4/22/2001 PRESS RELEASE
Young Women Unite to Fight Global Gag Rule
A few months ago, seven women gathered in Seattle to discuss their concerns about the Mexico City policy, reinstated by George W. Bush shortly after taking office. The Mexico City policy, otherwise known as the Global Gag Rule (GGR), takes away US funds used for family planning and womens health services from foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) if they are also providing abortion, abortion counseling, or related services with their own funds. Within a few hours of their first meeting, the women came up with the name for their group, the Washington Reproductive Rights Network (WaRRN), and a mission statement was crafted. One of our goals is to educate the public about GGR and how it affects family planning efforts in other countries, said Rebecca Firestone, UW Public Health graduate student and founding member of WaRRN. The fact is women who do not use contraception are nearly six times more likely to have an abortion than women who do. If US Aid will be taken away from organizations providing contraception, more women will be having abortions, not less.
WaRRN members say the group was formed out of concern about how the GGR will affect womens health in general, not just their access to abortion. Ive seen what women are going through in other countries, and I want people to think about womens health and family planning in a more global sense, said Katrina Anderson, who worked for Empower in Thailand, an NGO helping women in the sex industry. Like Anderson, many members have experience living and working abroad and the group has taken on a strong international focus. While we are concerned for our own reproductive rights, WaRRN was formed with the idea that we must advocate for the rights of our sisters and brothers all over the world, said Kristen Comer, a local teacher and founding WaRRN member.
The members of WaRRN wasted no time taking action on their concerns. The group hosted a booth on March 4th at International Womens Day at Seattle Center by where they distributed information about the Global Gag Rule and had people sign petitions and send postcards to their Congressmembers. The response was overwhelming, said Ginger Norwood, another founding member. In just 5 hours, 100 signatures were gathered on WaRRNs petition against the GGR, addressed to President Bush, and hundreds of postcards to Senators Murray and Cantwell were signed. Its great to see that we are working on an issue important to so many people, Norwood said.
WaRRN members say that this is just the beginning of an intense campaign to overturn the Global Gag Rule. They have already delivered their message to Senators Murray and Cantwell and are working on a forum in Bellevue to attract Representative Jennifer Dunns attention to the issue. Dunn has a dismal voting record of 27 percent on pro-choice legislation, even though she is in a pro-choice district that voted overwhelmingly for the pro-choice presidential candidate. We feel its time to hold her accountable to her district on reproductive rights issues, said Anderson. WaRRN was also one of many sponsors for the rally and march Mobilize for Womens Lives held on April 7. Though organized to highlight many womens issues, including wage equity, reproductive rights became the issue of focus. Hundreds gathered at Westlake Center, then marched to the Federal Building to put coat hangers in a coffinsymbolizing the lack of choice women had before abortion was legaland chanted the slogan We wont go back.
Both the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League (NARAL) have launched national campaigns against GGR. There has also been legislation to overturn GGR introduced in Congress. The Global Democracy Promotion Act, co-sponsored by Senator Murray and Representative McDermott, is currently in the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations.