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Social Action Committee News
June 2004
Social Action News
The March for Women’s Lives
April 25th, 2004 — Washington, DC
An estimated 1,150,000 individuals descended on the National Mall in Washington on April 25th, 2004 to give an urgent wake-up call to government leaders and the nation concerning women’s lives. Thousands of men, women and children participated in this historic march.
The Social Action Committee, chaired by Tina Rothpearl, organized a bus trip so that members could join the scores of marchers and demonstrators in Washington. RSNS was well represented, as more than 50 congregants attended the march and sent a message to the current administration to change social policy in favor of women’s reproductive rights.
Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman spoke at the march. "It is an honor to be here today. We’ve come from so far and in such great numbers. Our faces, our t-shirts, and our banners reveal the beautiful diversity of the people whom God put on this earth to do the sacred work of repairing the world and fighting for social justice……It’s about the freedom to choose. The freedom to make choices based upon our own religious beliefs: the freedom to control our own bodies. It’s about every child’s right to a life in which there is enough food and clothing, enough love and caring……I am here - as a woman, as a rabbi, as a Jew, as a person of faith - to demand that our nation’s promise of religious liberty not be violated. Though many would have us believe otherwise, this march is about more than the right to have an abortion." (For full text, see www.rac.org)
These are the Social Action Committee’s suggestions for continued social action:
- Write letters to the editor and op-eds for your local newspaper telling them about your experience at the March and/or the Jewish perspective on reproductive choice. You can find information about the Reform Jewish Movement’s position on reproductive choice at http://rj.org/roevwade/movement.shtml
- TAKE ACTION ON FAMILY PLANNING: Urge the Congress to Address the Family Planning Needs of Women and Families. On April 22, 2004, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced the Putting Prevention First Act (S. 2336 / H.R. 4192), an omnibus family planning bill that combines increased Title X funding with six existing bills relating to contraception, family planning, and comprehensive sexuality education. This comprehensive legislation was introduced in the week leading up to the 2004 March for Women’s Lives as a public statement by pro-choice leaders that helping all women have access to family planning services is fundamental to giving women real reproductive choice and is the most effective way to reduce the number of abortions performed. In emails, phone calls, and faxes, please contact your Representatives and Senators and urge them co-sponsor and support the Putting Prevention First Act (S. 2336 / H.R. 4192). Encourage your Member of Congress to support this comprehensive family planning legislation. To easily reach your Member of Congress, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.
For additional information, see these web sites….
www.rac.org;
www.plannedparenthood.org;
www.marchforchoice.org
Susan Letteney
WOMEN’S MARCH - APRIL 2004
It was dark (as it usually is at 4:30 a.m.) when we assembled at the parking field of our synagogue and it was dark when we arrived home close to midnight. Along with about 50 others from our congregation, I boarded a bus bound for Washington, D.C. to be part of the Women’s March. Our members were seated on several buses but on the one I was on were Eric, Tina, Harriet, Viviane, Terry, Rita, Debby, just to name a few. Any observer not knowing where we were going, might have wondered mightily what this was all about. Here were husbands and wives, teenagers, and various groupings of women. We came aboard with pillows, knapsacks, jackets, raingear and assorted bags bulging with food and water. How do you plan a portable menu for three meals to be eaten without amenities, in an unfamiliar site, and possibly in the rain? We did it.
We arrived in Washington at about 10 a.m. and after a brief walk we reached our assembly point, somewhere between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Out came makeshift seating arrangements — plastic sheets, blankets — and soon it became evident that this was a really BIG event. People kept pouring in as busloads arrived throughout the morning. Huge monitors were set up along the field so that we could hear and see the almost endless array of speakers and entertainers. Everything was well organized and impossible as it may seem with all those people present, there was no sense of crowding. Just the opposite — it seemed as if Washington expanded to accept us. People came from all over our country. Posters were everywhere. Most were preprinted on glossy paper with the usual pro-choice slogans and some were handmade ones with pointed messages specifically for the eyes of President Bush.
What were we doing here? Why did we plan to participate in this event? I’m sure answers could vary. The major organizations which planned this day (NARAL and Planned Parenthood, to name a few), emphasized that the right to choose was paramount and the right to have a medically safe abortion was certainly one of the underlying issues. But many of us, myself included, came not just to protest, but to be seen and to be counted because this administration has already whittled away at the fundamental principle that a woman has a right to make her own life choices. Fundamental prerogatives of our private lives should not be infringed upon by governmental decree or religious orthodoxy. Neither a body of clergy nor the U.S. Senate should have the right to impose their will upon what should be private and personal life decisions.
The energy created by seeing almost a million people united in delivering a message was truly miraculous. I am not a politically active person but I knew it was time to make a statement. It was a wonderful mix of young and old and ages in-between, and we who were there felt the beautiful energy that came from the simple act of taking a stand. It was a time to get on board even if that time began at 4 a.m. And we did it.
~Anita Bloom