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Videos 9/27/00: NARAL [National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League]
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134759362
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Videos 9/27/00: NARAL [National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League]
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Joshua Gottheimer's Files
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PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
nural-
\
C
VIDEO PROPOSAL
Date: Sept. 26, 2000
ACCEPT
REGRET
PENDING
TO:
Stephanie Streett
FROM:
Mary Beth Cahill
Lauren Supina
REQUEST:
For the President to videotape a greeting for the National
Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League's
(NARAL) Choice 2000 fundraiser to celebrate the opening
of the Supreme Court.
PURPOSE:
*
To wish NARAL a successful fundraising event to
celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court;
*
To thank NARAL and their supporters for their "fight"
to protect and promote reproductive freedom and choice;
and
*
To especially thank Kate Michelman, NARAL
President, for her continued leadership and her courageous
defense of reproductive freedom and choice.
BACKGROUND:
The video will be introduced by Kate Michelman, NARAL
President, at the top of their cocktail reception to celebrate
the opening of the Supreme Court. The event will be
attended by 500+ celebrities and distinguished guests,
including event co-chairs and key supporters Barbra
Streisand, Laura Dern, Christine Lahti, Ed Harris and Amy
Madigan, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, at the
home of Diane Lander-Simon in Beverly Hills, CA.
This will be the first time the President has had a
"presence" at a NARAL event. He was personally
requested to attend this event by Ms. Michelman, but was
unable to accept (see the President's note attached). The
Vice President, First Lady and Mrs. Gore have all appeared
at various fundraisers for and meetings with NARAL over
the last few years.
For more than a decade NARAL has worked at the grass-
roots level during election years, and this year they plan to
reach over 2 million swing voters and as many pro-choice
Americans as possible.
NARAL, formerly NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
THE REPEAL OF ABORTION LAWS (1969-73), was
founded in 1969 to centralize state abortion-rights efforts
and continuing its mission thereafter to protect and promote
reproductive freedom. The organization consists of three
related entities: NARAL Inc., a nonprofit organization that
focuses on defending abortion rights and on making
abortions less necessary; NARAL-PAC, a registered
political action committee that backs pro-choice political
candidates; and the NARAL Foundation, a charitable
organization devoted to educating the public about
reproductive rights.
An early form of the organization was established in 1969,
when a group of abortions-rights activists--including Betty
Friedan--founded the National Association for the Repeal
of Abortion Laws. The goal of the organization was to
consolidate and strengthen the efforts of state abortions-
rights groups under the aegis of the first national pro-choice
organization. In its early years the organization orchestrated
lobbying efforts in states and organized grassroots
demonstrations. In 1973, with the Roe V. Wade ruling
securing women's right to have abortions, the organization
adopted its current name and concentrated on identifying
allies in the federal government.
NARAL-PAC ranks as one of the wealthiest single-issue
political action committees and has been credited with
supplying crucial support for close races. NARAL is also
noted for its highly effective media campaigns. In 1991, the
NARAL Foundation unveiled a new campaign to take some
of the focus off abortion and emphasize the necessity of
keeping available a full range of reproductive health
services.
SOURCE OF PAYMENT:
NARAL.
VIDEO NEEDED:
Friday, September 29, 2000.
DATE AIRING/ SHOWING:
Monday, October 2, 2000; 6:30 PM (PST).
DURATION:
2 minutes.
SCRIPT ATTACHED:
Yes.
STAFF CONTACT:
Sondra Seba, ph. 6-7310.
ORIGIN OF PROPOSAL:
Letter from Kate Michelman, NARAL President (attached).
NARAL
Suggested Text for Video
September 26, 2000
For eight years, I have been proud to join hands with NARAL to protect a basic
American right: a woman's freedom to choose.
This freedom is more than just a policy. It is a promise -- one bound up in the
idea of America itself.
But this November 7, everything we have fought together to protect - everything
we have worked together to achieve -- is at risk.
Because this election could lead to the repeal of Roe V. Wade and an end to legal
abortion in America.
One of the most important and most lasting powers of the president is the
appointment of Supreme Court Justices. Twice I have used this power to appoint justices
who believe a woman's right to choose is fundamental to America's promise. But if I
must hand that power over to an anti-choice President, he may have the opportunity to
appoint the two justices whose votes are all it takes to repeal Roe V. Wade.
With an anti-choice Congress there have been dozens of times I have used the
power of my office to veto bills that would restrict a woman's right to choose. But if an
anti-choice President succeeds me, he will sign those bills into law.
So much more than policy is at stake. A promise may be broken.
Al Gore is committed to that promise. He has stood proudly with me -- with you -
- with millions of American women - for a woman's right to choose.
But he cannot win alone. And neither can NARAL. And that is why we need and
appreciate your help.
In these final weeks of the campaign, NARAL has launched its most aggressive
effort ever to reach pro-choice Americans. The more than two million voters NARAL is
mobilizing in 15 battleground states is enough to make the difference for the presidency
and for the Congress.
So I want to thank you for your support -- but even more important, I need you to
do one more thing - put on your comfortable shoes
Knock on your neighbors' doors. Tell them about the value we share, and urge
them to tell their friends in turn. Contribute more if you can, call everyone you know in
those target states - you all know what needs to be done.
