From jims at greens.org  Wed Jul  4 15:07:58 2007
From: jims at greens.org (Jim Stauffer)
Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:07:58 -0700
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Fwd: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] Full text of the Freedom
	of Choice Act
In-Reply-To: <3750197.1183505369157.JavaMail.root@elwamui-mouette.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <3750197.1183505369157.JavaMail.root@elwamui-mouette.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <op.tuynrcf6lp2bks@adsl-69-110-32-145.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>



------- Forwarded message -------
From: "Mona D'Astarte" <mdastarte at earthlink.net>
To: SVChoice <svchoice at yahoogroups.com>, "Pro Choice or No Choice"  
<prochoiceornochoice at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] Full text of the Freedom of Choice Act
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:29:28 -0700

Following is the bill entitled the Freedom of Choice Act
introduced by Sen. Boxer in the Senate and Rep. Nadler in
the House of Representatives.  Read it and then call or email your
senators and representatives to urge them to support it. To find
how to contact your senator or representative, go to:

www.senate.gov or
www.house.gov


110th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 1173
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose
to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 19, 2007
Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BINGAMAN,
Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. CLINTON,
Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. BAUCUS, and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A BILL
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose
to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Freedom of Choice Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The United States was founded on core principles, such as liberty,
personal privacy, and equality, which ensure that individuals are free
to make their most intimate decisions without governmental interference
and discrimination.

(2) One of the most private and difficult decisions an individual makes
is whether to begin, prevent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy. Those
reproductive health decisions are best made by women, in consultation with
their loved ones and health care providers.

(3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479), and in 1973, in
Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 U.S. 179), the Supreme
Court recognized that the right to privacy protected by the Constitution
encompasses the right of every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and
religious considerations involved in deciding whether to begin, prevent,
continue, or terminate a pregnancy.

(4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances the rights of women to make
important reproductive decisions with the State's interest in potential  
life.
Under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the right to privacy protects a  
woman's
decision to choose to terminate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability,  
with
the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability except when  
necessary
to protect a woman's life or health.

(5) These decisions have protected the health and lives of women in the  
United
States. Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, an estimated 1,200,000  
women
each year were forced to resort to illegal abortions, despite the risk of
unsanitary conditions, incompetent treatment, infection, hemorrhage,  
disfiguration,
and death. Before Roe, it is estimated that thousands of women died  
annually in the
United States as a result of illegal abortions.

(6) In countries in which abortion remains illegal, the risk of maternal  
mortality
is high. According to the World Health Organization, of the approximately  
600,000
pregnancy-related deaths occurring annually around the world, 80,000 are  
associated
with unsafe abortions.

(7) The Roe v. Wade decision also expanded the opportunities for women to  
participate
equally in society. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 U.S.  
833), the Supreme
Court observed that, `[t]he ability of women to participate equally in the  
economic and
social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control  
their
reproductive lives.'.

(8) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision has stood for more than 34 years,  
there are
increasing threats to reproductive health and freedom emerging from all  
branches and
levels of government. In 2006, South Dakota became the first State in more  
than 15
years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all circumstances. Supporters  
of this ban
have admitted it is an attempt to directly challenge Roe in the courts.  
Other States
are considering similar bans.

(9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme Court recently upheld the  
first-ever Federal
ban on an abortion procedure, which has no exception to protect a woman's  
health. The
majority decision in Gonzales v. Carhart (05-380, slip op. April 18, 2007)  
and
Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America fails to protect a  
woman's health,
a core tenet of Roe v. Wade. Dissenting in that case, Justice Ginsburg  
called the
majority's opinion `alarming', and stated that, `[f]or the first time  
since Roe, the
Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's  
health'. Further,
she said, the Federal ban `and the Court's defense of it cannot be  
understood as
anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and  
again by
this Court'.

(10) Legal and practical barriers to the full range of reproductive  
services
endanger women's health and lives. Incremental restrictions on the right to
choose imposed by Congress and State legislatures have made access to  
reproductive
care extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many women across the  
country.
Currently, 87 percent of the counties in the United States have no  
abortion provider.

