A clear statement to every presidential candidate that the American people demand a president who will defend women's constitutional right to safe, legal abortion and reproductive freedom. The petition will be delivered on International Women's Day 2004.
George W. Bush has shown again and again that he will not rest until womens constitutional right to safe, legal abortion is revoked. Bushs most recent assault on reproductive freedom was the installment of yet another anti-reproductive rights federal judge, Charles Pickering, while the Senate was on recess. This maneuver denied the Senate their constitutional right to advise and consent on judicial nominees. The Senate had already voted down Pickerings nomination in committee and refused to vote on Pickerings nomination on the Senate floor because of his extremist, anti-civil rights and anti-reproductive rights views.
In the past 12 months, state legislators have proposed more than 200 anti-reproductive rights bills. Every 7 minutes, 1 woman in the world dies from an unsafe, often illegal abortion. American women deserve a better fate than that. American women deserve a pro-choice president who will put womens medical choices back in the hands of women and their doctors.
As we celebrate the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing womens constitutional right to safe, legal abortion, we, the people of America, demand a president who will never play politics with womens lives.
We demand a president who champions the rights of every American at every opportunity. We demand a president who will protect the constitutional right to privacy of every American woman making decisions about her personal reproductive health. We demand a president who trusts women to make responsible decisions about their own lives. We demand a president who respects our lives, our privacy, and our choice.