Because this election will be won voter by voter -- neighborhood by
neighborhood - precinct by precinct - state by state.
The stakes are high. The risk is real. Two more anti-choice justices and Roe
could be lost. So keep up your good work and keep America's promise for America's
women.
Thanks again for everything.
08/25/00 MUN 22:28 FAA
001
knowledge 155tmita
the cown to
9-18-00
MEMORANDUM
TO:
The President
in L.H. at Diam Swiris
FROM:
Betty
RE:
home 10/2- IHsual
Items of Interest
unyrus to aum
copied
Ricchett
Streett
Kate Michelman called - Personal - a NARAL idea which would involve you.
Podesta
202-973-3001
202-543-5178 h
202-288-8189
9/24
13:05,
wants me to come to
11:45AM
NARAL/ save the Supreme cart
MM
Event in LA at Diane Simons
home 10/2 - Its real important
to har.- -
KaTina Rannell
BC
(202) (202)973-3007
D67311
09/25/00 MON 22:28 FAX
SEP-15-2000 FRI 03:26 PM NARAL
FAX NO. 2029733099
002
r.
UZ
Video?
Kate Micholman
President
September 15, 2000
President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Northwest Gate
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Many thanks for returning my call. 1 appreciate the thoughtfulness and
expression of friendship it represents.
I do hope it is possible for you to join me in Los Angeles on October 2 at
Diane's, It would be a thrill for me personally to honor your work on behalf of
women during your Presidency, particularly your principled and courageous
defense of reproductive freedom and cholce. And of course, with the
Supreme Court opening, it is the perfect peg.
Mr. President, we have never done an event together. It would mean a great
deal to NARAL and to me personally to honor and celebrate your extraordinary
commitment to protecting women's rights and advancing the status of women.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Warmly,
Kate
you areterrific will
National Absortion
Kate Michelman
Hope wark. This
and Reproductive Rigl
Action League
Attachment
Promoting
Reproductive
Came-
Choices
pls- (Gll to
NARAL
1156 15th Street, NV
Suiln 700
regret
Washington. DC 200
(202) 973-3000
09/25/00 MON 22:28 FAX
SEP-15-2000 FRI 03:27 PM NARAL
FAX NO. 2029733099
003
P. 03
NARAL
Choice 2000 Los Angeles Event
The Los Angeles Choice 2000 event will celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court.
This will be NARAL's major Los Angeles event before the November elections.
Date - Monday, October 2, 2000
Location - the home of Diane Lander-Simon
623 N. Oakhurst Drive
Beverly Hills, CA
Time -- 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Expected Attendance - 500+ guests
Guests include NARAL major donors and supporters, celebrities, elected officials
and candidates
Event type - Cocktail reception targeting $5,000 - $250 level donors
Event co-chairs and key supporters include:
POTUS heir
Meredith Baxter
Christine Lahti
Dr. Marjorie Braude
Diane Lander-Simon
Katie Buckland
The Honorable Mel Levine
Crew.
Linda Burrows
Amy Madigan and Ed Harris
Barbara Corday
Ann L. Nickoll
Hollace Davids
Sandi Nimoy
Laura Dern
Jennifer Perry
Kate Edelman-Johnson
Michele Singer Reiner
Nan Eisley-Bennett
and Rob Reiner
Park and
Diane English
The Honorable Vicki Reynolds
Kathy Garmezy
Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum
Richard Gladstein
Susan Shilliday
Katharine Hepburn
Mike and Corky Hale Stoller
Anita Hirsh
Barbra Streisand
azy
Ruth Hunter
Margery Tabankin
The Honorable Richard Katz
Heather Thomas
and Gini Barrett
Hope Warschaw
Cindra and Alan Ladd
Mara - HENDER 5-1088
we have sent PONS
note to suip pres.
message is sufficient.
I will letyou know
what we fin 1 at. (woman's
office is maing forward
script) on creating a draft
Thanks -
-Shannan
knowledge 1
9-18-00
to corn to
MEMORANDUM
TO:
The President
in LeA. at Diam Suiris
FROM:
Betty
home 10(2-14sual
RE:
Items of Interest
to ace-
copied
Ricchelt ,
A
Streett
Podesta
Kate Michelman called - Personal - a NARAL idea which would involve you.
202-973-3001
202-543-5178
202-288-8189
wants me to come to
NARALI save the Supreme cart
Event in LA at Diane simms
home 1012 - Its real important
to her. -
BC
A67311
Video?
Kate Michelman
President
September 15, 2000
President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Northwest Gate
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Many thanks for returning my call. 1 appreciate the thoughtfulness and
expression of friendship it represents.
I do hope it is possible for you to join me in Los Angeles on October 2 at
Diane's. It would be a thrill for me personally to honor your work on behalf of
women during your Presidency, particularly your principled and courageous
defense of reproductive freedom and choice. And of course, with the
Supreme Court opening; it is the perfect peg.
