Category: Westchester County

Tuesday was a GREAT Day!

Tuesday was a GREAT Day!

You Did It! You came out and voted, bringing your friends and relatives to Early Voting and on General Election Day, November 5th! And on behalf of Choice Matters, WCLA PAC & pro-choice voters everywhere, thank you for that!

November 5th was a good day for Westchester County. After thousands of phone calls, distributing tens of thousands of our bight yellow ProChoice Voting Guide and door-knocking, we have elected 13 pro-choice County legislators. Our endorsed candidates won in all 6 contested County legislative races. We now have a pro-choice super majority on the Westchester County Board of Legislators. We also have a pro-choice majority on the New Castle Town Board!

Also, In The BIG News Column, Virginia elected a government that, with more hard work, should pass a Virginian Reproductive Health Act! And Kentucky elected a pro-choice governor! 

PLEASE enjoy today and our successes because tomorrow we must work! 2020 is finally here. There will be no time to waste.  The election will not only be about defeating Donald Trump. It will be about protecting the gains we made in 2018. 

We must turn our attention to accessibility and reproductive inequities. ALL women must have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare regardless of their economic abilities and geographic locations, because legal does not mean accessible.

Unite to fight. For our rights.

Is IDC behavior back in style?

Is IDC behavior back in style?

After the IDC (Independent Democratic Conference) we all swore not to be fooled again. No matter whether there was a “D”,  “R” or “WFP” after the name, we were going to watch the actions, instead of simply listening to the words.

Choice Matters has been doing exactly that – and, unfortunately, our findings are not good.

1. Westchester County Government solicited and accepted a Trump Administration HHS grant for abstinence-only education targeted at the most vulnerable – teens – mostly of color, living below the poverty line & designated as “high risk.”  That’s a huge problem. We are balancing our budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, and we are doing it with lies and half-truths.

Choice Matters successfully got the County to reject the abstinence-only, anti-gay intervention curriculum provider but they are still taking the grant money. Choice Matters will work with the County to find a viable curriculum provider who will provide comprehensive sex education. If we cannot, we must demand that the County return the grant.

3.  Another man – this time a Westchester County Democratic leader – told a room full of Democratic committee chairs to ignore whether Choice Matters rates a candidate as pro-choice or anti-choice. Why? Because he does not want his Democratic candidates who are anti-choice to be adversely impacted. He clearly thinks the “D” is more important than women’s constitutional rights.

4. A male candidate for County Court judge lambasted Choice Matters for rating him anti-choice, after all he said he was “pro-choice.” Then he went on to make our point for us by coming out in total opposition to minors’ rights. This candidate has no place on the Bench.

There is no more important an office than that of judge. Choice Matters is the only organization that interviews and rates judicial candidates.

Choice Matters is your feet on the ground. Please contribute today.

Oh, and fyi – let’s not forget the male presidential contender who entered the Democratic field two weeks ago. He thinks campaigning for anti-choice candidates is fine – even those who have a track record of co-sponsoring bills to restrict abortion rights. According to this presidential candidate, “…you can’t exclude people who disagree with us on one issue.”

Really??? Women’s reproductive right is just one issue?? According to the Roe v. Wade decision, that one issue is a woman’s constitutional right. Maybe this candidate is willing to forfeit other constitutional rights, maybe those protecting People of Color or LGBTQ folks. Or is it only women’s rights that are expendable?

When you are playing fast and loose with constitutional rights, you never know what might go next! 

Voting – Why Bother? Part Two

Voting – Why Bother? Part Two

After the 2016 Presidential election, any enthusiasm people had about voting was torn away. How could Donald Trump still be president after it was exposed that the election was fraught with Russian meddling, and with the majority of votes —more than 3 million— being cast for Hillary Clinton? Many of us lived in denial up until the moment of the inauguration.

It was truly an election that made you wonder what the point was in voting.

But then reality hit like a ton of bricks. Yes, we’re living in the time of Donald Trump, and yes, we’re angry, but that doesn’t mean we give up control and let other people rule —  quite the opposite, in fact.

