18 million postcards from the Catholic Church, this makes a total of at least 50 million postcards on the way to Congress. Christian Coalition officials say the abortion issue has galvanized a powerful coalition of Catholics, white evangelicals, and conservative blacks, Jews & Hispanics against the administration's health plan. All groups are united against abortion, but ironically, the Catholic church with the largest nonprofit hospital system outside the government, could become a powerful ally for Clinton's reform plan. That is, if he were to drop abortion and contraceptives from his health care reform package. Can Clinton stand up to the pressure? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx YOU CAN FIGHT BACK Don't let the Religious Right be the only voice Congress hears during this debate. Mail a letter to your congressperson. Use the one below as a guide. And encourage your pro-choice friends to do the same. Numbers count in this battle. Stand up and be counted. With a little cut-and-paste, you could have this letter out the door within the next 15 minutes. The folks who really need to receive this letter are: 1. Your Congress person. 2. Your Senators. 3. The people listed below. --------------------------------- Date The Honorable [First and Last Name] House of Representatives (or United States Senate) Washington, D.C. 20515 (or 20510 for Senate) Dear Congressman/woman or Senator [Last Name]: I am writing this letter to emphasize the importance of guaranteed coverage of pregnancy-related and family planning services as basic health care in any and all health care reform legislation enacted by Congress. I wanted to let you know just how important coverage of these services are to me, all women and, indeed, to all Americans. Recently, President Clinton and other White House officials have indicated that all terms and provisions of the Health Care Security Act are negotiable, with the exception of universal access and cost containment. For me, the women of America, and the majority of United States voters, a woman's right to choose and coverage of abortion, pregnancy-related and family planning services is simply non-negotiable. I urge you to use your influence to ensure coverage for these services as the Health Security Act and other reform bills make their way through Congress. I look forward to observing your efforts in Congress as the Health Care Reform debate progresses. Sincerely, --------------------------------- Send this letter to your Representative and Senators and to: Senate Finance Committee Chair -- Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) Senate Labor & Human Resources Committee Chair -- Edward Kennedy House Rules Committee Chair -- Joe Moakley (MA) House Ways and Means Committee Chair -- Dan Rostenkowski (IL) House Energy and Commerce Chair -- John Dingell (MI) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx If you don't know who your Representative and two Senators are, call and ask the helpful operators at the Capitol Hill switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Keith Tucci, director of Operation Rescue National resigned last week after a falling out with other Operation Rescue leaders. Tucci had tried to force them to sign a pledge that they would not advocate - or even discuss - the issue of violence. Tucci's successor will be Flip Benham, a Dallas pastor. The group plans to move its headquarters from Melbourne, FL to Dallas as soon as possible. Operation Rescue is one of the defendants currently being tried under the RICO Act in NOW v. Scheidler et al. Last week the Supreme Court ordered that the trial could proceed despite the defendant's claim that they had no economic motive for their actions. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "For those who say I can't impose my morality on others, I say just watch me." -Joseph Scheidler, Executive Director, Pro-Life Action League xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx U.S. VITAL STATISTICS 1984 1994 Population below poverty level 33.7 million 40.1 million Abortions 1.6 million 1.3 million Total health expenditures $390 billion $975 billion Number of hospital beds 1.3 million 1.0 million Outpatient visits 277 million 450 million Source: Excerpted from American Forecaster Almanac 1994 Business Edition, (c)1994 American Demographics, Inc. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom News, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, C-Span, CNN, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, Administrative Director, CARAL-North If you wish to be added or deleted from the email distribution list, please email: dtv@well.sf.ca.us .