Mr. President, we have never done an event together. It would mean a great
deal to NARAL and to me personally to honor and celebrate your extraordinary
commitment to protecting women's rights and advancing the status of women.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Warmly,
Kate
you are terific! will
National Abortion
Hope wark This
and Reproductive Rights
Kate Michelman
Action League
Attachment
Promoting
Reproductive
Choices
Came- pls. (all to
NARAL
1156 15th Street. NW
Suito 700
regret
Washington, DC 2000:
(202)973-3000
which
NARAL
ГИЛ NO.
NARAL
Choice 2000 Los Angeles Event
The Los Angeles Choice 2000 event will celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court.
This will be NARAL's major Los Angeles event before the November elections.
Date - Monday, October 2, 2000
Location -- the home of Diane Lander-Simon
623 N. Oakhurst Drive
Beverly Hills, CA
Time -- 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Expected Attendance - 500+ guests
Guests include NARAL major donors and supporters, celebrities, elected officials
and candidates
Event type - Cocktail reception targeting $5,000 - $250 level donors
Event co-chairs and key supporters include:
Meredith Baxter
Christine Lahti
Dr. Marjorie Braude
Diane Lander-Simon
Katie Buckland
The Honorable Mel Levine
Linda Burrows
Amy Madigan and Ed Harris
Barbara Corday
Ann L. Nickoll
Hollace Davids
Sandi Nimoy
Laura Dem
Jennifer Perry
Kate Edelman-Johnson
Michele Singer Reiner
Nan Eisley-Bennett
and Rob Reiner
Diane English.
The Honorable Vicki Reynolds
Kathy Garmezy
Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum
Richard Gladstein
Susan Shilliday
Katharine Hepburn
Mike and Corky Hale Stoller
Anita Hirsh
Barbra Streisand
Ruth Hunter
Margery Tabankin
The Honorable Richard Katz
Heather Thomas
and Gini Barrett
Hope Warschaw
Cindra and Alan Ladd
With VAWA's help, Connie Trujillo and her Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families
provided counseling, and shelter to nearly 2,000 victims last year.
With VAWA's help, the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council here in Santa Fe now has
the means to give legal advice and victim counseling to Native American women, and proper
training to tribal police departments, courts and prosecutors.
With VAWA's help, the Morning Star program in Albuquerque provides safe houses and
support groups for victims of domestic violence and their families.
All told, the Violence Against Women Act has dedicated nearly $1.7 billion since 1994 to
programs combating domestic violence across the country - including more than $173 million this
year alone.
Today, I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Justice will be awarding nearly $2
million in VAWA funds to combat domestic violence in New Mexico. These grants will be used to
strengthen tribal law enforcement, to address child abuse and domestic violence in rural areas, and
to improve civil legal assistance programs.
Thanks to your work, and to programs like the ones here in Santa Fe, we now know that the
Violence Against Women Act is having a real impact on domestic abuse. According to a recent
study, from 1993 to 1998, violence against women by an intimate partner fell by 21 percent.
Additionally, in the years 1996, 1997, 1998, intimate partners committed fewer murders than in any
other time since 1976.
While we've made great strides in our war against domestic violence, we still have miles to
go. We simply can't turn our backs on the millions of women and children who are trapped in the
cycle of domestic violence. We must not allow America's women and children to face this
nightmare alone.
This shouldn't be a partisan issues. It wasn't in 1994, when Congress first passed VAWA. It
wasn't this summer, when, in a bipartisan effort, both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees
approved VAWA legislation. And it shouldn't be now.
So I say to the Congressional leadership: don't play political games with the safety of
women and children. Don't stall when thousands of lives are at stake. Allow the Violence Against
Women Act to come to the floor for a vote before its funding expires.
In closing, let me say a word to the women here, and the women all across America who
have suffered the pain of domestic violence. You are not invisible. You are not alone. We see you
and we hear you. We are fighting for you, and we will not stop until you are free.
Thank you and God bless you.
