Stop the Abortion Coverage Ban! Lobby Day and Rally in D.C. Dec. 2nd!

Stop the Abortion Coverage Ban!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Join pro-choice activists from across the nation to lobby Congress and to rally against the abortion coverage ban in a National Day of Action!

Rally to Stop the Abortion Coverage Ban
Time: From 11:30 – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Upper Senate Park, Washington, D.C.

Meet with your member of Congress
Time: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(Time depends on meeting schedule)

Please RSVP for rally or sign up for meetings at
emily@naralva.org or 202-530-4168

Take action to defeat the Stupak-Pitts Amendment!

Another article on the Abstinence-only Assembly at Freeman High

Abstinence-only speaker stirs controversy
By Katherine Calos
Published: November 18, 2009
» 6 Comments | Post a Comment
vote
nowBuzz up!Dr. Wendy S. Klein was concerned about Pam Stenzel long before the abstinence-only speaker created a controversy yesterday at Douglas Freeman High School.

Klein’s son, while a senior at Mills Godwin High School, came home upset after hearing Stenzel give a talk there three years ago.

“He was very distressed, because he knows better,” Klein said. “He said she tried to scare everybody not to use birth-control pills.”

Klein is an expert in women’s health. She’s co-founder of the Institute for Women’s Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, deputy editor of the Journal of Women’s Health and associate professor emeritus of internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology at the VCU School of Medicine

“There is nothing wrong with promoting abstinence,” Klein said. “Stenzel uses a lot of scare tactics that are not accurate. It’s not OK to do that.”

Stenzel’s Web site lists her fee range as $3,500 to $5,000, but her appearance at Freeman was without charge, according to Mychael Dickerson, a spokesman for the Henrico County school system, which includes Freeman and Godwin.

Admission to the Freeman program was restricted to students.

Afterward, junior Connor Hill said the topic was good but the presentation was one-sided.

“She was very biased in her attempt to inform us,” he wrote in a post online. “She pretty much bashed any students in the school who have had sex at this point and told them that they will never be able to live it down.”

Two parents who watched from a foyer had opposite reactions to what they heard.

Nancy Godfrey, the mother of a Freeman junior, said she thought the presentation was excellent. “I couldn’t care less if the numbers aren’t exactly right,” she said. “If there’s any chance at all [of pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease], they need to understand that it’s there.”

Some students gave the speaker a standing ovation, Godfrey said.

Kathleen Burden, the mother of a freshman and senior at the school, took issue with the “shame aspect” of Stenzel’s remarks and such statements as “condoms are not safe” and “condoms do not provide any protection against [human papilloma virus].”

Klein countered the HPV statement with a 2006 report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study said women who reported 100 percent condom use had a third as much risk of getting infected as those who didn’t.

“To say in the same broad stroke of the brush that condoms are not safe” also raised concerns. “If teens are going to have sex, you want them to use condoms,” Klein said.

“Of course I don’t want teens to have sex. Of course I don’t want them to get pregnant,” she said. “But, you have to be careful about scaring them away from birth control.”

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Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/FREE18_20091117-215602/306359/

More on the Henrico Abstinence-only Situation…

Here’s an article from the Richmond Times Dispatch. We’ll be sure to follow-up with more about the repercussions of the yesterday’s Freeman High School Assembly as we hear them! And, this was the most viewed and most commented article in the Richmond Times Dispatch yesterday! Way to go NARAL Pro-Choice VA!

Abstinence-only speaker for Freeman stirs controversy
By Katherine Calos
Published: November 17, 2009
» 119 Comments | Post a Comment
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nowBuzz up!The scheduling of an abstinence-only speaker today at Douglas Freeman High School has drawn protests from some teachers, an abortion-rights organization, and a gay and lesbian education network.

Pam Stenzel, founder of Enlighten Communications Inc., “tackles today’s tough issues of sex with candor, insight, humor and the challenge for young people to get the abstinence advantage,” according to a description on her Web site.

That message is appropriate for high school students, Freeman Principal Anne L. Poates said in an e-mail to staff at the school Thursday. “No, it does not present all sides of this issue, as it is not a family life education presentation. Yes, it presents one choice — abstinence — as an important choice for teenagers in a way that seems to reach them and have a lasting impact.” Poates used the school’s phone-message system to offer the choice of opting out.

Michelle Gajda, a Freeman teacher who emphasized that she was speaking as a private citizen and not as a representative of the school, worried that Stenzel represents a conservative social agenda.

