Last year, as a result of the 2010 midterm elections, the 112th Congress became the first in a generation to start out with fewer women in its ranks than the Congress before it. After decades of slow incremental growth in the number of women serving in Congress, last year we actually lost ground, dropping from 93 to 92 women (thankfully Kathy Hochul's victory last summer returned us to the previous level.)
But 2011 also saw the House of Representatives engage in an unprecedented assault on women's reproductive rights. Whether it was their passage of a bill to defund Planned Parenthood or their legislation that would allow hospitals receiving federal funds to refuse reproductive care to women even if their life was in danger, time and again, the House of Representatives proved it was hostile toward women's rights.
These things are not unrelated. The fact is, the more women we elect to office, the more women's voices are heard and the more the issues and values important to us become a priority. It's especially true on the issue of women's reproductive freedom. As we mark the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade today, we must recommit ourselves to doing all we can to elect more pro-choice Democratic women to Congress in 2012.
Looking just at the Senate, we have an unprecedented 11 Democratic pro-choice women running, either as the incumbent (6) or challenger (5). We also have a real opportunity to regain a pro-choice majority in the House of Representatives with Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the helm.
But the only way we're going to accomplish this is if women make their voices heard this year, vote for pro-choice candidates in November and bring a surge of women candidates into Congress. That's exactly why I started Off The Sidelines, to serve as a call to action for women to get involved in politics. Whether it's registering to vote, volunteering for a candidate that shares your values, posting on Facebook, tweeting or running for office yourself, there are so many ways women can get off the sidelines and ensure that women's values and priorities are represented.
Remember the Rosie the Riveter campaign? It inspired six million women to enter the workforce during World War II. We need a Rosie the Riveter for our generation. Imagine if six million women were to register to vote this year... imagine if six million more women voted this year than did four years ago. We would see a dramatic change in the representation of Congress and in the policies it implements.
The House of Representatives passed several anti-choice bills last year, but they went nowhere because we have a pro-choice majority in the U.S. Senate and a champion in the White House. In 2012, it's going to be up to women to make sure the extremist anti-choice policies of the right continue to fail. It's going to be up to women to re-elect Barack Obama and elect a pro-choice Congress.
How are you planning to get off the sidelines and elect pro-choice candidates in 2012? Tell me in the comments and tweet me at @SenGillibrand with the hashtag #offthesidelines.
Follow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenGillibrand
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-groups-call-for-pepsi-boycott-over-aborted-fetal-cell-lines/
Hmm...if this is true, then where are they getting fetal cell matter from?
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2825/bodypartspricelist1back.jpg
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3623/bodypartspricelist1fron.jpg
I'm thinking when Komen found out that planned parenthood was under investigation for
things that might pose a national security threat, they pulled out, perhaps planned parenthood
was cleared of any foul play, maybe this is why they will continue funding? Who knows...
But, it's a scary world, guess we'll have to face reality.
Was Charlton Heston literally trying to forewarn us of the true realities in this world?
http://youtu.be/9IKVj4l5GU4
Now, if Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand knew of the "War on Abortion", and certainly she must have known since she is a Senator, one has to wonder why she would blatantly post an article which appears
to recruit Pro-Abortion Woman. Why would the Senator do this? Even Pelosi publicly commented
in regards to Komen and how they stopped the funding of planned parenthood because of the investigation.
I dunno, it was very upsetting to read the Senators Article...so thats why I posted a comment
accusing Democrats of being Cannibals....I honestly don't believe that democrats are Cannibals,
I don't want to think that anyone is a Cannibal...
It is a huge difference between wanting women to have equality and respect and promoting the act of taking an individual life through the procedure called abortion.
Many people feel that it's just rhetoric - that if rights are really taken away, the women of this country will rise up. I think the time is now to get the message across that we don't want to become the next Saudi Arabia.
If the GOP is so worried about babies, what about the ones that are already here? What are they doing to help them? Let's see you have 27 bills that would defund health care programs for women and children. You have bills that would do away with Medicare and Medicaid. You have bills leading to privatizing Social Security, where would we be if they had gotten their way with that with this with Bush? Then, you want to do away with the Education Department.
Let's face it the GOP/TP really could care less about babies unborn or born. To them it is all about control.
Today, only half of the population gets a choice.
And for some reason...men who "choose" not to pay are reviled far, far, far worse than women who "choose" not to allow the child to live...
Why is that?
"birth control can fail and she could start ovulating earlier or later than expected meaning she can become pregnant unexpectadÂly and unplanned for."
Do you listen to yourself?
"A woman has a choice to abort because other plans fail and she should have the choice of what happens to her body and her life."
So, if a man's condom breaks, then he should be let off the hook, right?
Learn to say "no". It's what women have been told for decades.
Why do you think of women as children?