(11) While abortion should remain safe and legal, women should also have  
more
meaningful access to family planning services that prevent unintended  
pregnancies,
thereby reducing the need for abortion.

(12) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. Wade, Federal legislation is  
necessary.

(13) Although Congress may not create constitutional rights without  
amending the
Constitution, Congress may, where authorized by its enumerated powers and  
not
prohibited by the Constitution, enact legislation to create and secure  
statutory
rights in areas of legitimate national concern.

(14) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of article I of the
Constitution and section 5 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution to  
enact
legislation to facilitate interstate commerce and to prevent State  
interference
with interstate commerce, liberty, or equal protection of the laws.

(15) Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to prevent or  
terminate
a pregnancy falls within this affirmative power of Congress, in part,  
because--

(A) many women cross State lines to obtain abortions and many more would be
forced to do so absent a constitutional right or Federal protection;

(B) reproductive health clinics are commercial actors that regularly  
purchase
medicine, medical equipment, and other necessary supplies from out-of-State
suppliers; and

(C) reproductive health clinics employ doctors, nurses, and other personnel
who travel across State lines in order to provide reproductive health  
services
to patients.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) GOVERNMENT- The term `government' includes a branch, department,  
agency,
instrumentality, or official (or other individual acting under color of  
law)
of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State.

(2) STATE- The term `State' means each of the States, the District of  
Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or possession of the  
United
States.

(3) VIABILITY- The term `viability' means that stage of pregnancy when, in  
the
best medical judgment of the attending physician based on the particular  
medical
facts of the case before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood  
of the
sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every  
woman
has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a  
pregnancy
prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal  
viability when
necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary
to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph
(1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or  
information.

(c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section  
may
obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a  
civil action.

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any  
person
or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this  
Act, or
the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than  
those
as to which the provision is held to be unconstitutional, shall not be  
affected
thereby.

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance,  
regulation,
administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted,  
adopted,
or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.




From jims at greens.org  Sun Jul 15 19:12:00 2007
From: jims at greens.org (Jim Stauffer)
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:12:00 -0700
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Regional Picnic Next Weekend
Message-ID: <op.tvjcd00qlp2bks@adsl-69-110-41-46.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>


Reminder / Update

Our regional picnic will be July 21 in San Mateo Central Park.

A map is now available at  
http://cagreens.org/sclara/events/SanMateoPark.pdf
(use this link to download the map since our 'events' page seems to be out  
of order)


-- 
Jim


From jims at greens.org  Wed Jul 18 18:55:25 2007
From: jims at greens.org (Jim Stauffer)
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:55:25 -0700
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Regional Picnic This Weekend
In-Reply-To: <op.tvjcd00qlp2bks@adsl-69-110-41-46.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>
References: <op.tvjcd00qlp2bks@adsl-69-110-41-46.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>
Message-ID: <op.tvovmilvlp2bks@adsl-69-110-0-188.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>


Reminder / Update

Our regional picnic will be July 21 in San Mateo Central Park.
This is an opportunity to interact with Greens outside of our usual  
meeting environment.

Festivities start at noon.

A map is now available at
http://cagreens.org/sclara/events/SanMateoPark.pdf
(use this link to download the map since our 'events' page seems to be out
of order)

This looks to be a pot-luck format with everyone bringing their own. Also,  
if you have any appropriate games bring them along.

Hope to see you all there!

Jim




From jims at greens.org  Thu Jul 19 21:55:16 2007
From: jims at greens.org (Jim Stauffer)
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:55:16 -0700
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Fwd: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] URGENT ALERT: Take Action
	- Protect Family Planning!
In-Reply-To: <7308903.1184870108324.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <7308903.1184870108324.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <op.tvqyl9dwlp2bks@adsl-69-110-37-130.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>



------- Forwarded message -------
From: "Mona D'Astarte" <mdastarte at earthlink.net>
To: SVChoice <svchoice at yahoogroups.com>, "Pro Choice or No Choice"  
<prochoiceornochoice at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] URGENT ALERT: Take Action - Protect Family  
Planning!
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:35:07 -0700

Sometimes, Planned Parenthood is the only game in town in regards to family
planning. Call your congressperson today before 5 p.m. to urge defeat of  
the
Pence amendment. Complete information below. Thanks.

