Planned Parenthood Action Network wrote:
> Dear Christopher,
>
> We all have reason to celebrate, as we have scored a major victory in
> contraceptive equity. Yesterday the House of Representatives passed
> the annual Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill with contraceptive
> coverage and equity for federal employees in tact. This bill included
> the restoration of contraceptive coverage for federal employees,
> which had previously been eliminated in President Bush's budget
> proposal.
>
> Thanks to you who have helped us with this important step in our
> fight for contraceptive equity!!
>
> Below is a statement from Gloria Feldt, Planned Parenthood's
> President:
> ______________________________________________________________________
> PLANNED PARENTHOOD APPLAUDS RESTORATION OF CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE FOR
> FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
>
> HOUSE VOTE REPUDIATES
> GEORGE BUSH'S WAR ON FAMILY PLANNING
>
> Statement by Gloria Feldt, President
> Planned Parenthood Federation of America
>
> Washington, DC. -- We applaud the vote taken in the House of
> Representatives today, approving the Treasury-Postal Appropriations
> Bill. The measure included the restoration of contraceptive coverage
> for federal employees, which had previously been eliminated in
> President Bush's budget proposal. This vote is a repudiation of
> George Bush's war on family planning and contraception by members of
> Congress on both sides of the aisle.
>
> Since practically his first day in office, George Bush hasn't missed
> a single opportunity to take away access to family planning services,
> which are so important to the health of women and families. First, he
> revived the "global gag rule," which threatened the funding of family
> planning programs overseas, while restricting their free speech
> rights and their ability to advocate for the health of the at-risk
> populations they serve. Then he proposed a budget that eliminated
> contraceptive coverage for Federal employees. That decision not only
> ignored the basic health needs of women in public service, it put the
> Federal government on the list of major employers who discriminate on
> the basis of gender. More recently, the Department of Health and
> Human Services has been turning down routine requests from one state
> government after another for rule waivers that would allow more poor
> pregnant women to receive Medicaid coverage for family planning
> services over an extended period of time after they give birth. Like
> the global gag rule, these decisions will deny essential health
> services to the most vulnerable of women.
>
> For a president who opposes a woman's right to choose to also limit a
> woman's access to the very thing that helps prevent unintended
> pregnancies and makes abortions less necessary is the height of
> hypocrisy and callous indifference. It's clear that this President
> fails to grasp what the Equal Opportunity Commission, Federal Courts,
> the American public, and now Congress have said they understand:
> Americans need family planning, Americans want family planning, and
> Americans have a right to family planning; it's a basic part of
> health care.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Encourage others to promote and protect reproductive health
> rights by joining the Responsible Choices Action Network at
> http://www.plannedparenthood.org/rchoices/join
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> You received this message because crdbronx at erols.com is
> a member of the Responsible Choices Action Network.
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to
> actionnetwork at rc.plannedparenthood.org from crdbronx at erols.com with the
> word "remove" in the subject line. If you have questions
> or comments about this alert, please send an email to
> responsiblechoices at ppfa.org.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~