Subject: ABORTION ATTEMPT BRINGS MURDER CHARGES

           *   WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR KAWANA ASHLEY !!! *
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Kawana Ashley is a nineteen year old single mother who found herself pregnant
and unable to afford the 1,300$ to 1,800$ fee quoted to her for an abortion
by a St. Petersburg FL area clinic.Ms. Ashley was about five months pregnant
when she got this quote. She had been promised by her boyfriend earlier on
in the pregnancy, that he would get her the money. He told her he couldn't
later on. Kawana is living with her grandmother, whom Kawana was afraid would
not accept another child. Without money, support from her boyfriend or
an organization that would help her out, Kawana in desperation shot herself in
the abdomen.

At the hospital where Kawana was treated, the fetus was delivered by C-section
and died later due to underdeveloped kindeys. Kawana's condition after the
shooting was never stated in media reports. I have learned that she is doing
well from one of her lawyers.

Five months after this event, Kawana was charged with third degree murder
and manslaughter. The murder charge is due to the "illegal manner of the
abortion", according to Bernie McCabe, a Florida state prosecutor. The
manslaughter charge stems from a Florida law that says that a fetus able
to survive outside the womb is a person. According to Catherine Albisa,
an attorney from the Center For Reproductive Law And Policy, no such law
exists.

The charges against Kawana Ashley are outrageous and should be dropped
IMMEDIATLY! Her case highlights the fact that recent supreme court rulings,
cutoffs in Medicaid funding for abortions and other laws have created
SLAVE STATES AND FREE STATES FOR WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS. 44 states
have no Medicaid funding for abortion.

The REAL crime is that EVERY woman does not have access to reproductive
health care, must face harassment from anti-abortion stormtroopers when
they CAN afford it, and when they can't, face prosecution by the state!

We are demanding that the state of Florida (the site of three pro-choice
people murdered by anti-abortion assasins) drop the charges against Kawana
IMMEDIATLY.

Write letters to the state attorney demanding that THE CHARGES AGAINST
KAWANA ASHLEY BE DROPPED:

              district attorney Bernie McCabe
                                P.O. Box 5028
                                Clearwater FL 34618

Letters of support to Kawana Ashley can be sent care of her attorney:

                         Kawana Ashley
                         c/o Bruce Johnson
                         Ste. B-100
                         5100 144th St. N
                         Clearwater FL 34620

  The Fight Back Network, a coalition of unrepentant pro-choice groups,
  is sponsoring this call for justice. For more details, contact:

                            Refuse & Resist
                            P.O. Box 15003
                            Atlanta GA 30333
                            (612) 649-4579
or:
                            BACORR (The Bay Area Coalition For Our
                                    Reproductive Rights)
                            750 LaPlaya, #730
                            San Francisco CA 94121
                            (415) 252-0750