Subject: URGENT ALERT: Take Action - Protect Family Planning!

URGENT ALERT: Protect Reproductive Health Care for Low-Income Women

First, a background: Each year, the nation's family planning program,  
known as "Title
X" (Title Ten), helps over 5 million low-income women safely access  
reproductive
health care such as birth control pills, sexually transmitted disease  
testing
and treatment, and cancer screenings each year. Planned Parenthood is a key
provider of Title Ten services, and in many states Planned Parenthood is  
the
only Title Ten provider - enabling millions of low-income women to access  
birth
control at over 575 Planned Parenthood health centers.

Yesterday evening, Indiana Congressman Pence introduced an amendment to the
Labor-Health and Human Services spending bill, prohibiting Title Ten funds  
from
being made available to Planned Parenthood health centers. Planned  
Parenthood
strongly opposes the Pence Amendment because each year low-income women  
rely on
Planned Parenthood health centers to access quality reproductive health  
care
services including contraception, sexually transmitted disease testing and
treatment, and cancer screening.

A vote is scheduled to happen today. Please take action by 5 p.m.  
Thursday, July
19th by placing a call to your congressional representative. If you do not  
have
the opportunity to speak with office staff, please leave a voice mail with  
the
message below. Your congressional member needs to hear that you support  
birth
control access for low-income women.

We have listed the phone numbers of selected congressional offices below,  
as
well as a sample phone script. If you are unsure which representative is  
yours,
find it here at vote-smart.org. PLEASE tell us you made the call by  
emailing
publicaffairs at ppmarmonte.org with "I called" in the subject line.

Phone Numbers:

CALIFORNIA

Congressman Dennis Cardoza 202.225.6131

Congressman Jim Costa 202.225.3341

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo 202.225.8104

Congressman Sam Farr 202.225.2861

Congressman Mike Honda 202.225.2631

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren 202.225.3072

Congressman Jerry McNerney 202.225.1947

Congresswoman Doris Matsui 202.225.7163

NEVADA

Congressman Dean Heller 202.225.6155

Sample Script:

Hello! I am a constituent and I just heard about the "Pence Amendment"  
which is
part of the "Labor HHS Bill." This amendment would discriminate against  
Planned
Parenthood by blocking them from providing critical birth control services  
to
millions of low-income women through the Title Ten family planning program.

Please OPPOSE the Pence Amendment!

The Pence Amendment would deny access to birth control for low-income  
women, and
would lead to more unintended pregnancies. This would also deny access for
breast and cervical cancer screening and testing and treatment of sexually
transmitted infections.

I know you realize the importance of preventative women's healthcare, and I
wanted to alert you to this amendment to ensure that you vote against it.

Thank you for supporting access to reproductive health care for low-income  
women,
millions of women are counting on you!

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
Tell-a-friend!

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Planned
Parenthood Mar Monte.

This message was sent to mdastarte at earthlink.net. Visit your subscription
management page to modify your email communication preferences or update  
your
personal profile. To stop ALL email from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte,  
click to
remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or  
unsubscribe"
in the subject line).
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From jamboi at yahoo.com  Fri Jul 20 01:55:07 2007
From: jamboi at yahoo.com (JamBoi)
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:55:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Our GPSCC/GPSM Regional Picnic This Saturday
In-Reply-To: <op.tvovmilvlp2bks@adsl-69-110-0-188.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net>
Message-ID: <137777.73794.qm@web52211.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Note that the park is walking distance from the San
Mateo Caltrain station.  For a street map go to:
http://tinyurl.com/2b288r

I'm going (by train) and I hope many of the rest of us
can join in.  Last year's picnic was fun and I think
this one will be also. :-)


Green is Nurturing!

