I just read a story from Reuters that was on the front page of Yahoo politics http://news.yahoo.com/... it begins:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Bush administration plan to define several widely used contraception methods as abortion is a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult" to women and faces tough opposition, Sen. Hillary Clinton said on Friday.
It continues:
The former Democratic presidential candidate joined family planning groups to condemn the proposal that defines abortion to include contraception such as birth control pills and intrauterine devices.
It would cut off federal funds to hospitals and states where medical providers are obligated to offer legal abortion and contraception to women.
"We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda to turn the clock back on women's rights," the New York senator told a joint news conference with New York Rep. Nita Lowey, also a Democrat, at Bellevue Hospital.
"Women would watch their contraceptive coverage disappear overnight," said Clinton.
The planned rule is aimed at countering recent state laws enacted to ensure that women can get contraception when they want or need it. It also would help protect the rights of medical providers to refuse to offer contraception.
Clinton said she has written a letter with Patty Murray, a Democrat senator from Washington, to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt asking him to reconsider and reject the release of the proposed rules.
She also urged people to sign a petition on her website, www.hillpac.com, against the proposed changes
Now, of course, this upset me greatly. I am a physician treating mostly women, and most of my patients need effective birth control. To deny them coverage for birth control amounts to forced pregnancy for some of these women. They cannot afford the price of birth control pills, condoms or IUDs.
So, although I was not a Hillary supporter during the primary, I felt I must sign this petition.
But when I clicked over to Hillpac.com, the only option I had was to donate. There was no petition, there was no description of this particular activity. There was only a blurb about the purpose of Hillpac and a button to donate.
Why publicize a petition that doesn't exist? Why would I donate to a blank page? Wow, Hillary disappoints yet again.
P.S. But I will be getting in touch with my legislators about this latest assault on reproductive rights by the Bushies.
UPDATE:
I found a diary from Planned Parenthood from earlier in the week. This has better information and usable links. Please do all you can: http://www.dailykos.com/...
UPDATE: Turns out you have to "join" to sign Hillary's petition. Since I don't want to get a bunch of mail from Hillpac, I declined to do so. Here is the Planned Parenthood petition: http://www.ppaction.org/...