Spring 2009 Newsletter Available here
Click on the image above to view the newsletter
The Spring 2009 Newsletter contains our endorsements for the May 19th special election.
New images from the Reading Immigration Forum in the gallery
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.
Our organization has been prominent in Democratic politics for thirty-nine years 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
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
Victory 2008
Candidates
Lompoc City Council
Darrell Tullis
Santa Barbara School Board
Annette Cordero
Montecito Union School Board
Bob Kupiec
Propositions
| Proposition 1A: |
YES |
| Proposition 2: |
YES |
| Proposition 3: |
YES |
| Proposition 4: |
NO |
| Proposition 5: |
YES |
| Proposition 6: |
NO |
| Proposition 7: |
YES |
| Proposition 8: |
NO |
| Proposition 9: |
NO |
| Proposition 10: |
NEUTRAL |
| Proposition 11: |
NO |
| Proposition 12: |
YES |
 |
Our Values
- Well Being of Families & Children
- Reproductive Freedom
- A Sustainable Environment & Economy
- A well-funded Public Education System
- Healthcare Coverage for All
- Celebration of Diversity
- International Peace
- Voting Integrity
|
|
Support the Party that Gave You
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Civil Rights Act
- Student Aid and Work Study
- Voting Rights Act
- Clean Air Act
- Brady Gun Act
- Head Start
- GI Bill
- Peace Corps
|
|
Democratic Women
Promotes
- Democratic Principles
- Democratic Issues
- Democratic Candidates
|
|
Contact Democractic Women of Santa Barbara County