President's Message

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the website for Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County.

The officers and members of our Board are dedicated to promoting Democratic principles and issues and to the endorsement and support of candidates at the local, state and national levels. Our grassroots activism is a force for positive change. Please stand with us as we work to influence national policies and priorities and make our voices heard on the critical issues affecting the community.

In 2010 our organization will celebrate 40 years of activism in local Democratic politics, and we invite you to join us in our advocacy for social and economic justice, healthcare, education, energy and environmental reforms, and the protection of reproductive rights.

 Mary Ellen Wylie
 President

2010 Officers & Board Members

Mary Ellen Wylie, President
Sondra Aggeler, 1st Vice President
Marian Shapiro, 2nd Vice President
Michelle Williams, Secretary
Jill Dexter, Treasurer
Emily Allen, Communications
Marty Blum
Dianne Channing
Jennifer Cooper
Darcel Elliott
Lauren Kahn
Beth Katz
Stephanie Langsdorf
Nancy Miller
Amanda Pelch
Christina Pizarro
Gail Teton-Landis

Fall 2009 Newsletter Available here

Click on the image above to view the newsletter

Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County Policy Statement on Reproductive Rights & Collaboration With the Santa Barbara Pro-Choice Coalition

Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County supports pro-choice candidates and promotes advocacy for reproductive freedom, equal access to preventive health care services and education programs, and the rights of women to control their bodies and their health.

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the constitutional right to privacy was established which granted women the opportunity to choose whether to prevent, continue or terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Democratic Women of Santa Barbara recognizes that it is the fundamental right of all women to make personal and private childbearing decisions in consultation with health care professionals.

The Santa Barbara Pro-Choice Coalition represents over twenty-five countywide organizations and their members working to promote education and mobilize local action to ensure and protect women's reproductive rights and equal access to reproductive health services.

Democratic Women annually appoints a liaison to the Coalition who participates on the Coalition Steering Committee and facilitates the dissemination of information to our membership concerning issues of reproductive freedom and human sexuality, advocacy and outreach activities, and legislative updates.

Since the passage of Roe v. Wade, we have battled anti-choice forces throughout the nation working to undermine the legal foundation of a woman's right to choose. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned over 30 years of legal precedent protecting women from threatening abortion laws. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, the Court upheld the first federal law banning abortion. Affirming the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 criminalizes some abortions, places women's lives in danger, and subjects medical professionals to the risk of criminal prosecution. For the first time, a decision did not contain an exception for the health of a woman.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated in her dissent that "the majority opinion cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again an again by this court - and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives."

With the election of a pro-choice President, we are encouraged that the protection of women's health and safety will be a high priority for the Obama administration and that reproductive freedom will be promoted and defended.

Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County supports:

• Promoting choice as a central issue in national elections
• Electing pro-choice local and national candidates
• Protecting and increasing funding for family planning and health services
• Offering comprehensive sex education in place of abstinence only programs
• Access to safe, reliable, affordable contraception for women
• Opposing dangerous and restrictive anti-choice legislation

In the words of Sarah Weddington, the young lawyer who successfully argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, "We must be ever vigilant to assure that women never again know a time when abortion is not a legal choice."

 Mary Ellen Wylie
 Chair, Pro-Choice Coalition

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