“She’s not apolitical, and that’s to be expected of a speaker in a public school,” Gajda said. “Her message is most often given [to], and is appropriate for, church audiences.”

An e-mail to Henrico Superintendent Patrick Russo said that more than 10 faculty members had written the principal in opposition. Russo replied that the School Board attorney had reviewed the matter and found no legal justification to prevent Stenzel from speaking.

The abortion-rights organization NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia wrote the principal, saying Stenzel’s previous presentations included “medically inaccurate myths.” The Richmond chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, in another letter, referred to religious bias that would add to the alienation felt by gay and lesbian students.

Stenzel has been asked to delete some portions of her usual speech, Gajda said, such as referrals to crisis pregnancy centers that counsel against abortions.

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Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.

What the Stupak Amendment means…

Medically Inaccurate Information in our own Schools?

On Thursday, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia got word that Pam Stenzel, the well-known abstinence-only speaker will be coming to the Henrico County School District, and ‘performing’ at Freeman High School on Tuesday afternoon. While the Commonwealth promotes abstinence-only education as part of its Family Life Education cirricula, Ms. Stenzel’s program also includes egregiously medically inaccurate information. Our students need the truth, and our students need accurate facts in order to make educated decisions about their reproductive health!

Here’s the letter we sent to our members who live in the County, asking them to take action. If you live in Henrico County, please take action NOW. The Assembly is scheduled for tomorrow:

“Birth control makes her 10 times more likely to contract a disease…This girl could end up sterile or dead.”
Pam Stenzel, “Sex Still Has A Price Tag.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ezYNWIDB0&feature=player_embedded

You and I know this comment isn’t true. But our teens and pre-teens don’t. They need REAL sex education; they need medically-accurate, evidence-based information. And in order to make smart decisions to protect their reproductive health, they need the TRUTH.

But, this lie about birth control is exactly what “Health Educator” Pam Stenzel is telling our youth. And Pam Stenzel, an anti-choice and medically-inaccurate abstinence-only speaker is coming right to our school district tomorrow!

Pam Stenzel is on record stating the following- both live in presentations and on her website (http://pamstenzel.com/):
1. Abortion causes anorexia, bulimia, depression, and suicide.
2. Girls facing unintended pregnancies should go visit Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which we know give intentionally deceptive and medically inaccurate information to fulfill an anti-choice agenda.
3. Birth control- pills, patches, and shots- leads to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and possible sterility and death.
4. Condoms don’t prevent the contraction of Chlamydia.
5. Her website links to Optionline.org which tells visitors that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility, and permanent psychological damage. Her website also sites the egregiously anti-choice Family Foundation as her ‘friend.’

We need your help to make sure our teens hear the truth at public school assemblies! But right now, Pam Stenzel is scheduled to speak at Freeman High School tomorrow.

As tax payers, we cannot support the use of public school time to promote medical inaccuracies and a political agenda thinly disguised as sex education. And as parents, and community members, we cannot allow our school district to support these lies. That’s why we’re asking you to take action!

Please call the school district and send Freeman High School’s principal an email tonight! Tell these community leaders that you don’t support Pam Stenzel speaking at Freeman High tomorrow. Tell them that her medically inaccurate statements don’t prevent sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancies. They only promote risky behaviors.
Act now!
1. Call Superintendant Patrick Russo at (804) 652-3600
2. Call High School Coordinator Eric Jones at (804) 652-3600
3. Call Principal of Douglas Freeman High School, Anne Poates at (804) 673 3700
4. Email Principal Anne Poates at alpoates@henrico.k12.va.us.

Please, Act Now!
Thank you for all you do,

Emily, and the NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Team

Nancy Keenan on the Stupak Ammendment

Nancy Keenan was on MSNBC’s “Hardball” last night to discuss the Stupak Amendment. In case you missed it, we will be posting a video of her segment shortly.

In the meantime, we wanted to share this link to Nancy’s interview on “Talk of the Nation,” a nationally syndicated NPR program. She discusses the implications of the Stupak Amendment and the importance of letting the Senate know that we want them to stand strong against similar attacks on choice in the Senate.

“The Stupak amendment, it is an abortion ban. That means that women in this country cannot buy health care insurance that would cover abortion care with their own money – with their own money.”