In times when it feels like so much is out of our control, voting is one of the few means we have to exercise decision-making power. The reality is that voter turnout is historically low in this country. In turn, when voter turnout is low, every single vote cast counts more. A single vote can make the difference.

Elections can be so close that they result in a tie, like in Irvington, NY[1] or in Virginia this year. One was decided by the flip of coin and the other by the drawing of one name out of a can[2]. NYS Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins lost by 18 votes in 2004[3], and then turned around and won in 2006.  In the 2016 New York State Senate race for the 8th district seat, Democrat John Brooks beat Republican incumbent Michael Venditto[4] by only 33 votes out of 128,965 votes cast.[5]

Even more recently, the 2017 Alabama Special Election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions showed the importance of individual votes. The unimaginable actually happened: Alabama voters elected a Democrat to the Senate. Doug Jones claimed victory over his Republican opponent, Roy Moore. Jones won by around 20,000 votes. That was the first time a Democrat won in Alabama in decades. If those voters had stayed home because they thought a Democrat could never win, a child molester would have been elected.

Still not convinced that going to the polls makes a difference? In September of 1975, the closest Senate election ever took place. After two separate recounts, the original win by Wyman of 355 votes was narrowed down to a two (2) vote margin.[6] This is the best possible example of why the votes of individual citizens matter. In this race every vote truly did count and matter.

A good time to sit out on an election is NEVER. Every election from school board to president matters. You have to start at the base to build a pyramid.

Granted, it’s impossible to know when your vote could change history. But do you really want to risk it? After all, if you sit out an election, you’re giving up control of your life to others. You’re letting go of the only control you have of who governs you and how.

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[1] https://www.irvingtonny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/54

[2] https://www.npr.org/2018/01/04/573504079/virginia-republican-david-yancey-wins-tie-breaking-drawing

[3] http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E1DE163AF93AA35751C0A9639C8B63

[4]http://www.liherald.com/westhempstead/stories/Brooks-Venditto-tied-in-89th-District-senate-race,85449

[5]https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york-state-senate-district-8

[6]https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Closest_election_in_Senate_history.htm

20-Week Abortion Ban – No Big Deal? THINK AGAIN!

20-Week Abortion Ban – No Big Deal? THINK AGAIN!

If you’re a woman in your 30s or 40s, beware – the 20-week abortion ban is aimed at you.
Even though it was beaten back in the Senate in September, the 20-week abortion ban will be back. It’s been passed in the House and is already the law in 13 states. Anti-choice extremists in Congress want to make it the law everywhere.
These zealots are targeting your right to decide whether or not to have a healthy child. They want to force you to give birth to a child who is suffering from chromosome abnormalities and/or genetic disorders – whether you want to or not.
Those of us who get pregnant in our 30s and in our 40s are at a greater risk of giving birth to a child with a birth defect, because of our age. We know this.
I knew this so I had three Amniocenteses, one in each of my pregnancies. It’s the most accurate and the safest test you can have. An Amnio tests for chromosome abnormalities and genetic disorders, and also detects neural tube defects which are birth defects of the brain, spine, and spinal cord – the two most common of which are spina bifida and anencephaly.
But you can’t get it until the second trimester.
An Amnio is performed at 17-19 weeks, and it takes another 2-3 weeks to get the results. That will take you to 19 to 22 weeks.
You’ll be out of time to get an abortion if anti-choice extremists in Congress and in states
across the country have their way.
That means all of us women, who want to have children, will no longer be able to have accurate testing for chromosome abnormalities, genetic disorders, or neural tube defects,
and do something with the results.
The possible loss of this right is very real – and this is not to even mention, what if your life is at stake.

Hate Right Here in Westchester

– What we feared is indeed the new reality –
This White House is in the hands of
anti-Semitic misogynistic white supremacists.

