From: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: press release
Date: 6 Apr 92 10:01:46 EST
Reply-To: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Distribution: talk
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

I found this press release on another system, and thought it might be of
interest to some of the participants on this newsgroup.

 Abortion Rights: Report Examines Strategies in the States
 To: National Desk
 Contact: Ed Field of the Center for Policy Alternatives,
          202-387-6030

   WASHINGTON, April 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Center for Policy
Alternatives has released a brief report showing how advocates on
both sides of the abortion debate are waging their fight in the
state capitols.
   "Choice After Webster: A National Overview of State Abortion
Legislation" makes sense of the over 850 abortion-related bills
which have been filed in the three state legislative sessions
since the Webster decision.
   The report examines the pro-choice state agenda emerging in
response to repeated attacks from the Supreme Court and the
White House.  Since Webster, lawmakers in forty-one states have
introduced pro-choice bills.

   -- While no significant legislation has been signed into law
in 1992, a bill guaranteeing reproductive rights passed in the
Kansas House of Representatives on March 2.  The bill, however,
was later killed in the Senate by a procedural move which
avoided a roll call vote.  Also in 1992, at least three
governors, those of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey,
are providing funds for family planning clinics to make up for
funds lost as a result of the administration's "gag rule".

   -- Pro-choice successes include legislation guaranteeing the
right to legal abortion in Maryland (1991) and Connecticut (1990)
and ballot initiatives guaranteeing the right to legal abortion
in Washington (1991) and Nevada (1990).

   -- Pro-choice activists have promoted legislation eliminating
other legal restrictions to abortion and stopping disruption of
abortion services by anti-choice opponents.  Nevada and Oregon
passed laws protecting access to facilities in 1991, Maryland
in 1989.

   -- In 1991, California and New Hampshire passed resolutions
encouraging the testing of the French abortion pill RU 486.

   -- In 1991, Maine and California passed resolutions urging
that Congress overturn the administration's "gag rule".

   -- Legislators in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
have combined abortion rights with measures to prevent unwanted
pregnancies and to promoted maternal and infant health in order
to create new comprehensive reproductive health packages.

   "Pro-choice forces will build on victories in the statehouse,
such as those in the March 24 Illinois primaries," says Janice
Steinschneider, senior program attorney at the Center for Policy
Alternatives and author of the report.  "As state legislatures
increasingly reflect the pro-choice beliefs of voters, more and
more pro-choice victories will be won in the states."
   The report also examines anti-choice state legislation,
explaining the strategy of placing obstacles in the way of
abortion such as informed and parental consent provisions --
a strategy that is ultimately aimed at an outright ban on
abortion.
   "What we are seeing in these state anti-choice bills is a
carefully designed plan to eliminate choice by deceiving the
public," says Steinschneider.  "Anti-choice forces hide behind
claims that their proposals will help pregnant women, but
nothing could be further from the truth.  The laws that they
propose will actively harm women."
   Copies of the report are available by contacting Ed Field, at
the Center for Policy Alternatives, at 202-387-6030.
   The Center for Policy Alternatives is a non-profit, non-partisan
organization promoting progressive policies and leadership in
the states.
  -0-
 /U.S. Newswire  202-347-2770/
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario/Detroit, MI
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044