And the first thing that we’re doing right now, weve turned our attention entirely to the United States Senate. We are going to make sure and are already contacting Senator Reid to say that language is not acceptable and it can’t be in the bill. We then will be contacting everyone of those senators on that side of the equation and making sure they understand that this goes beyond the status quo, that this goes beyond Hyde. And that its not acceptable and we expect them to stand with us and stand with women in this country to not lose ground under the health care reform bill.

Nancy’s part starts at about 12 minutes, 40 seconds and goes to the end.

In addition, please see the following story from Politico that references efforts to keep the Stupak-Pitts language out of the Senate bill.

Sign the Petition: No Ban on Abortion in the Healthcare Bill

Call on Senate Leader Reid: Stop Abortion Coverage Ban

The House of Representatives passed health-reform legislation that included an anti-choice amendment that will seriously jeopardize women’s access to abortion.

The Stupak-Pitts amendment makes it virtually impossible for private insurance companies that participate in the new health system to offer abortion coverage to women.

This would have the effect of denying women the right to use their own personal, private funds to purchase an insurance plan with abortion coverage in the new health system.

We must stop health-care reform from being enacted with this ban!

Sign our petition calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to stand firm against a ban on abortion coverage for women in the new health system.

https://secure.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4013

What’s Next for the Commonwealth?

After watching last night’s dismal election results, we woke up this morning, determined to see the good that has come from yesterday’s pro-choice defeats. By and large, the election results don’t bode well for the reproductive rights community. However, we think there are several silver linings to consider, cheer about, and use as an incentive to get to work!

First off, we must offer a monumental thank you to you, our members. You volunteered your time and energy to NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and our endorsed candidates. Whether you visited our blog, followed us on Twitter, shared YouTube videos our your Facebook page, knocked doors, made phone calls, or donated financial resources, your efforts are greatly appreciated and noticed. All said and done, our Pro-Choice Team made more than 11,000 phone calls, and knocked on more than 2,500 doors. Many of the House of Delegate races would not be as close as they were, were it not for your actions.

Secondly, there are some pieces of good news from yesterday’s results:
1. Of the 38 candidate’s that our Political Action Committee endorsed, 22 of them emerged victorious, giving us a 58% winning record.
2. We have turned the 93rd House District pro-choice with the election of Robin Abbott, who has unseated Phil Hamilton.
3. We also have several new, proudly pro-choice candidates who will replace retired leaders, including Mark Keam(Vienna), Kaye Kory (Fairfax Co. ), Scott Surovell (Alexandria), Patrick Hope (Arlington), and Betsy Carr (Richmond). Our congratulations go out to all of them.

And, we have a large dose of pro-choice momentum to win back both Ken Cuccinelli’s and Ken Stolle’s Senate seats in two upcoming special elections. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as those contests move along. We must build on the momentum coming from yesterday’s defeats; we must mobilize Virginians to vote their pro-choice values and earn two new reproductive rights advocates seats in the Senate. Stay tuned!

Our Commonwealth may have elected three staunchly anti-choice leaders for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General, but it’s time to pick ourselves up, dust off our shoulders, and recognize there’s work to be done. We haven’t let the election of staunchly, anti-choice zealots stop us before, and we certainly won’t let it happen now. Too much is at stake, and the women and families of Virginia need us.

Again, thank you for all you already do. We’ll be letting you know about what the next few months look like shortly.

Letter to the Editor in Roanoke Times!

Congrats to being published in the Roanoke Times, Swarna.

Ken Cuccinelli won’t protect women’s freedoms

Ken Cuccinelli won’t protect women’s freedoms

I got so mad when I heard about Bob McDonnell’s anti-woman views and thought it couldn’t get any worse. But Republican candidate for attorney general Ken Cuccinelli came along — boasting about being called “one of the staunchest … conservatives the Old Dominion has to offer.”

It disturbs me that just two years ago, Cuccinelli co-patroned HB 2797, which defined human life as starting from the moment of fertilization and classified embryos as people, and he wants to outlaw abortions even in cases of rape or incest.

He’s spent his state Senate career repeatedly opposing reproductive rights. Last year, he sponsored an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood’s services that tremendously benefit women. And thanks to him, the state Department of Motor Vehicles now sells “choose life” license plates, directly funneling money into deceptive crisis pregnancy centers that disseminate medically inaccurate information.

Cuccinelli has a personal agenda: to chip away women’s freedoms. As a Virginia woman who’s sick of politicians meddling with my basic rights, my vote on Nov. 3 is for Steve Shannon, who won’t let government take over women’s minds and bodies.

SWARNA VADHIRAJAN
RADFORD
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/letters/wb/224084