Dear Pro-Choice Voters,

Donald Trump and his closest advisers have turned the clock back to a time where discrimination and hate were an accepted, common trait of American life. They began before the General Election with hate mongering intended to stir the base and intimidate everyone else. Beginning with the Muslim ban to reinstating and expanding the Mexico City Policy* to trampling on LGBT rights**, Trump was laying the groundwork for the resurgence of the KKK and Nazi demonstrations and violence we saw this weekend.

But make no mistake, this ideology of hate and the intimidation tactics the Trump administration employs are not limited to Charlottesville or the South. It is right here in Westchester County and being spirited forward by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.

On August 17th,  Astorino vetoed the Immigration Protection Act – a bill that was in total compliance with federal law and that had passed the Board of Legislators 10-5.  The goal of the bill was to stop local law enforcement from acting as federal immigration officials, thereby protecting county resources and building trust in our communities. 

Why did Astorino do this?

You need look no further than the praise Astorino’s veto received from Trump’s AG Jeff Sessions.

Remember this is THE Jeff Sessions who said the KKK is “OK”*** and used a Supreme Court case permitting the racial segregation of swimming pools to justify the Muslim ban.

This was not Astorino’s first attempt to please Trump. Back in the fall, when swastikas and racist graffiti started appeared around Westchester, Astorino blamed Obama and Clinton supporters, telling both leaders to calm their supporters – just as Trump blamed those who were demonstrating peacefully against the Nazis and KKK in Charlottesville.

Only you can put an end to this hate mongering by our elected officials here in Westchester.
And that is by VOTING – And if you are not registered, do so: Register Here


*Here’s What Donald Trump Did  Trump’s Mexico City Policy **Trump Tramples on LGBT Rights

***Jeff Session: Comments on Race

Trump Administration Cites Segregation

 

 

What They Think About Women

Please read our op-ed that appeared in the Journal News today. It takes a hard look at New York’s new Republican Party and its views on women. Sadly, there seem to be no Nelson Rockefellers.

Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed New York State’s abortion rights bill into law in 1970. When vetoing the 1972 attempt to overturn that law, he declared, “I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society.”

That is, unfortunately, not the view held by anti-choice extremist gubernatorial candidate Astorino or his running mate candidate for Attorney General John Cahill.

Please read What’s at Stake (This is our op-ed.)

Astorino – NOT an Equal Opportunity Advocate!

A few simple words from Astorino about his family speak volumes on his views on women.

Astorino has called Albany a “cesspool of corruption” “where he’d never allow his two daughters to work.” (Click here to read Newsday, 3/7/2014)

What about his son? Astorino has two daughters and a son. Is he saying it’s okay for his son to work there but not his daughters? Does he think boys are stronger or smarter than girls? That girls can’t handle what life throws their way, but boys can? That girls should be sheltered but boys are tough?

No wonder Astorino opposes the Women’s Equality Agenda, and comprehensive reproductive rights including abortion – all of which help women have control over their own lives.

This statement was made on the statewide stage by a man who wants to be governor of New York State where we have been at the forefront of fighting for equal opportunity for all people.
_______________________________________
REMEMBER Astorino’s anti-woman record:
â–ªAstorino has opposed abortion under any condition.**
â–ªHe vetoed a law that would have given women safe access to reproductive health centers.
â–ªHe opposes comprehensive sex ed and cut funding to those programs.
â–ªHe supports abstinence-only education, and has won an award for it.
â–ªHe gutted all funding to community health centers that serve women and their families.
▪Astorino has called the reproductive health component of the Women’s Equality Agenda, which would bring abortion legislation in New York into the 21st century and take it out of the penal code, the equivalent of “infanticide.”

Will Westchester Medical Center Be Forced To Ban Abortions?

I didn’t know who to vote for… so I didn’t vote.

I have heard these words repeated over and over again since the November 5th Election. Why? Because the over 85,000 voters in our database who have relied on finding the bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide in their mailboxes every year – the guide that explained both who to vote for and what Choice means on a County level – did not receive it! This year, there was no ProChoice Voting Guide mailed out to our Westchester voters because we simply did not have the money.