Message Sent To:
Joshua S. Gottheimer/WHO/EOP@EOP
James R. Kvaal/OPD/EOP@EOP
Elliot J. Diringer/WHO/EOP@EOP
[email protected] @inet
Terry Edmonds/WHO/EOP@EOP
Jeffrey A. Shesol/WHO/EOP@EOP
Michele Ballantyne/WHO/EOP@EOP
Fern Mechlowitz/WHO/EOP@EOP
Rachael F. Goldfarb/WHO/EOP@EOP
John Podesta/WHO/EOP@EOP
Karen Tramontano/WHO/EOP@EOP
Carolyn T. Wu/WHO/EOP@EOP
Irene Bueno/WHO/EOP@EOP
Maria Echaveste/WHO/EOP@EOP
Rochelle G. Thompson/WHO/EOP@EOP
Christine M. Glunz/WHO/EOP@EOP
Linda Ricci/OMB/EOP@EOP
Patrick M. Dorton/OPD/EOP@EOP
Loretta M. Ucelli/WHO/EOP@EOP
Joseph N. Crisci/OPD/EOP@EOP
Joseph P. Lockhart/WHO/EOP@EOP
Jenni R. Engebretsen/WHO/EOP@EOP
Cathy R. Mays/OPD/EOP@EOP
Thomas L. Freedman/WHO/EOP@EOP
Emil J. Barth/WHO/EOP@EOP
Christopher C. Jennings/OPD/EOP@EOP
Jennifer E. McGee/OPD/EOP@EOP
Karin Kullman/OPD/EOP@EOP
Steve Ricchetti/WHO/EOP@EOP
Jennifer L. Dewitt/WHO/EOP@EOP
Mara A. Silver/WHO/EOP@EOP
Richard L. Siewert/WHO/EOP@EOP
Devorah R. Adler/OPD/EOP@EOP
Stephanie A. Cutter/WHO/EOP@EOP
Christopher M. Wanken/OPD/EOP@EOP
Cheri L. Stockham/WHO/EOP@EOP
Drew T. Gardiner/WHO/EOP@EOP
Valerie J. Owens/WHO/EOP@EOP
Barbara Chow/OMB/EOP@EOP
[email protected] @ inet
[email protected] @ inet
Joel Johnson/WHO/EOP@EOP
Lynn G. Cutler/WHO/EOP@EOP
Mary L. Smith/WHO/EOP@EOP
Heather H. Howard/OPD/EOP@EOP
Ann O'Leary/OPD/EOP@EOP
Lauren M. Supina/WHO/EOP@EOP
Beth Nolan/WHO/EOP@EOP
Emily Karcher/WHO/EOP@EOP
Joshua S. Gottheimer
09/25/2000 12:03:49 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
CC:
Subject: FINAL--Domestic Violence Remarks.
1
Final 09/25/00 11:55am
Josh Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
September 25, 2000
Ack: Rep. Tom Udall. Attorney General Patsy Madrid. State Rep. Patsy Trujillo
[Tra-HEE-oh]. Henry Valdez (District Attorney). Connie Trujillo [Tra-HEE-oh]. Greg Neal
(Director of the Chavez Community Center).
I want to thank all the brave women in this audience who have survived the horrors and the
fears of domestic violence. Thank you for the courage to be here today and the determination to
fight this fight. And thank you Connie Trujillo for sharing your story with us. You lived through a
nightmare, and found the strength to help other women escape nightmares of their own. We've all
learned something from your example.
We're here today to salute your efforts, to recognize our progress, and to remind all
Americans that our struggle with domestic violence is far from over. We're also here because on
Saturday night, on the very eve of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Violence
Against Women Act will expire without congressional action. We're here to say to the Congress -
we owe it to Connie Trujillo and millions of women and families like hers in America to strengthen
and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act this week before the clock runs out.
If you want to know why this is so important, all you have to do is listen to the stories of the
women here. Many of them have waged courageous battles to break free from abuse and reclaim
their lives. But, for too long in this country, they - and women like them - fought a lonely battle.
For too long, domestic violence was kept behind closed doors - treated as a private family matter.
But let me be clear: Despite the fact that it usually occurs in the home, despite the fact that
its victims are almost always women and children, domestic violence is not a "family problem" that
neighbors can ignore; it is not a "woman's problem" that men can turn away from. Violence against
women and children is America's problem.
The statistics speak for themselves: Domestic violence is the number one health risk for
women between the ages of 15 and 44 in our country. Close to a third of all women murdered in this
country were killed by their husbands, former husbands, or boyfriends. Every 12 seconds, another
woman is beaten. That's nearly 900,000 victims each year. And we know that in half the families
where a spouse is beaten, the children are beaten too.
Domestic violence is a criminal activity. It affects us all. It increases health costs
keeps
people from showing up to work
and prevents them from performing at their best. It destroys
families, relationships, and lives. It tears at the fabric of who we are as people. That's something I
know from the many years Hillary and I spent on this issue back over the years. That's something I
know Hillary has learned from her many conversations with women at home and abroad.
For eight years now, Vice President Gore and I have had a very simple message to those
who commit acts of domestic violence: it is wrong, we will catch you, and we will punish you. Our
message to the victims of these hateful crimes has been just as strong: We want you to have the
safety and the security you deserve. No American should have to live in fear - least of all in their
own home.
That's why, as part of our 1994 Crime Bill, our Administration fought so hard to pass the
landmark Violence Against Women Act - known as VAWA. It was the first time in our nation's
history that the federal government, in a comprehensive effort, joined you in standing up to violence
against women.
VAWA imposes tough new penalties for actions of violence against women. It helps train
police, prosecutors, and judges, so they can better understand domestic violence, recognize its
symptoms when they see it, and take steps to prevent it. The law gives grants to shelters who need
more beds and better programs - and it provides assistance to law enforcement officers, the courts,
and communities, to help them respond to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking when it
occurs.
VAWA also established a 24-hour, seven-day, toll-free, national domestic violence hotline
to help women get emergency help and counseling, find a shelter, and report abuse to the
authorities. Since 1996, the hotline has given more than 500,000 people a place to call and find help
when they need it most.
The Violence Against Women Act has offered hope to scores of women, by letting them
know they are not alone. Police officers who often shy away from so-called "family squabbles"
should now get involved. Physical violence is simply unacceptable in our homes. Anyone who
brings physical violence through the door will find the full force of the law upon them.