Drew


--- Jim Stauffer <jims at greens.org> wrote:

> 
> Reminder / Update
> 
> Our regional picnic will be July 21 in San Mateo
> Central Park.
> This is an opportunity to interact with Greens
> outside of our usual  
> meeting environment.
> 
> Festivities start at noon.
> 
> A map is now available at
> http://cagreens.org/sclara/events/SanMateoPark.pdf
> (use this link to download the map since our
> 'events' page seems to be out
> of order)
> 
> This looks to be a pot-luck format with everyone
> bringing their own. Also,  
> if you have any appropriate games bring them along.
> 
> Hope to see you all there!
> 
> Jim

___________________

JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

"To the brave belong all things"
Celt's invading Etrusca reply to nervous Romans around 400BC

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's 
Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. 
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From jamboi at yahoo.com  Mon Jul 23 22:35:11 2007
From: jamboi at yahoo.com (JamBoi)
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:35:11 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Sosfbay-news] Agenda County Council Meeting Tuesday evening 7pm
	Sunnyvale
Message-ID: <250109.158.qm@web52210.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

When: 7P, Tuesday July 24th, 2007
Where: @ Palace Cafe, 139 S. Murphy St., Sunnyvale

Preliminary Agenda:
1) Bylaw for Regional Rep election method 
2) Tapestry in Talent tabling prep
a) gather tablers well in advance as well as tabling
materials.  
b) Ask several people to make a small number of phone
calls.
3) September or October candidate training event.
4) Establish county party goals, including an outline
of approach

If more time is needed for #4 Jim Doyle has offered to
continue that conversation at his house on next Sunday
mid to late afternoon.

Below is the actual version of the bylaw amendment I
presented at the 7/5/07 GPSCC General County meeting. 
Jim Stauffer mentioned he'd like to offer some edits
so I imagine we'll have his input soon.


Green is Logarithmic!

Drew

----------
ARTICLE 9   REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES, ALTERNATES

9.1   Representation on the statewide coordinating
committee is on a regional basis. Regional
representatives and alternates to the statewide
coordinating committee are elected biannually for a
nominal two year term that expires at the end of the
term at which time the seat will remain open until the
counties have agreed on new representatives.  Ideally
the counties' agreement will be in place before the
expiration of the previous term(s). The election will
be announced on email lists at least 15 days in
advance and the announcement will be an  agenda item.

9.2 Declaring Candidacy
     Candidates shall announce their availability on
the email lists of the county councils of the region
prior to the administrative meeting at which a vacancy
or replacement is considered.  "None of the Above"
shall be considered an acceptable candidate. The term
'administrative meeting' in these bylaws shall be
understood include but be limited only to General
County, or County Council meetings.

9.3 Candidate Presentations
     The administrative meeting will have agenda items
for the candidates to present themselves, to describe
their goals, and to answer questions.

9.4 Decision
     Approval of a representative will be a decision
item at the administrative meeting following the one
at which the candidates made their presentations.

9.5 Regional Coordination
     A candidate must be approved by the several
counties of the region.  If different candidates are
approved by the various counties the decision(s) 
shall be retaken by the counties until agreement
between the counties is reached.

9.6 Regional Balance
     It shall be an objective to have the regional
representative and the first alternate regional
representative be from different counties
wherever possible.

9.7 Replacement
     A regional representative or an alternate
regional representative may be replaced using the same
process for selecting a regional representative or an
alternate regional representative.

9.8 Effective Date
    This amendment, Article 9 of the by-laws shall
take effect on its date of passage, {ed. note: date of
passage to be inserted here upon passage}.

9.9 Expiration of Article 9
     The process for the selection of regional
representatives to the statewide coordinating
committee shall lapse whenever regions are 
redefined.

___________________

JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

"To the brave belong all things"
Celt's invading Etrusca reply to nervous Romans around 400BC

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)


       
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