!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^ ! ! Catt's Claws ... a feminist newsletter #34 ... April 23,1995 ! !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^ ! Okay, Catt's Claws activists - use any and all of the following in letters to the main Republicans in the Contract Out on America(n Women and Children) and in letters to the editor to object to what they are trying to do to our children - Really, is their contempt for children any worse that the mad bombers of the militant wing of the Radical Right to which Gingrich, Dole, Spectar, Dornan are hurrying to appease? What Newt Gingrich's "Contract" would mean for America's children according to Marian Wright Edelman's Children's Defense Fund Action Council: * 6.3 million children would lose school lunches; * 5 million children would be left destitute; * 4.8 million children would lose health care; * 3.5 million children would lose food stamps; * 1.6 million pregnant women would lose nutritional supplements; * almost 200,000 children would lose Head Start; * 193,000 blind and disabled children would lose supplemental Security Income (SSI). The sad and disgraceful truth of the Contract Out On America(ns women and children) is that Gingrich and the Republicans are trying try to balance the budget by abandoning millions of impoverished American children. Notice that the Republicans are NOT going to cut the rich man's handouts - the capital gains tax. Edelman says, "They would take the 'savings' to pay tens of billions of dollars for unneeded weapons systems and deliver more tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. "If you share my anger ... the pending tragedy is real and enormous... do not allow millions of children to be severely punished because their parents are poor ..." And any extra dollars you have left at the end of the month you may send to The Children's Defense Fund Action Council, 25 E. Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Membership is $20-$35 a year, but every bit helps. [The CDF is one of the finest and the most honest organizations for children's advocacy in our nation. A number of so- called children's groups are merely fronts for the men's rights association's drive to stop women and children from collecting child support from the non-custodial father.] ....................... * ........................ Mothers who smoke cause the deaths of about 5,600 babies and 115,000 miscarriages in the United States every year, according to a much publicized study headed by Joseph DiFranza. DiFranza (SUPRISE!) made no attempts to correlate his findings with those of a North Carolina medical group of some years back that showed that the MALE smokers had significantly lower birth weight children and significantly higher miscarriages and birth defects in their children. As one researcher in the Carolina study said: "It takes two to make a baby - " Notice lately that it is blame-the-mother-for-all-the-wrongs although her eggs are already formed at birth while the male sperm can be injured by the toxins he uses or faces daily. Smoking and alcohol in general are very bad for children whether it be while the fetus is in the mother's womb or when the sperm is being formed in the man's body. Come on you family first people, let's start banning smoking for all women AND men who are of the age to contribute to pregnancies... Take a lesson in basic biology: it takes TWO. ....................... * ........................ A Jewish mother who want her two children to develop an appreciation for the religion of others is not so tolerant today. Audrey Ausgotharp said she specifically told church members who invited her children to Sunday school that she didn't want them baptized -- especially since she was aware of a 1993 lawsuit against the church alleging children were coerced into disrobing and were then baptized. Off the children went to the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Colorado Springs and two women from the church brought the children home saying Wayne, 7, had been baptized by mistake. A church lawyer said, "they don't force you into baptism. Kids aren't being rounded up like cattle and herded into the baptismal tank." So how did a seven-year-old boy CHOOSE to be baptized? How could he choose when an 16-year-old girl who has been raped isn't considered responsible enough to choose to not be forced to become a mother with life-long responsibilities? ....................... * ........................ Several Claws readers including Varda Ullman Novick and Ken Pope sent us the following news story (reprinted without permission) ... which dissolves any questions about why the Republicans want to turn everything over the state legislators who show this kind of intelligence: RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- There is no need to include rape victims in a state abortion fund because women who are raped don't get pregnant, a state legislator argued Thursday. ``The facts show that people who are raped -- who are truly raped -- the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant,'' state Rep. Henry Aldridge, a 71-year-old periodontist, told the House Appropriations Committee. Several women listening to the debate left the room after Aldridge's comments. Aldridge made the comment while trying to apologize for earlier implying that victims of rape or incest are sexually promiscuous. ``I would invite the representative from Pitt (county) to ask any woman who is the victim of rape or incest if she is being sexually promiscuous,'' said state Rep. Dan Blue. The discussion centered on an effort to eliminate a state abortion fund for poor women from the budget. A subcommittee recommended cutting the fund from $1.2 million to $50,000 next year, limiting abortions to cases of rape, incest or where the mother's life is at risk. ....................... * ........................ Hilary724@AOL.com writes: "You wrote the following: `Italy, home to the Vatican which forbids birth control, abortion and of any medical intervention on embryos, also has the world's lowest birthrate (I'd like to see an explanation of THAT on TV's _How Do They Do That?