VAWA's impact is no clearer than right here in Santa Fe, where VAWA and its
much-needed funding has helped make the city's streets, schools and homes safer for all women and
children.
Search - 273 Results - abortion
http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_.WS&_md5=8ac2f288a6e1996e3d47babafd5e4l
Q. Can you please explain -- The President. No, I want to answer this.
Q. -- that to us, so that the American public would really know? The President. I think the American
people are entitled to know that. If you go back to my statement, I acknowledged that there were
errors in the evaluation process, for which I take full responsibility. What happened was this. She
voluntarily disclosed that; it was not in any way picked up in the vetting. It was, as you know, we
were trying to make a Christmas deadline, which was probably my error, again, on this.
So just before she was announced, but after I had discussed the appointment with her, I was told
that this matter had come up. Nobody said anything to me about the taxes. And what I was told was
what you heard, in a very cursory way, was that an error had been made in the hiring of an illegal
alien; that it had been made after consulting a lawyer who was an expert in this area, so basically
they had acted on counsel's advice, but they were wrong; that they moved immediately to try to
correct it, and the status had been corrected in terms of the legality of the person; and that the
bettor's conclusion was there would be no problem.
I have to tell you that during the course of these inquiries, I received other weightier warning, if you
will, of things which had to be worked through with other potential nominees. In retrospect, what I
should have done is to basically delay the whole thing for a couple of days and look into it in greater
depth.
But that was -- I take full responsibility for that. This process is in no way a reflection on her. We
would not have known any of this had she not disclosed it to us and to the United States Senate
subsequently. So I will say again what I said this morning: I'm sorry about this. I still think she is an
extraordinary person and a very able person who will have a rich and successful career, and I take
full responsibility for what happened in the review process.
Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 3:22 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: February 16, 1993
Source:
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Date/Time: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 2:30 PM EDT
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Search - 273 Results - abortion
http://www.lexis.com/rescarch/retricve?_..WS8_nd5=2d280f96e8t3e736da7a2174d13c4
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
June 24, 1995
CITE: 31 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1122
LENGTH: 1075 words
HEADLINE: The President's Radio Address
BODY:
Good morning. Today I'm talking to you from the Convention Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The
Arkansas firefighters are meeting here, and I'm the first sitting President ever to visit Pine Bluff.
Zachary Taylor planned to come in 1849, but be had to cauncel. It's a record I'm proud to set. I'm
also proud to be here with Dr. Henry Foster, who was born here and grew up here.
Just under 5 months ago, I nominated this fine man to be our Surgeon General. And this week, a
majority of the United States Senate was clearly prepared to confirm him as Surgeon General. But he
wasn't confirned. He wasn't confirmed because the Senate was clearly even allowed to vote on his
confirmation, because they were blocked by a group, a minority group, of will fill Senators who
abused the procedure to keep his nomination from coming to a vote for their own political ends.
Let me tell you a little bit about Dr. Foster. He's been a doctor for 38 years, including 3 years in the
United States Air Force. He has delivered thousands of babies and trained hundreds of yonng
doctors. He's ridden dusty country roads in Alabama to bring health care to people who never would
have gotten it otherwise. He has labored to reduce teen pregnancy, to reduce the number of
abortions, to tell young people without other role models, in a disciplined, organized way: you
shouldn't have sex before you're married; you should stay off drugs; you shonld stay in school and
do a good job with your life. His efforts to give a future to young people without one were recognized
first not by me but by my Republican predecessor, President Bush.
Let me tell you something: If more people in America lived their lives like Henry Foster, there would
be fewer kids on drugs, fewer teen pregnancies, fewer abortions, fewer broken families. This is a
man our country should be proud to call our own.
So why was a group of Senators determited to stop Dr. Foster? A minority of the Senate blocked a
vote on him in a calculated move to showcase their desire to take away a woman's right to choose.
Dr. Foster has faithfully performed his duties as a doctor for 38 years. Although he has delivered
thousands of babies, when the law permitted it, the patient requested it, and after appropriate
counseling, he did perform an average of about one abortion per year.
Now, I know it is easy to condemn abortion. It's easy to put on divisive television ads or pass out
inflammatory materials. But it is very hard to actually work with children and look at them face to
face, kids that nobody pays any attention to, and look at them and tell them they ought not to have
sex, they ought not to get pregnant, they ought not to do drugs. That's hard. That's why most of us
don't do it. But Henry Foster did.
Unfortunately, in Washington today, pure political correctness and raw political power count a whole
lot more than actually doing something to reduce the tragedies of teen pregnancy and the high
number of abortions.
You know, I believe it is clear what the law of the land is, and I believe that abortion should be rare
but it should be legal and safe. The extreme right wing in our country wants to impose its views on
all the rest of Americans. They killed this nomination with the help of the Republican leadership who
did as they were told. And they're just getting started.
