Despite a recent Supreme Court ruling, anti-choice members of Congress are moving quickly to pass H.R. 4965, legislation they claim would once again ban so-called "partial-birth abortion."

"Partial-birth abortion," of course, is not a recognized medical procedure but is an inflammatory term invented by abortion opponents to provoke legislators and the public. The new legislation would seriously compromise women's health and drastically limit physicians' discretion to choose the most medically appropriate abortion method for their patients.

The sponsors of H.R. 4965 claim that the newest iteration of the ban is materially different from earlier versions and that it should therefore withstand constitutional scrutiny. But the bill that has been proposed continues to fail constitutional muster because it is overbroad and lacks a required exception to protect women's health.

Take Action! The House is expected to vote on this measure as early as next week. You can read more about this amendment and send a FREE FAX to your Members of Congress from our action alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/pba107.html

---

WONDERING WHAT TO DO FOR MOTHER'S DAY?

To ALL THE DAUGHTERS:

Is there a woman who has made a difference in your life?

Someone who has loved you, guided you and taught you over the years? Maybe she's your mother, or maybe an aunt or close friend. Maybe she's helped you learn to make responsible decisions, or maybe she's offered a shoulder to cry on when times are rough.

This Mother's Day, why not remember this special woman by making a gift to Planned Parenthood of Houston & Southeast Texas in her honor? A donation to PPHSET will last longer than flowers and go farther than a bottle of expensive perfume. And, we'll send her a colorful Mother's Day card to let her know you were thinking of her on this special day.

Your gift will help keep other moms healthy by making sure they receive regular Pap smears, annual exams and mammograms. And, you'll help low-income women who aren't ready to be mothers receive affordable and effective birth control methods.

What better way to honor a woman who has made a difference in your life by making a gift that makes a difference in the lives of others?

So, take a moment to remember that woman who influenced and loved you. Then, click on the link below and follow the easy instructions. Be certain you indicate that you would like to donate in honor of someone, then continue completing the form.

Mother's Day Campaign

Honor the special woman who has made a difference in your life by giving a gift to Planned Parenthood of Houston & Southeast Texas. A card will be sent to let her know you were thinking about her on this special day.

Please click on the following link for more information: Planned Parenthood of Houston

---

Reply-to:
Subject: Calm Christmas
From: "Culture Jammers Network"
To: "Culture Jammers Network"

Did you do it? Was it more painful than you thought, or less?

It shouldn't be too hard keep the wallet buttoned for just one day. But damned if shopping's not a stubborn routine to break. A decaf-latte here, a video-rental there, a newspaper and a tank of gas on plastic - the routine has become unconscious. We're slaves to our consumption patterns, and it's hard to know how much so until we break them. That's what Buy Nothing Day is about. It's an experiment in self-awareness-and self-control-in the service of a broader global message. If you're among the thousands worldwide who took the Buy Nothing Day challenge for the first time, what did it feel like?

This much we know: The experience has changed people. Maybe it changed you. Maybe you felt Š lighter. More relaxed. More alive than you have in months. And maybe you want to ride that feeling right into the Christmas season and beyond, turning a thoroughly commodified holiday into something more authentically fulfilling: a Calm Christmas.

On Buy Nothing Day a small group in Fairbanks, Alaska staged a peace march right through the local mall. A group in Calgary, Alberta, heard about that and staged one of their own. (Could we have found a new use for malls?) And so the meme spreads. What we have on our hands here, quite possibly, is a whole new way of celebrating Christmas. Doing the Right Thing, surrounded by the ones you love, and quietly redefining "freedom" in the bargain. No one can say that's not patriotic.


BUY NOTHING DAY 2000
The day after Thanksgiving is the single biggest retail day of the year. Send a message to corporate America buy enjoying the time you have with your family and forsaking the candy of commercial America.

For more info:
Adbusters Magazine - The Media Foundation
1243 West 7th Ave Vancouver BC Canada V6H 1B7
p. 604.736.9401 f. 604.737.6021
www.adbusters.org __________________________________________________

---

From JOANNA CHAMPAGNE

Hello,

I am a student in the Communication Culture and Technology Master's Program at Georgetown University. I am authoring a website and paper on Feminist Activist responses to sexist and violent images of women on Television. My project will be a resource for media activists in the DC Area but I am researching all types of Activist responses to television.

Activist responses however are not well documented and I was hoping that some of you could suggest cases of Feminist responses to sexist and violent Television. I would really appreciate any suggestions or ideas. So if you have a moment to:

- share a story or a name or an organization or person who is involved in feminist responses to Television
- or examples of what you have seen and think is sexist on television

You would be helping a project that I hope will make a difference in the DC area.

Thank you very much for your time!

Joanna
E-mail: champajm@gusun.georgetown.edu

---

******************************************************************************************************
Women refugees in Kosovo Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has given $100,000 to Kosovar refugee women. The funds will be used to provide reproductive health kits to Albania. The goal is to provide enough kits to serve 350,000 women for a three to six month period. The kits include clean delivery supplies to assist women with the birth of babies in areas without medical facilities. The kits also contain emergency contraceptives for the untold number of women who have been victims of rape as they have been forced from their home.
PPFA must match these funds to continue these services. Planned Parenthood of Houston is raising funds to assist in this effort. We have a modest goal of $5,000 which we must meet as soon as possible.