The results are clear and Westchester has paid the price. In 2013, pro-choice candidates lost in astonishing numbers. County legislative seats that should have been wins for pro-choice candidates were losses. In District 10, (part of New Rochelle and Eastchester), the pro-choice challenger who took on the incumbent who opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman, lost by 485 votes. In District 14, (part of Yonkers and Mount Vernon), the pro-choice challenger who took on an 18-year incumbent who votes against women at every opportunity including her historic vote to deny women safe access to reproductive health care, lost by 890 votes. And there are more districts just like these two. These are races in which our ProChoice Voting Guide would have made the difference between winning and losing!

2013 stands in sharp contrast to 2012, when our support for pro-choice candidates resulted in unprecedented victories, and we elected our endorsed candidates at all levels of government. Ninety-one percent of the candidates WCLA – Choice Matters endorsed, won! Those wins could not have happened without you or our ProChoice Voting Guide. (Please make a contribution today!)

Did you know that in odd year elections like this one, approximately seven out of every nine voters are women, and of those seven, five are over the age of 50? Not your typical internet and social media users. Reaching this target population requires more traditional avenues of communication – yes, snail mail – the U.S. Postal Service. And the postage costs just keep going up.

Anti-choice extremist County Executive Astorino said repeatedly, “County elections have nothing to do with abortion.” That could not be farther from the truth, but people believed him because there was no voting guide to refute him. County government plays a very significant role in reproductive rights and the implications can be huge. Just look at Albuquerque, New Mexico. That municipality just voted on an initiative to ban abortions after 20 weeks. That could happen here.

Reproductive rights is absolutely a County issue.
The people we elect decide the County budget. Departments relating to women and families comprise a large portion of that budget. The County Executive nominates and the County Board of Legislators (CBL) confirms appointments to the Westchester Medical Hospital Board; thus the Board’s elected officials ultimately control whether the hospital will continue to provide abortions. The CBL decides whether inmates will get pregnancy tests, abortions, and prenatal care on request and without delay. The County Health Department decides which clinics will provide services and whether they will provide reproductive health services, counseling, and referrals for abortions. The County Executive appoints, and CBL votes to confirm commissioners important to the pro-choice issue including Health, Social Services, and Corrections.

Last year, those elected officials gutted all funding to the community health centers which directly impacted women. Funding for comprehensive sex education is gone, and instead, the County Executive, who is winning awards from abstinence-only organizations, vetoed a bill giving women safe access to reproductive health centers.

Sadly, WCLA – Choice Matters forecasted election night results. We put our voting guide on line but that only reached a limited number of people. In contrast, our mailed bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide reaches the all-important target audience – women – who are rushing between work and other responsibilities, and those that do not live on the internet. The mailed voting guide provides, literally, an in-hand education that can and does go from the mailbox to the voting booth.

Make a gift to Choice Matters to support our work.

In 2014, all seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and New York State government are up for election: Congress, Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, and the New York State Senate and Assembly. This election matters. Last year, we watched as a turncoat Senate Democrat turned his back on his constituents and aligned himself with the anti-choice Republican leader. Together, they blocked the Women’s Equality Agenda from coming to the floor for a vote. They made us realize how much New York has in common with Texas.

If we are not able to distribute our ProChoice Voting Guide to our database of over 85,000 Westchester County residents, November 5th, 2013 will serve as a precursor of elections to come.

But you can stop that from happening by contributing to WCLA – Choice Matters today.

Choice Matters has been standing strong since 1972! That’s 40+ years! Choice Matters has interviewed hundreds of thousands of female voters, identified those who are pro-choice, and added them to our database. We do this every single week, each and every year. It’s our amazing database and our mailed ProChoice Voting Guide that make us victorious. We’ve always understood this. But we just didn’t have the money to print and mail out our voting guide this year – and pro-choice candidates lost across the County. We cannot afford to let that happen again next year.

