Join Missourians - healthcare, mental health and social services organziations and providers, faith groups and individuals - from across the state for a rally to fight the cuts to Medicaid, Mental Health and the First Steps Program.

Help rally against the irresponsible agenda emanating from Governor Blunt and the Republican-controlled legislature!

Wednesday, April 6 - Noon
Capitol Steps, Jefferson City

Save First Steps Coalition, Missouri Association for Social Welfare, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, ARCHS, Bellefontaine Parents Association, Jobs With Justice, Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition, AFSCME, SEIU, CWA, PWW, The Arthritis Foundation, ACORN, Lutheran Family and Children Services, Southside Welfare Rights Organization and IUOE Local 148

From Women for Democracy for America - Walmart's response to a blast email from NARAL

It is Walmart's policy to allow pharmacists to decline to fill Rx.

"Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.

"Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription."

Please join us in honoring Beckie Tilinski, former chair of the St. Charles Women's Coalition - at the St. Charles Women's Coalition Dinner with Jean Carnahan, Thursday, April 14.

Beckie, a longtime activist, volunteered as the first chair of the St. Charles Women's Coalition - back in May 2003 when a very small group of St. Charles Democrat women banded together to form one of our sister groups. Through Beckie's tireless sweat and energy, the Coalition grew to over 500 members by November 2004. She chaired numerous events including the Inaugural Luncheon with former Governor Bob Holden, Dinner with Robin Carnahan,and Legislative Update with former Senate and House Minority Leaders, Ken Jacobs and Rick Johnson.

Beckie, along with her husband, Fred, was also instrumental in bringing Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General, to St. Charles last spring for the coalition's wildly successful fundraiser for 2004 candidates. Beckie has stepped down in January (for a much needed rest) but is still active as a member of the new Missouri Women's Coalition advisory committee. She is passing the torch to a new chair but we remember Beckie as the true backbone of the St. Charles Women's Coalition.

Jill Allen, Legislative Assistant
Congressman Russ Carnahan
US House of Representatives
1232 Longworth HOB
202.225.2671

Pro-Choice Democratic Women Counter Anti-Choice, Anti-Family Planning Bills

MARCH MADNESS!!! BUSH ADMINISTRATION ROLLS BACK TITLE IX

Washington, DC - The Bush Administration's Department of Education has quietly changed the rules for compliance with Title IX, the statute that bars sex discrimination in athletics at federally funded institutions. President Bush has repeatedly praised the role of women in athletics. Yet these new changes by the Bush Administration undermine the prospects for women's athletics.

In response to these rule changes DNC Spokesperson Josh Earnest issued the following statement:

"For more than three decades now, Title IX has opened the door to a college education for thousands of young women and has ensured they have the opportunity to participate and excel in collegiate athletics. These young women athletes have gone on to enjoy successful careers and to serve as valuable role models for America's next generation of ambitious young women.

"For President Bush to praise the impact of Title IX during his campaign, then announce five months later that he is undermining the program does a grave disservice not only to competitive collegiate athletics, but also to future generations of young American women."

The DNC also released the following research document regarding Title IX and the Bush Administration.

* * * *Last Friday afternoon, as the women's NCAA basketball tournament got underway, Bush's Department of Education issued rules pertaining to federal Title IX regulations that require gender equity in school sports programs. The new rules would allow institutions to avoid offering sports opportunities to women if a sufficient number of the student body failed to respond to an email survey expressing interest in the program. This new rule provides a backdoor to let colleges and universities deny important athletic opportunities to American young women.

"I love the idea of heralding women's athletics." [Bush Remarks to WNBA Champions Houston Comets, 5/14/01]

NEW BUSH RULES CREATE LOOPHOLE IN TITLE IX PROVISIONS

Under Newly Issued Rules, Higher Education Institutions Can Drop Women's Sports Programs If An Email Survey Fails to Demonstrate Sufficient Student Body Interest.

"In a move that could make it easier for colleges to show that their sports offerings for women comply with law, the Education Department has quietly issued a new clarification of the regulations interpreting Title IX. … The clarification, which was posted Friday afternoon on the department's Web site, is being criticized by women's advocacy groups as a weakening of Title IX's protection of a right to equality in collegiate sports opportunities. … Under the new clarification, colleges can demonstrate that they are satisfying the demand for women's sports by taking an online survey showing that female students have no unmet sports interests. The Education Department says they may use e-mail to notify students of the survey and must offer it in a way designed to generate high response rates -- as part of the registration process, for example. But, the department said, even if the nonresponse rate is high, nonresponse will be interpreted as a lack of interest." [New York Times, 3/23/05]

NCAA President Says Rules Could "Reverse the Progress Made Over the Last Three Decades.

"NCAA President Myles Brand joined in condemning the guidelines, saying they could 'reverse the progress made over the last three decades.' He added his disappointment that officials issued the clarification 'without benefit of public discussion and input.'" [Los Angeles Times, 3/23/05]

FLASHBACK: BUSH COMMISSION TRIED TO DESTROY TITLE IX IN 2002

Bush Commission Recommended Undermining Title IX Rules.

Poll Finds U.S. Voters Want Female President
Feminist Daily News Wire, February 28, 2005

A nationwide poll of voters has found that more than six in 10 voters believe the United States is ready for a female president. The poll, conducted by the Siena College Research Institute and sponsored by Hearst Newspapers, found that an even greater majority of 81 percent said they would vote for a woman for president whether the country is ready or not.

"The results are fascinating and very encouraging for women - and all Americans who want the nation's highest office held by the best people, regardless of their gender," said Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, director of the Siena Research Institute, in a press statement. Marie Wilson, president of The White House Project, a group whose goal is to put more women into leadership positions, states, "I can tell you from our work that there's a different kind of reality to these polls than there was when we started six years ago. There's been a national conversation about there being a woman president, and there are actually women who have been willing," reports Newsday. In a recent Women's E-news commentary, Wilson asserted, "We will have a woman as president in my lifetime."

The respondents were asked to choose the woman they felt would make the best candidate from a list of four prominent women in politics. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) prevailed as the voter favorite with 53 percent of the vote. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice placed a strong second with 42 percent, while Senators Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) had 33 and 13 percent of the vote, respectively.

The poll found that 60 percent of voters expect a woman to be the Democrats' nominee for president in 2008, while in contrast, only 18 percent expect a female Republican nominee. Respondents were also confident that a female candidate would provide better healthcare and education. "Overwhelmingly, American voters think that a woman president would be better on domestic issues than a man president," Lonnstrom said in the institute's press release. "But even more interesting is that more people think that a woman would be better than a man on foreign policy issues and by only a very small margin do voters think that a male president would be better than a female as commander-in-chief."