A Few Choice Words for June
 From the desk of Kelli Conlin, President
June is really heating up. Not just the weather but also our campaign to make sure people know where their senators stand on the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act (RHAPP). As you know, the U.S. Supreme Court has become increasingly hostile to all civil liberties, but especially to reproductive rights. We need to ensure that if the court overturns Roe in the coming years, New York State will remain a safe haven for women. Simply put, We Need a Roe of Our Own. This month we’ve been all over the state spreading the word about RHAPP which would put the tenets of Roe v. Wade squarely into New York law. We’re collecting signatures – nearly three thousand in this month alone – of New Yorkers who want to see this important bill passed. We’ve been at fairs and festivals; we’re going door to door as well as collecting signatures online. Part of our campaign is also to hold the fire to the feet of several anti-choice state senators who are blocking this bill. Check out our first article in this newsletter where we name names! We can use more volunteers all across the state, so contact our community organizer to get involved or check out the whole campaign on-line at our revamped web-site (I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it’s beautiful!) at www.prochoiceny.org. The fight is underway and with you in our corner, we know we can win this battle. Thanks for standing with us. For Choice,
Kelli Conlin |
NY Politics: Pulling No Punches  It looks like anti-choice senators in New York have a law to be reckoned with. Round one. We told you about the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act (RHAPP) last month; now it’s time to apply the pressure, and hard. NARAL Pro-Choice New York has embarked on a campaign that will target a number of senators for failing to protect choice in New York. Here are our opponents (with boxing-themed nicknames I took the liberty of adding): Sen. Caesar “Will Fall” Trunzo (3rd S.D., Suffolk)
Will Caesar uphold his rule of tyranny? Will he continue to refuse women their fundamental rights, or realize that supporting RHAPP is the honorable way to rule?
Sen. Kemp “The Headache” Hannon (6th S.D., Nassau)
When will Kemp Hannon quit giving New Yorkers the anti-choice headache? The good thing is that our Excedrin for this ailment is obvious – the RHAPP Act, of course!
In the other corner of the ring, we have the ready-to-rumble NARAL Pro-Choice New York staff and volunteers, who are making calls with left jabs, tabling at festivals with right hooks, and passing out our awesome flyers (see above) across the state to call these senators out for being in George “The President” Bush’s pocket while he makes his “below the belt” attacks on women. Who will come out as the Champion of Choice? If you want to join the fight, email our Community Organizer at djohnson@prochoiceny.org today.
 EC Update: Our Pro-Choice Crush of the Month For the past five years, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (along with the help of our good friend Eric Gioia, chair of the city council's Committee on Oversight and Investigations) has been working diligently to increase emergency contraception (EC) access to pharmacies in the Big Apple. This includes pushing for a number of local bills promoting EC, like one that would require hospitals to offer EC to rape victims, one that requires pharmacies to put a sign up saying they stock or don’t stock EC, and another that puts EC in health centers for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). And boy, has she come through. A new report has been released revealing that the number of pharmacies stocking EC in NYC has increased to an all-time high of 94 percent. You may be thinking this isn’t surprising because, after all, we are New York and should rock in terms of reproductive health access, right? But in fact, that’s not always the case: in 2002, only 55 percent of pharmacies had EC in stock. If you’re good at math (or not; I had to count on my hands), it won’t take you too long to figure out that means a 41 percent increase. This is a huge step for New York, but let’s not forget that this increase was also brought on by the approval of EC to be sold “over-the-counter” (OTC). Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to undocumented women and those under 18, who still need a prescription to access EC. So we still have a ways to go, but in them meantime let’s give a big kudos to Chris Quinn and the City Council for making New York City truly the Cream of the ECrop!
Choose Wisely: NARAL Pro-Choice New York Update - Quite an Upgrade  We’re thrilled to announce that the NARAL Pro-Choice New York website has officially been upgraded to a fantastic, frequently updated forum for fans of choice! Be prepared for a bombardment of links!
Want to see the keep an eye on pro-choice legislation in New York? Check out our "Legislation Watch." Want the latest on choice issues? Check out our "Choice in the News" section for your news on reproductive rights in New York and beyond. (Because we’re up-to-date like that.) Our events calendar will show you what’s going on in New York regarding choice events each month. Additionally, we’ve added an "Issues" section which will give you fact sheets and resources on various choice issues, like dispelling myths about abstinence-only education, an FAQ on the HPV vaccine, or information about our Latino Reproductive Rights Project. So check it out and enjoy; we know there’s a lot of information to go through, but we promise you won’t get bored!
A Pro-Choice Message Sings Out on Broadway
By Guest Writer Andy Stern, NARAL Pro-Choice New York Vice President for Politics, founder of www.SternReviews.com Sexual expression and repression, abstinence-only education, and the ramifications of illegal abortion may not be the stuff of most Tony Award-winning musicals, but this year’s Spring Awakening is no typical Broadway show. Based on the play of the same name written by German playwright Frank Wedekind in 1891, the show tells of the sexual awakening of teenagers in a society that refuses to talk about sex. Banned repeatedly for nearly 100 years due to its subject matter, a performance of the play was shut down in New York City in 1917 by officials claming the material was pornographic. Only an injunction by the Supreme Court allowed the show to go on, but it closed after a single performance. Parents shrink away from telling their children about sex, leaving teens to educate one another without the benefits of maturity and life experience. Birth control is neither discussed nor available. Fathers sexually assault daughters while mothers look askance, yet it is the children who feel guilty and ashamed. Young adults are seen but not heard, except by each other. Director Michael Mayer has constructed one of the most thrilling and profoundly moving shows I have experienced in thirty years of theater-going. Spring Awakening is a bold and daring work that is a must see for all reproductive-rights supporters and musical theater lovers alike. If you’d like the read the full review of Spring Awakening, click here. | A Few Choice Words Staff | Vanessa Valenti, Writer
Mary Alice Carr, Editor |
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