Please send your checks made out to:
PPFA /memo Kosovar
c/o Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas
3601 Fannin
Houston, Texas 77004

Your gift will truly make a difference in the lives of these women.
Thank you,

Judy Reiner
Senior Vice President
PPHSET

P.S. The Vatican has raised objections of the use of emergency contraception among the refugee women. www.pphouston.org
****************************************************************************************************

From Women Leaders Online www.wlo.org

1. Help WAL-Mart's Accounting
2. Vatican Rag(es); Women Fight Back
____________________________________

1) HELP WAL-MART'S ACCOUNTING

Wal-Mart recently announced that it was making a "business decision" and would not carry emergency contraceptives in any of its stores (although they do carry Viagra and guns, the twin smbols of masculinity). This decision will severely damage the ability of many women to prevent pregnancies from involuntary sex such as rape and incest, as well as consentual unplanned sex, particularly hurting women in rural areas where Wal-Mart may ahve driven out any competitors.

We cannot let Wal-Mart force women into playing pregnancy roulette. And since they are characterizing this as a business decision, they should understand exactly what this decision will do to their business. Whether or not you are a regular Wal-Mart shopper, you can help them achieve this understanding.

Just last month, WLO won a huge victory over Rush Limbaugh when we persuaded Amazon Books to stop advertising on Limbaugh's radio show. At first, Amazon didn't "get it" when our members wrote to complain about Amazon's financial support for a man who calls all of us "feminazis." But after our members persisted, Amazon finally saw the light and pulled the ads. you can read about our successful campaign at http://wlo.org/amazon.htm So now it's time to take on Wal-Mart. And if we succeed, we'll look for new ways to use our combined spending power to persuade corporations to respect their women customers.

ACTION:

Once a week, tell Wal-Mart how much you spent elsewhere that could have been spent at Wal-Mart. This includes all the normal stuff you would expect, plus groceries, since the current Wal-Mart corporate strategy is to include full grocery supermarkets in their new stores.

Just keep a weekly running total, then email Wal-Mart (letters@wal-mart.com) with a message such as this: "This week, I spent $134.23 at stores other than Wal-Mart. I made a business decision not to patronize Wal-Mart for these purchases, since your decision not to sell Emergency Contraception made it clear that you did not want my business, nor that of other women. If you change your minds and start providing the medicine women need, please let me know."

Please send a copy of your weekly emails to wlo_wal_mart@yahoo.com and we'll keep track of the money Wal-Mart is losing. When you finally get a reply which indicates that Wal-Mart has changed its mind, send it to: wlo_wal_mart@yahoo.com so we can post it on our Wal-Mart page at

http://wlo.org/wal-mart.htm

___________________________________
2) VATICAN RAG(es) AGAINST WOMEN; WOMEN FIGHT BACK

With the Roman Catholic Hierarchy fighting against women's rights worldwide (most recently against the right of Kosova/o rape survivors to receive emergency contraception), women worldwide are fighting back. And leading the charge are our friends Catholics for a Free

Choice (http://www.cath4choice.org).

CFFC's "SEE Change" Campaign seeks to level the playing field by removing the church's unfair influence at the United Nations, an influence that gives the church heightened stature in policy making. Using its status as a Non-Member State Permanent Observer, the Catholic Church (under its title of Holy See) attends conferences (including all women's conferences, and population and development conferences) and influences health care policies to work against women. Based on their religious beliefs, they use their so-called "nation" status to fight against birth control, against legalizing abortion (worldwide, a woman dies every 3 minutes from ILLEGAL abortion), and against using condoms to stop the spread of HIV. As a nation, they fight to impose their religious beliefs against those of other religions, while other religious bodies are accorded the lower standard of Non-Government Organization (NGO) by the U.N.

By any objective standard, it makes little sense to accord this organization status as a government. It is a dictatorship, whose head is chosen by those outside the state, devoted only to religious issues. As WLO member, the fabulous Dr. Nancy Phillips, pointed out, recognizing the Vatican as a government makes as much sense as making the Pentagon a state. "After all," she said, "the Pentagon has more acreage, more employees, a separate legal code for many of its employees (UCMJ). And the 'permanent' population of the Vatican is not all that large, since many of the inhabitants are students/seminarians. A decent-sized military base might have more inhabitants."

ACTION:

You can join the "See Change" Campaign in the following ways

1) Ask other organizations to endorse this campaign and be listed among those endorsing it. (WLO has already endorsed the campaign)

2) Distribute postcards. The "See Change" postcards (see text below) are available in English, Spanish, and French

3) Sign a postcard with a quick email. CFFC would be happy to complete a postcard for you if you email your name, address, phone, and email.

To join, contact Liz Bucar at the CFFC office immediately by e-mail at: lbucar@igc.apc.org, phone (202) 986-6093, or fax (202) 332-7995.

Text of postcard:

Dear Secretary-General Annan,
As a UN Non-Member State Permanent Observer, the Holy See often enjoys unique status as a voting partner with countries at UN conferences. Granting governmental privileges to what is in reality a religious body is questionable statecraft. While the Holy See-the government of the Roman Catholic Church-has made positive contributions through the United Nations to peace and justice, this should not be used to justify granting the status of a state to a religious institution.

Governmental participation in the UN should be reserved to actual states. The world's religions have been well represented through non-governmental organization status. With NGO status, the Roman Catholic church would be able to continue its participation in the UN-like the World Council of Churches-without ambiguity or privilege. We call on you to open an official review of the Holy See's status at the UN.