The Tuesday rally, protest and vigil time and location have been changed - the time to accomodate more people, and the location due to weather forecast of possible thunderstorms. The event has been moved to

Martin Street Baptist Church
1001 E. Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601

Rally, Protest and Candlelight Vigil
TUESDAY, MAY 7 at 7:00 pm

I know many of you are planning to rally! Can't wait to see you!

Organized by the NC NAACP Office.

FORWARD TOGETHER...NOT ONE STEP BACK!

(Thanks Paula, for the update)

Bills in the category of attacks on access to safe and legal abortion in the 2013 long session of the NCGA. Write the bill sponsors and your personal NC Senators and NC Representatives in the house!

• Senate Bill 308: Requires that doctors remain on the premises after an abortion until the patient is released and requires that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic.

This is an add on to the so called “Women’s Right To Know” act, which was signed into law in the 2011-2012 session, overriding Governor Perdue’s veto.

• House Bill 716: Allows doctors to be sued by a woman and others for performing an abortion because of the sex of the fetus. Imposes fines of up to $100,000 for subsequent violations.

There are numerous problems with this, but the most insidious is that it gives strangers the right to question every women’s decision to have an abortion.

• House Bill 730: Allows employers to decline to offer insurance coverage for contraceptives if they have religious or moral objections, and expands the definition of medical providers who can refuse to participate in abortions.

• Senate Bill 132: Requires students be taught that abortion is among the preventable causes of pre-term birth. There is disagreement in the medical community about whether that is true, but it was a recommendation of the state’s Child Fatality Task Force.

In case you missed Duke Professor Michael Allen Gillespie's article "Too many wins for North Carolina to reject a Medicaid Expansion," here are some of the impressive benefits of expanding Medicaid, benefits lost when the NCGA voted to turn down federal dollars for Medicaid expansion.

According to the NC Justice Center, NC lost out on BETWEEN $15 and $20 BILLION DOLLARS over the first six years.

NC taxpayers still pay the same amount for the federal portion of the expansion as everyone else in the country, through FICA taxes. By rejecting the expansion, our tax dollars support health care of people in other states.

This care would have brought tangible financial benefits to the state: an influx of $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion a year, producing 18,000 to 25,000 new jobs and $497 million in additional tax revenue by 2021.

The expansion would have covered an additional 600,000 North Carolinians who have no insurance under the Medicaid program.

These lost benefits were discussed at Women's Advocacy Day at the NCGA on 4/9/13 and should be shared far and wide with all North Carolinians. Although the bill was quickly signed by the Governor, he needs to hear from us as we begin to understand the inexcusable losses to the economy and the people of NC. We must pressure lawmakers to reverse this decision -- not only does it make good economic sense to take federal Medicaid dollars, it could quite literally save lives.

Gailya Paliga

President, NC NOW

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/18/2690102/too-many-wins-for-north-carolina.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/12/2675166/mccrory-gop-plan-to-stop-nc-medicaid.html

If you read the last entry, you see what I mean when I write that our legislature is out of control!

And I am thankful to report that the protests are gathering steam! Thank goodness for Reverend Barber and crew being willing to take the next step (and getting arrested!!).

I also love what my friend Max said - next time it should be all of us!

Upcoming:
Tuesday May 7 at 3:00 pm - Mass protest of the direction of the bad bills in NC - at the General Assembly (16 W. Jones St in Raleigh). Hope you can join us! Stay tuned for more details. Some of the specifics are at http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/05/02/the-protests-begin-to-gather-steam/
Update: May 7th time and location have changed. Go to the protest/rally/vigil at 7pm at Martin Street Baptist Church instead - 1001 East Martin in Raleigh.

Wed., May 15, 2013, Noon – 2:00 pm - NC4ERA ALERT: After more than 40 years, North Carolina will walk back onto the historical stage with an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Action coming on the heels of Mother’s Day. Join us on Wed., May 15, 2013, Noon – 2:00 pm, on the grounds of the NC Legislative Bldg. for a vigil - “Simple Justice, Long Overdue” Support the ERA!

Our NCGA has proposed so many terrible bills it is hard to keep track of them. But we try!

Do you know about these attacks? Here are some examples (grouped into categories):

Attacks on public schools (removing class size limits, taking away teacher assistants, no limit on number of charter schools and vouchers which both take money from public schools)

Attacks on voting (shorten and limit early voting, voter ids to limit who can vote)

Attacks on health care (refusing to expand Medicaid losing out on $15-20 billion over 6 years and losing out on 18,000-25,000 jobs by many estimations)

Punishing the unemployed (slashing unemployment benefits by 1/3 and shortening the number of weeks NC will cover, losing out on a ton of federal money to pay for long term unemployment)

Attacks on domestic violence programs (removing stalking as cause for getting a restraining order, getting rid of the Domestic Violence Commission we already have, cutting the people who work with DV out of decision making, giving control of money to inappropriate organizations, etc)

Attacks on citizen’s personal lives (making everyone wait 2 years after deciding to divorce, living together the whole time, decreeing a “State religion)

...and more.

NC NOW captures these attacks in our weekly legislative updates, which we send to our members. Please email president@raleighnow.org if you want to receive them. Contact same to see if your membership is current.

Wed, May 1, 3-8pm—May Day Call to Action—raising the people’s agenda – working people, unemployed people, people of color, immigrants, students, LGBTQ people, women, young and old, everybody all together now. maydaytrianglenc.wordpress.com/call2action/

Tuesday, Apr 9, 9-1, Women's Advocacy Day with NC Women United (of which NC NOW is a part) Keynote speaker Kim Gandy is my heroine! She is currently president and CEO of NNEDV, and past president of our own national NOW!

Monday, April 8, 6-8, Reception with Kim Gandy and other leaders, including Jina Dhillon (president of NCWU), Beth Froehling (NCCADV) and Monika Hostiler (NCCASA). Excellent!

Wednesday, Mar 20, noon to 1pm, at Halifax Mall - Not In Her Shoes Rally The message is for politicians to stay out of a woman's private business. Collected shoes and lined the sidewalks with them. Great speakers, especially Rep. Alma Adams. Another excellent event, many women's groups worked together on this (with the leadership of Planned Parenthood).

Fri-Sat, May 3 & 4 - 3 shows of A Memory, Monologue, Rant and a Prayer, produced by Project VOX—more at www.projectvox.org

Sat, May 4 - Out-Raleigh—Come visit or volunteer with Raleigh NOW! We have a table from 11am-9pm!

Tue, May 7 - 7pm, Raleigh NOW meeting at 2912 Highwoods Blvd.
UPDATE: Meeting is cancelled - go to the rally, protest, vigil downtown at 7pm instead.

Wed, May 15, noon-2pm—Simple Justice—Long Overdue—Rally for ERA

Tue, June 4 - 7pm, Raleigh NOW meeting

July - NO Raleigh NOW meeting

Weekend, July 5-7 National NOW
convention in Chicago www.now.org

Weekly opportunity! Join with many groups as part of The People’s Lobby
Every Wed, May 8, 15, 22, 29, 10-noon—Standing Up For Our Rights—on the lawn in front of the State House 16 W. Jones St.