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This week, the House passed a bill which would prevent women who serve in our military or who are
on military bases with their servicemen husbands from getting abortions at base hospitals, even if
they pay for it and no matter what the circumstances. Imagine a servicewoman in a foreign country,
a remote location without good medical facilities or even a safe blood supply. This House bill would
say, "If you can spend thousands of dollars to fly back to the United States for a safe and legal
procedure, you're all right; otherwise you may have to risk your life in a hospital far from home."
Wily? Because she voluntarily enlisted to serve her country. So that a woman who's willing to risk her
life for her country should also have to risk her life for a legal medical procedure. This seems to me
to be too extreme.
In a few days, the House will actually try to cut off Federal funds for abortions for poor women that
arise from rape or incest. Even those with strong antiabortion feelings know this is a tough issue, and
most people think it ought to be left to individual citizens. It's one thing to say that the taxpayers
should not pay for a legal abortion that arises from a poor woman's own decision. That's one thing.
Quite another to say that the same rules apply to rape and incest.
This is a big, diverse country. We are deeply divided over many issues, none more than the painful
and difficult issue of abortion. The law now is that the woman, not the Government, makes a
decision until the third trimester when a baby can live independently of his mother and therefore the
Government can prohibit abortions.
There are some who believe that America now must toe their line and that every woman must live by
their rules, even though the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, says exactly the
reverse. They'll stop at nothing to get their way. And this week it looks like the Republican leaders in
Congress have given them the keys to the store. Looks like they'll vote for any bill, oppose any
nomination, allow any intrusion into people's lives if they get orders to do so from these groups.
Many, many Americans oppose abortion. And everyone agrees it's a tragedy. I believe we should all
work to reduce the number of abortions through vigorous campaigns to promote abstinence among
young people; reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancy, especially among teenagers; and promote more
adoptions. I believe, in short, that we ought to all do more of the kind of things that Henry Foster
has been doing for decades.
If people in Washington spent less time using abortion to divide the country for their own political
ends and more time following Dr. Foster's example of fighting these problems, there would be a lot
fewer abortions in America and we'd be a lot stronger as a country.
We need more citizens like Henry Foster willing to commit their time, their energy, and love to
fighting for our children, our families, and our future.
Thanks for listening.
NOTE: The President spoke at 9:06 a.m. from the Pine Bluff Conveution Center in Pine Bluff; AR.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: July 27, 1995
Source: All Sources : / / : Public Papers of the Presidents
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Terms: abortion (Edit Search)
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Date/Time: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 2:26 PM EDT
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PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
MEETING ofc wour 17/hro
April 25, 1999
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today at the National
Abortion Federation's 23rd Annual Meeting.
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real
As you know, and as your work demonstrates, there can be few rights more fundamental
ma's
or important to women than the right to reproductive freedom. And there are few rights that
require more vigilant protection. Since my very first days as President, I have done everything in
shaps?
my power to ensure that protection while working every bit as hard to reduce the number of
abortions, strengthen America's families, and ensure that more children have loving parents and
a healthy home environment. Like the NAF, we are working to improve and expand family
planning services and education programs, to prevent teenage pregnancies by teaching personal
responsibility, and to help our youth make the right decisions.
We remain committed to making a woman's right to choose a safe option for patients
and for health care providers. You have shown tremendous strength and determination this past
year, working every day under a shadow cast by acts of violence. And every day, by your efforts,
you reaffirm our devotion to the rule of the law.
In 1994, I was proud to sign the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. I believe it
has been a powerful deterrent to the disruption of reproductive health care clinics. But with the
violent acts of the past year, it was clear to me that we must do more to protect patients and
personnel at these facilities. That is why, under the leadership of Attorney General Reno, our
administration has created a new National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health
Care Providers. I have also set aside, in the year 2000 budget, $4.5 million for extra security to
clinics at risk.
I want to commend NAF for helping to enhance protection, strengthen prevention, and
provide legal representation to clinics and patients across the country. The training you conduct
helps members of the law enforcement community to better enforce the laws we have put on the
books.
keep
I also want to thank your Executive Director, Vicki Saporta; your Board President, Dr.
Suzanne Poppema [pop-e-ma]; and NAF's entire membership for all the work you do to ensure a
woman's right to choose.
pluny
486
Hillary and I wish you a successful meeting.
###
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Final 04/05/99 10pm
Josh Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION MEETING
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
April 25, 1999
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today.
Since my first days as President, I have worked to strengthen America's families. By
improving the system of adoption, we are ensuring that more children have loving parents and a
healthy home environment. And we can all be glad that we are seeing a reduction in the number
of abortions and teen pregnancies.
For six years now, I have also worked to ensure that women have available and safe
access to health care -- including reproductive health care. In 1994, I signed the Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances Act. I believe it has been an effective deterrent to the disruption of
reproductive health care clinics. But with the violent acts of the past year, it was clear to me that
we must do more to protect patients and personnel at these facilities. That is why, under the
leadership of Attorney General Reno, our administration has created a new National Task Force
on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers. I have also set aside, in the year 2000
budget $4.5 million to provide extra security for clinics at risk.
You have shown tremendous strength and determination this past year, working every day
under a shadow cast by acts of violence. And every day, by your efforts, you reaffirm our
commitment to the rule of the law. I want to commend your Executive Director, Vicki Saporta;
your Board President, Dr. Suzanne Poppema [POP-e-ma]; and your entire membership for
working to enhance protection, strengthen prevention, and to ensure a woman's right to choose.