_ since most Italians are catholic.)' "While many Italians may be "Catholics", I believe there is a misunderstanding about what that means to many, especially Italians. Given that the Vatican is physically a part of Italy and an integral part of her history, I do not deny the influence on the culture. When I lived in Italy, and partly because of where I lived in Italy, I was actually surprised at the non-religious nature of most of my friends and acquaintances. In fact, from my experience I would say that there was far more cynicism and suspicion of the church than in other areas of the world. So, I think the misconception about Italians and Catholicism is one of culture rather than belief. "Another reason I believe for a low birth rate in Italy is a trend I have seen in many of my friends against marriage and family -- not in the sense that it is "wrong", but more in the sense that many young Italians (at least ones I know) are opting not to marry and have children. Perhaps this is a phenomenon that reaches outside of Italy or perhaps it does not really exist at all and is just a warped view I have from the small segment of the population I know. I guess I am writing basically because I think there is an inherent fallacy in equating the Vatican and Catholicism with Italy and then juxtaposing that with low birth rate, etc." CC--> Agreed, Hilary. But Americans are NOT being told what is going on in Europe regarding the "church regulations" and are being made to feel guilty when all the are doing is the same things they are doing in Italy... and in France, etc. I am merely trying to shake the news tree and what information falls out that hasn't been available to us in the "normal" course of events. ....................... * ........................ Michael Huffington who spent $38 million of his money in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Diane Feinstein as U.S. Senator, California, has indicated he would seek the California governor's post in 1998 but next time he won't use his own money ... Carol Moseley- Braun is the first Democratic woman to sit on the powerful Senate Finance Committee and the first African-American. "I'll be at the table when decisions are made about economic policy, about taxes, about spending." A recent article in the Chicago Tribune said a few senators grumbled at her selection because she was too pushy. Too pushy? How come a woman who is shrewd and works hard to get what she wants is dismissed as pushy instead of complimented for being tough? Goddess, you'd think we'd be past that stage ... Recently an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch pointed out that the Missouri legislature is anti-choice and will, in all probability pass a law requiring "counseling" for women who seek abortions. "The 'counseling' bill...would legalize the harassment and intimidation of pregnant women who want abortions by a self- appointed corp of pregnancy police," the editorial read and went on, "Pardon our skepticism, but are these (counselors) really going to tell women that abortion is medically safer than pregnancy and childbirth? Or that no credible scientific evidence supports the claim that abortion causes permanent psychological harm?...Ultimately (it will) ... force the issue into the courts - and reawaken the public to the need to elect pro-choice state legislators." ....................... * ........................ Frankly, the ads in Sunday newspaper supplements and various magazine pushing prostate drugs is lulling people into accepting what would be called unacceptable risks if it were a medication for women, namely the potential for serious birth defects of any boy children (and one wonders about the potential defects on girl children because girls are of the same genetic stuff as boys.) The ads, in small type read: "if the active ingredient is absorbed by a woman who is pregnant with a male baby, it may cause the male baby to be born with abnormalities of the sex organs. Therefor any woman who is pregnant or who could become pregnant must not come into direct contact with the active ingredient in PROSCAR. (Not how the ad is written so that the onus is on the woman. It does not read MEN must be careful not to expose pregnant women or women who might become pregnant... What a crock! Even the tablets are dangerous and "women who are pregnant or who could become pregnant must not handle broken tablets of Proscar." Remember the argument against using women to test drugs and medical proceedures is that "they might get pregnant." Yet drugs like PROSCAR can get used by men with absolutely no safeguards. Turns my stomach if these are the medical ethics. ....................... * ........................ I can't believe it, but the four Republican Dallas County commissioners voted to stop the health department from passing out condoms and needle sterilization kits that had dropped Dallas' AIDS infection rate from 9th in the nation to 20th. The Republicans said such life-saving methods subsidized immorality and the emphasis should be on abstinence... Phil Gramm who has been described as telling lies on credit when he could get cash for telling the truth has raised astounding $8.7 million for his presidential campaign and spent $4.7 million already. Wouldn't it be wonderful if SOME of it had been spent on feeding poor children instead of arguing about ways to take more food away from them? ....................... * ........................ "No time to marry, no time to settle down, I'm a young woman and I ain't done running around," sang famed blues singer Bessie Smith. ....................... * ........................ \ LOTS of y'all wrote to correct my mixup of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide in that great tragedy in India. Here is Yojimbo1@aol.com's note: "The accident in India to which you refer was actually the fault of Union Carbide. Several thousand people were killed. I'm sure Dow would have been no more responsible, however." Dow has been made part of the suit involving leaking breast implants. ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy water and newts.