"I will not defer. I have come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion [of our rights] in committee. If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a Vote of No Confidence in [Chancellor Kenan's] leadership." - Queen Amidala, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace [slight paraphrasing mine]
Matt Stoller's recent post at MyDD.com, brings up a poignant question: Where is our leadership in the face of today's Supreme Court decision upholding an abortion ban? AWOL, that's where. Today's decision is only the bearing of fruit for their past labors and actions (or in this case, inaction and non-labors) and only serves to highlight their past failures on Alito, on Roberts, on "Partial Birth Abortion", on "fetal pain" bills, in forwarding the movement in general, etc. Firedoglake has catalogued the failures of the pro-choice movement, NARAL and Nancy Kenan, in particular, here and here.
In light of today's ruling, I, for one, have little confidence that reproductive freedom will be preserved for future generations of Americans. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Therefore, I submit this statement for your perusal, consideration, and possible endorsement:
WHEREAS, the Pro-Choice movement has been consistently playing defense for the past 25 years in defense of women's reproductive rights,
WHEREAS, a supreme court majority now demonstrably exists that has shown its willingness to chip away, if not wholly and explicitly overturn, women's fundamental right to sovereign control of their own bodies,
WHEREAS, at least two members of the current supreme court majority against women's rights were recently installed with little to no opposition by pro-choice leaders and what little organized opposition there was has been proven ineffective,
WHEREAS, this overall trajectory and state of affairs cannot continue if women's rights to choose are to be preserved in fact and in law for ourselves and our posterity,
Now therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, that:
We hereby register a Vote of No Confidence in the leadership of the Pro-Choice movement and call for new, more effective leadership to be installed.
We call on the Boards of Directors of all women's rights organizations and programs, including and especially NARAL, NOW, and any other organizations with a mission or interest in women's civil rights and the civil rights of all Americans, to review their pro-choice leadership and actively replace them where necessary.
We call on these organizations and programs to review and learn from their past failures, to mount a more vigorous defense of the right to choose, to create and implement new, more-effective strategies and tactics for reversing the trend of the last three decades and to do what is necessary to preserve the rights of our mothers and daughters into the 21st Century.
In the absense of existing pro-choice institutions taking prompt and decisive action in the vein outlined above, we finally call on the creation of new organizations and programs that will, in contrast, more vigorously protect and defend women's fundamental rights from any further encroachment, with a view towards reversing the encroachments that have already occurred.
Contact:
www.NARAL.org Feedback Link
Other Contact Information:
NARAL Pro-Choice America
1156 15th Street, NW Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Main Number: 202.973.3000
Main Fax: 202.973.3096
Media Relations: 202.973.3032
www.NOW.org Feedback Link
Other Contact Information:
National Organization for Women
1100 H Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 628-8669 (628-8NOW)
Fax: (202) 785-8576
TTY: (202) 331-9002