Hillary and I wish you a successful meeting.
###
http://www.pub.whitehousc.gov/uri-rs/I2..pdi://oma.cop.gov.us/1998/1/22/9.tex
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 22, 1998
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN MESSAGE ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROE V. WADE
THE PRESIDENT: On January 22, we marked the 25th anniversary of
Roe V. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that affirmed very
woman's right to choose whether and when to have a child, and in doing
so, affirmed two of our nation's most deeply-held values, personal
privacy and family responsibility.
Over the past 25 years, Roe V. Wade has had a major positive impact
on the health and well-being of American women and their families.
Safe, legal abortion has all but eliminated the dangerous, clandestine
conditions that claim too many women's lives when the procedure was
illegal.
I'm committed to keeping abortions safe, legal, and accessible --
and to making it more rare. Over the last five years we've led the way
on policies to prevent unintended pregnancy by making comprehensive
family planning and sex education programs more widely available.
We ve increased support for Title X family planning services every year
in our budget. And I'll do SQ again this year.
I fought to continue funding for international family planning)
bringing much needed health care to women all around the world Here,
at home, by working together with health care professionals, community
groups, schools and family planning agencies, we've made real progress
in reducing teen pregnancy. And I was proud to sign legislation to
protect the rights Roe established by protecting women's clinics from
violence. We have enforced that law to its full extent.
I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that every
child in America is a wanted child, raised in a loving, strong family.
Ultimately, that idea is the anniversary of Roe V. Wade celebrates.
Hillary and I join with all of you in commemorating his milestone
and pledge ourselves anew to protecting the right to choose.
Thank you and God bless you.
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Laura E. Schiller
09/27/2000 03:06:43 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Joshua S. Gottheimer/WHO/EOP@EOP
CC:
Subject: Re:
DEBBIE Eagur scmrr
it's long!
For CINDIRATE
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks at NARAL Anniversary Luncheon
Washington, D.C.
January 22, 1999
Thank you. I am honored to be here with all of you on NARAL's 30th anniversary - to
celebrate the voices you have raised, the battles you have waged, and the victories won on behalf
of women around the world.
For 30 years, every step forward for women's reproductive health in America has had one
thing in common: the leadership of the people in this room. So I wanted to come this afternoon
for many reasons, but I want to start by thanking all of you for what you do every day for the
rights and health of women and families. I want to thank my dear friend, Secretary Shalala,
Nancy Rubin, former and present members of Congress, Lucky Roosevelt and Susie Gelman for
your hard work. And I particularly want to thank someone else. I know that in her remarks,
Kate spotlighted many of NARAL's countless achievements, but I happened to notice that she
left one thing out. And that is that none of it would have been possible in these last years without
her and her leadership. Whether speaking out in the halls of Congress \or organizing in
communities across America, no one understands the stakes more. No one has been more
courageous passionate and tireless in the battle to make sure that every child is wanted, to make
sure every pregnancy is planned, to make sure that every woman is blessed with reproductive
health and freedom. And Kate, we all want to thank you for what you've done every single day.
Thank you very much.
I'm also very humbled and honored to join the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, and all of you, in honoring the courageous life and work of Dr. Slepian. The
President and I, the Vice President and Tipper had the opportunity to meet Lynne Slepian and her
four sons in Buffalo the other day. I don't know how I could adequately express the feelings that
the four of us had standing there and talking with Lynne. Marilyn Buckham, the director of the
Buffalo clinic, was with her. And those four young men. I'm told that recently Lynne, in a
conversation with a friend, said how astounded she was that countless people that she didn't
know had offered to help her family. Her friend replied, "It's because so many people admired
Bart's courage and commitment." "But you know," Lynne said, "he didn't do those things to be
admired." And the friend replied, "We know. And that's one of the reasons we admired him so
much."
For his work was not the work of politics. It was the work of a community physician
who brought life into the world, and gave health and dignity to women. That was his mission,
and it must be our enduring goal.
Because we are here not only to celebrate NARAL's 30th birthday, but also to
commemorate the 26th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. We can all take heart that despite many
attempts to chip away at its guarantees, Roe is still the law of the land. We can take heart that we
have stopped the global gag rule, for now. That Title X family planning funding increased by
$12 million. And that federal health plans are now required, if they cover prescription drugs, to
also cover contraceptives.
But there is even more that happened this past year that we can celebrate. Because after
years of moving in the wrong direction, we are finally seeing teen pregnancies and teen sexual
activity going down Unintended pregnancies are down. Abortions are down by a full 12
percent. And all of this happened under a pro-choice president who has refused to back down in
his support of a woman's right to choose. A pro-choice president who respects the strongly held
views of those who act in good faith, hold a different view. And who has worked to make good
on the promise he made seven years ago to work to make abortion safe, legal and rare. Now you
know better than anyone else that this will never be, it cannot be, an easy issue. It will always be
hard. We don't have to look any further than the events on the Mall, the event in this room, and
the gulf between them to know that emotions and feelings will always run deep.
