With the closing of the day yesterday we saw another devastating loss in the effort to maintain a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion--at the federal level.
Last night, the U.S. Senate passed a divisive attack on young women's health and safety. The deceptively titled "Child Custody Protection Act" (CCPA) imposes criminal penalties on anyone other than a parent, including a grandparent, aunt or member of the clergy, who accompanies a teen to an out-of-state doctor for abortion care if she has not complied with her home states' parental-involvement mandates. The punishment for violating this law is a year in prison. This punitive bill will do nothing to protect young women's safety or improve family communication - and it certainly won't prevent teen pregnancy in the first place--the responsible approach Congress should have taken.
Regardless of your personal position on whether or not a woman should have the right to choose whether to end an unplanned pregnancy, the passage of this legislation should alarm you. Not only is it titled deceptively so that you are led to believe it deals with something entirely different when in fact it restricts a teen girl's ability to find a driver to take her across state lines to obtain a safe, legal, abortion. But also this law ties the hands of a young woman's extended family and her pastor if she asks them for their help.
Please say a prayer for all the young woman who may be effected by this legislation--and their relatives and clergy who will be asked for help by these young women and will now need to make an additional decision whether to risk criminal penalty and choose to help.
And after you've said that prayer, please read the following list of senators to see who voted for it and decide what action you will take to counteract this alarming legislation.
"Yes" Votes
Alexander (TN)Allard (CO)Allen (VA)Bayh (IN)Bennett (UT)Bond (MO)Brownback (KS)Bunning (KY)Burns (NC)Burr (NC)Byrd (WV)Carper (DE)Chambliss (GA)Coburn (OK)Cochran (MS)Coleman (MN)Conrad (ND)Cornyn (TX)Craig (ID)Crapo (ID)DeMint (SC)DeWine (OH)Dole (NC)Domenici (NM)Dorgan (ND)Ensign (NV)Enzi (WY)Frist (TN)Graham (SC)Grassley (IA)Gregg (NH)Hagel (NE)Hatch (UT)Hutchinson (TX)Inhofe (OK)Inouye (HI)Isakson (GA)Johnson (SD)Kohl (WI)Kyl (AZ)Landrieu (LA)Lott (MS)Lugar (IN)Martinez (FL)McCain (AZ)McConnell (KY)Murkowski (AK)Nelson (FL)Nelson (NE)Pryor (AR)Reid (NV)Roberts (KS)Salazar (CO)Santorum (PA)Sessions (AL)Shelby (AL)Smith (OR)Stevens (AK)Sununu (NH)Talent (MO)Thomas (WY)Thune (SD)Vitter (LA)Voinovich (OH)Warner (VA)
No comments:
Post a Comment