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| 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 |
Official Position Paper of 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 thirty 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. This April, 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 and again by this court – and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women’s lives.”
As we prepare for the 2008 Election, Democratic Women of Santa Barbara supports:
- Promoting choice as a central issue
- 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
Democratic Women Liaison & Chair,
Santa Barbara Pro-Choice Coalition
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Legislation and Issues worth following Local~State~National Democratic Women's' new column is designed to focus attention on important issues and legislation as well as provide numerous resources to facilitate in the search for more facts and information. The following is a list of topics that we will draw from:
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