With the recent Supreme Court decision in Rust v. Sullivan, prohibiting doctors in Federally funded family planning clinics from discussing abortion with their patients, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the National Organization for Women have begun campaigns to overturn the ruling through the passage of two bills currently in Congress. The bills are "The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act" and "The Freedom of Choice Act".

It is imperative that all of us who believe in the right to choose and control our bodies support these campaigns both with our activism as well as financially! In addition Planned Parenthood has indicated they may try to completely forgo Federal funding at their clinics. If they do, they will need our grassroots support to find new sources of funding, so they may continue to offer family planning services (including abortion counseling) to all women - especially poor and impoverished women.

The following is an excerpt from an urgent appeal issued by NOW, followed by the addresses of both NOW and Planned Parenthood:

The National Organization for Women has launched an EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS that "targets two critical pieces of Federal legislation -- The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act that requires clinics to give women COMPLETE and ACCURATE information about abortion ... and The Freedom of Choice Act that provides women in every state with the ROE v. WADE guarantee regardless of what courts or state legislatures do.

Our EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS has four key steps:

FIRST, we're calling on all NOW activists to organize demonstrations, pickets and other DIRECT ACTIONS at Congressional offices around the country demanding passage of these crucial Federal bills.

SECOND, we're gearing up our activists and supporters for a massive, grassroots IN-DISTRICT LOBBYING AND ACTION CAMPAIGN on Senators and members of Congress when they are home during the July break.

THIRD, we're reactivating our PHONE BANKS in cities and communities all across the country to enlist help in this all-out effort from the hundreds of thousands of activists who marched and rallied for abortion rights in Washington D.C in 1989.

FOURTH, We're flooding the office of House Speaker Tom Foley with POST CARDS (available from NOW) FROM VOTERS demanding that The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act be scheduled for a vote immediately -- before the July break!

Planned Parenthood Federation of America
810 Seventh Avenue
P.O. Box 4447  Phone: (212) 541-7800
New York, NY  10164-0359

National Organization for Women
1000 16th Street, N.W.
P.O. Box 96825 Phone: (202) 331-0066
Washington, D.C.  20036

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