Your support today will make it possible for us to send our ProChoice Voting Guide and newsletter which informs the public about Choice, elected officials, reproductive rights actions, challengers’ positions, and our critical endorsements. This voting guide newsletter scares some candidates and elected officials, and rewards others, because it holds them accountable for their actions.

Your generous contribution of $25, $100, $250 or more will help Choice Matters’ ProChoice campaign continue to identify and educate households across the county and state.

 Choice Matters is a mighty pro-choice organization with a proven strategy. That’s because you, our donors, have given us extraordinary support. We hope you will continue to do so because we need your help now more than ever. Your contribution, whatever you can afford – large or small – will make a difference. Every dollar truly counts.

Please mail your contribution today or you may securely contribute on line at www.choicematters.org.

Supporting Choice Matters is the most valuable action an advocate for Choice can take.

300 Bills working to ban abortion & we’re talking zumba… Why?

There are 300 bills out there, across the country, that would ban or severely limit access to abortion at a state level, and North Dakota’s Governor just signed into law a ban on all abortions as early as six weeks.

And I’m talking to you about zumba…why?

Because to fight back, we need to reach a broader base of people, people who don’t consider themselves political, but definitely believe women should have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare – that includes abortion.

Newspaper articles tell us about these women: they don’t identify with the label “pro-choice,” but definitely support comprehensive reproductive rights.

These women vote and they are crucial to the protection of our rights.

So how do we reach them?

By going to them! We need to get up and go to them.
We need to involve people where they are, not where we are.

Choice Matters has decided to take on that challenge — of reaching out and involving the pro-choice public that does not come out to marches and rallies, and in turn stay under the radar.

Choice Matters is hosting Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness, on Saturday April 6th at the YWCA in White Plains.

Why? Because people really do want to have a fun, and Zumba is the rage across the country, with women of all ages and demographics.

I invite you to look at our facebook page Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness. Most of the people registered so far would never think of going to an event to hear a speaker or attend a rally.

We are focusing on where people are and they happen to be doing something that’s both fun and good for their health. Maybe that’s the key. After all, isn’t reproductive rights about healthcare and being able to make safe healthy choices?

What Zumba can teach us about healthy choices & reproductive rights

How many times have you been part of the handwringing conversation lamenting the lack of involvement in the fight for reproductive rights by a particular group of people –  the “why don’t _____ care” conversation? (Fill in the blank with whomever you want: young people, college students, young professionals.)

But isn’t that assuming it’s their fault, not ours? Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe we haven’t been thinking outside of our own little boxes.

The newspapers are full of articles about the decrease in the number of people who identify as “pro-choice,” but not in the number who believe a woman should have access to full comprehensive reproductive rights.

So, just maybe, we need to involve people where they are, not where we are.

Choice Matters has decided to take on that challenge — of reaching out and involving the pro-choice public that does not come out to marches and rallies, which results in them staying under the radar.

Choice Matters is hosting Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness, on Saturday April 6th at the YWCA.

Why? Because people really do want to have a fun, and Zumba is the rage across the country, with women of all ages and demographics.

I invite you to look at our facebook page Cardio Dance for Choice with Zumba Fitness. Most of the people registered so far would never think of going to an event to hear a speaker or attend a rally.

We are focusing on where people are and they happen to be doing something that’s both fun and good for their health. Maybe that’s the key. After all, isn’t reproductive rights about healthcare and being able to make safe healthy choices?

But it won’t work without you!

We are the broke relative, the one willing to do the heavy lifting but without the funds to do so.

If everyone who reads this email contributed $25 we can make it!

Please click here and support this event.

If this event is as successful as it looks like it’ll be, we could do a Salsa dancing event later this summer, or a networking event at the new fondue restaurant in White Plains. We’re open to suggestions.

All I know is that if we are going to capture those that believe a woman should have access to full comprehensive reproductive rights, but don’t call themselves ‘pro-choice’, we must start thinking outside the box!

Contribute today! Let’s make it happen!