Voting Pro-Choice

by: ruthcserr

Mon Oct 25, 2010 at 11:04:18 AM EDT

I am planning to vote on Tuesday, November 2nd.  I always vote.  This year, more than usual, I am thinking about the women who made it possible for me to exercise such a basic right.   Less than a century ago, suffragettes were imprisoned, abused and beaten in their campaign to make sure women were considered autonomous individuals capable of self determination.

Given that legacy, the only possibility is that I vote for a Senate candidate like Paul Hodes, who unlike his opponent, is pro-choice.  It is only possible that I vote for a candidate for Representative to Congress like Ann Kuster whose long history of support for women, children and working families in New Hampshire clearly distinguishes her from her opponent, a long time Bush ally.  The only candidate I could possibly support for State Senate is Deb Reynolds, who has demonstrated her commitment to the people of New Hampshire and has worked for equal rights for all of us.  I can only vote for State Representatives Jim Aguiar and Carol Friedrich who have taken the same positions on choice, privacy and civil rights.  

Our previous roster of local NH congresspersons held many of these same positions on choice and privacy, but such Republicans are no longer welcome in their party.   Now a slate of tea party endorsed or, by their own admission, tea party loving candidates for our state and national legislatures want New Hampshire voters to believe that they have our best interests in mind.  I am not fooled.  They are beholden to big business and corporate interests.  They are not concerned with my civil rights, those of my daughter, or those of any of us.  For all their complaining about big government, it is the Republicans who want to legislate personal, private matters while allowing multi-million dollar business interests to do as they please at our expense.

It is in honor of the legacy of those women who gained for American women the right to vote, through years of hard work and grave bodily hardship, that I vote.  And when I do, I will only vote for those candidates who respect me as an individual.  I will only support the Democratic candidates who, in this day and age, are the only ones who have shown a commitment to my personal right to make decisions about my life and body and my daughter's right to make decisions about hers.

Ruth Cserr
Orford

Pro-Choice? Put a Bow On It!

by: judy stadtman

Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 18:51:49 PM EDT

If you believe that women's health and women's lives matter, it's time to speak up. PPNNE's 2010 Put a Bow On It! campaign makes it easy to take a stand against anti-choice fanatics who want to turn back the clock on women's rights. Send a message that efforts to criminalize abortion and limit women's power to prevent unintended pregnancies are out of touch with the attitudes of mainstream voters - and out of step with New Hampshire values.

Members of the pro-choice, pro-Planned Parenthood community are invited to submit a brief statement (200 characters or less) about why you support every woman's right to reproductive autonomy. Your personal messages will be attached to big, shockingly pink bows; the bows will join a powerful public display at a PPNNE health center that's been targeted for an escalation of anti-choice protest activity. Your  shout-out of support will be seen by  patients, health center staff, and members of the local community.

Ready to Put a Bow On It? Use this handy web form to submit your personal message. (You have an option to post your message anonymously, or include your name and town.) You can also sign up to receive more information about PPNNE's NH political action program (sign up is not required to participate in the Put a Bow On It! action).

Questions? Contact Judy Stadtman at judy.stadtman (at) gmail.com.

The Politics of Parental Notification

by: judy stadtman

Sat Sep 04, 2010 at 13:54:04 PM EDT

As usual, hard-core social conservatives and anti-choice politicians have blown the issue of parental notification wildly out of proportion to what happens in the real world.  

Faux Libertarianism?

by: Jennifer Daler

Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 08:32:03 AM EST

NHLA endorsed candidates include: Nancy Elliot(R-Merrimack), Al Baldasaro(R-Londonderry), William O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon), Daniel Itse(R-Fremont), and Jordan Ulery(R-Hudson)

These people, interestingly enough are also very much against a woman's right to choose.

How does this square with the NHLA's stated purpose (from their website)?

The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance is a non-partisan coalition working to increase individual freedom in New Hampshire.

It seems to me that individual choice with respect to intimate decisions should be paramount. But it isn't if one looks at the records of these and other individuals endorsed by this group.

Is it really individual liberty they are promoting? Or the liberty of monied interests of all stripes to do what they please in this state?

Then we'll be left with a government that will not help you if you're poor, sick, disabled, or elderly, nor educate children, but will sniff around your bedroom, dictate your intimate relationships and, if you're a woman, control your  bodily integrity.  That's liberty? Strange.

Adding (Dean):  More fauxbertarianism? My own rep from Andover, Jennifer Coffey, who is a Free Stater but who runs as a Republican, voted for the repeal of marriage equality.  How's that for Liberty?