On September 7, 2012, Feminists for Choice will celebrate New York’s historic role in protecting women’s reproductive rights at a happy hour fundraiser 
for the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF). With the Republican National Committee drafting what committee member Russ Walker boasts is “the most conservative platform in modern history”–a document that promises more rights to a zygote in a petri dish than to the living, breathing, thinking woman who might hope to carry that zygote to term–there’s no better time to support the grass roots efforts of the NYAAF to ensure that New York remains the safe haven for women it has been for generations.
In 1970, New York was the second state after Hawaii to legalize abortion, but its law went further, and it had no residency requirement. Then, as now, the law was as much about access to abortion as the right to have an abortion. As Barbara Shack, then an organizer with the New York Civil Liberties Union, now a former president of the board of NARAL said on the 30th anniversary of the law’s passage:
People forget that back then, a big part of the argument was about economics. Women with money could get abortions. They could pay doctors to do them, or they could go to Puerto Rico or to another country. Poor women, on the other hand, were dying in droves from unsafe abortions.
Thanks to the anti-choice lobby, circumstances are almost as dire for lower-income women today. In the first six months of 2012, 15 states passed 39 restrictions on abortion. Last year, 24 states passed 92 restrictions, an all-time record.
Fortunately, women in New York have the New York Abortion Access Fund.
Founded in 2001, the New York Abortion Access Fund is a volunteer-run, 501c3 non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to low-income women in New York State who cannot afford to pay for an abortion. NYAAF, an affiliate of the National Network of Abortion Funds, believes that abortion services should be available to all women regardless of their ability to pay. Without funding, many women do not have a real choice.
Progressives of every stripe are invited to enjoy networking, drink specials, and a whole lot of fantastic femme-friendly company.
When: September 7th, 6-9pm
Where: Solas, 232 E. 9th St.
Party perks: Drink specials all night and Feminists for Choice giveaways!
RSVP here: http://on.fb.me/MqcSYc
More info: email Janice Formichella at info@thefeministguide.com
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Jodi is a freelance writer and recovering academic with more enthusiasm for sports than athletic talent and a prodigious taste for the health food known as dark chocolate. |
