I received an emergency letter from the "Feminist Majority" (I wonder sometimes if the title is true anymore).
With all the desperate appeals for funding from organizations (and friends), it made me wonder why we elected a Democratic President. Shouldn't it be the job of him and his Cabinet to enforce the law and protect reproductive health providers with protection from terroristic threats?
Read the letter and suggest what the Obama admin SHOULD be doing so that we don't feel stuck in the Bush admin playbook...
Dear feminist activist,
We must keep up the support to help besieged doctors and clinics.
Your emergency contribution will help embattled Charlotte, North Carolina, clinics and our National Clinic Access Project to prepare for the siege July 17-24.
This weekend starts the siege by anti-abortion extremists in Charlotte, North Carolina. We need your help to keep Family Reproductive Health and nearby clinics in Charlotte open and doctors, patients, and staff safe.
Our Clinic Defense team is headed back to Charlotte to assist this and other area clinics as well as the local pro-choice community respond to Operation Rescue/Operation Save America's (OR/OSA) announced battle July 17-24.
Our team - including our legal coordinator and clinic defense organizers - will be on site all week, working with local officials and community leaders to ensure protection for the clinic and doctors. And we will be reporting from the frontlines all week to keep you updated.
Anti-abortion extremists have posted "WANTED" flyers featuring color photos of the doctors, their home addresses, and clinic information at the doctors' homes, neighborhoods, offices, and the clinic. Similar WANTED posters appeared before Dr. David Gunn and Dr. Bayard Britton were killed by anti-abortion extremists in Pensacola, Florida in the early 1990s.
Through your generous support, we have helped fund new security measures at the clinic. But we must do even more. We are working rapidly to install more security equipment and personnel.
Please, make a tax-deductible contribution today to help Family Reproductive Health and our National Clinic Access Project. Half your contribution will go directly to help fund additional security measures for Family Reproductive Health clinic.
The other half of your contribution will support our National Clinic Access Project to help pay for community organizing for this siege and help defray legal costs to assist embattled clinics.
Without doctors and clinics to provide safe, legal abortions and access to birth control, there can be no choice for women. Make a contribution today to help Family Reproductive Health and our National Clinic Access Project.
Together we are making a difference.
For Women's Lives,
Eleanor Smeal
President
Katherine Spillar
Executive Vice President
P.S. Many clinics are still experiencing an increase in hostile activities by anti-abortion extremists. We must keep up the support to help these besieged doctors and clinics. There must be a nationwide zero tolerance of violence and harassment aimed at vilifying doctors, health care workers, and denying women's fundamental rights.