But all too often, generally because of the loudest voices, the American people don't hear
explained the efforts that we're engaged in to continue to work with people from all different
walks of life to make abortion safe, legal, and rare. But instead they hear what Lawrence Tribe
calls "The Clash of Absolutes." People shouting at each other about their differences instead of
talking about and working to find what they have in common. That doesn't mean that anyone
should ever abandon his or her belief that their fundamental convictions, and certainly, for those
of us here, it means we never abandon our belief that the fundamental human right all people
have to plan their own families. And it also means that we can never work with those who
advocate violence. But there are people of good faith on all sides of this issue, and every day
that we fail to find common ground to meet our goals of giving human rights and dignity to all
people, another day goes by where a child is born unwanted, or a woman cannot get access to
proper health care, or a teenager becomes pregnant and doesn't know what to do.
Across our country, we come to this issue as men and women, young and old, some far
beyond years when we have to worry about getting pregnant, others too young to remember what
it was like in the days before Roe V. Wade. People call themselves by different labels, follow
different political philosophies or religions, but I think it's essential that as Americans we look
for that common ground that we can all stand upon. For more than anything, our democracy is
built upon a powerful idea: that people with profound differences and backgrounds can work
together, across whatever divides them personally, in pursuit of common goals. Because, despite
our differences, there are certain core beliefs and values that tie us together and set us apart as
Americans. And it is those beliefs that can guide us in reaching our goal of keeping abortion
safe, legal and rare into the next century.
I want to talk about three of those core, fundamental American beliefs. First, as
Americans, most of us believe that the government should never be involved in the personal
decision a woman makes about whether to bring a child into this world. I know that earlier you
got a look at the new NARAL ad that will begin running Monday night. And I want to
congratulate NARAL for calling choice what it is: a fundamental American value and freedom.
So every time we hear calls from those who would do away with family planning or limit
reproductive rights, I hope we remember how fundamental our American values are to this
debate. I also hope we will hear the voices of others who have come before us. Just imagine for
a minute hearing the voices of the women who lined around the block for hours in 1916, waiting
for Margaret Sanger to open the nation's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn. Before the police
shut it down 10 days later, the clinic managed to help hundreds of women, and they all had their
stories to tell. Stories of miscarriages and dangerous and illegal abortions, and the daily
struggles to feed, clothe and shelter seven, eight, nine, ten or even more children when there was
barely enough to care for one.
Of course we know too well the human history beyond our shores is replete with
examples of inhumanity, and the abuse of power. So every time someone glibly says that we
should have a constitutional amendment banning abortion or we should criminalize abortions, I
hope we will listen to the voices of those who have been the victims of such practices. I hope we
could hear the voices of the women who have suffered, often in silence, in Nazi Germany. For
Aryan women, deemed "valuable," abortion facilities were prohibited, and their miscarriages
were investigated by the police. For Jewish women, and Gypsy men and women in the
concentration camps, they faced mass sterilizations as part of the quest to prevent "inferior"
children. And from 1942 on, when women deported as forced labor became pregnant, their
pregnancy was reported to a special S.S. officer, who tested them to identify their race, and then
he decided the outcome of their pregnancy.
Every time someone tries to eliminate access to family planning, or further curtail
reproductive rights, I hope we'll hear voices from women in Romania. When I visited there just
a few years ago, I spoke with women about what it was like before they had democracy --when
they were taken against their will, often, or just as it became a matter of course once a month
during their working hours. Taken to a general holding facility where they were physically
examined to determine if they were pregnant, stripping them of their dignity.
As part of Ceausescu's campaign to increase population in Romania to 30 million, birth
control, sex education and abortions were outlawed. You could open the door of your home and
find a member of the communist youth group there to quiz you about your private life to find out
why you hadn't conceived yet. And if you failed to conceive, you were fined a celibacy tax of up
to 10 percent of your monthly salary.
I hope we will also listen to the voices coming out of China. The voices of women today
now include many who are working to ensure that their country's family planning practices are
voluntary and respectful. When I was there, I heard about what the one-child policy had once
meant for too many women.
Back in the early 1980s, your menstrual cycle and use of contraceptives could be
monitored by local authorities. If you wanted to have a child, you needed to get permission or
perhaps face punishment. And, after you'd had your one allotted child, you could be sterilized
against your will or forced to have an abortion.
Which is why in my speech in Beijing, I said that "It is a violation of human rights when
women are denied the right to plan their own families --and that includes being forced to have an
abortion or being sterilized against their will."
I hope everyone who has ever talked about making abortion illegal or limiting access to
family planning will listen to these voices from our own history and the history of other women
around our world. More powerful than any statistic, they tell the story of two different extremes.
The government saying you cannot have children --and the government saying you must have
children. Neither of which is consistent with our American sense of fundamental justice,
freedom and democracy.
That's why NARAL is right to keep asking, Who decides? And the American people
have been right to answer again and again: This difficult decision must be made by individual
women, in privacy, in consultation with her conscience, her family, her doctor, her God - and not
her member of Congress.
We also must continue to say that making abortion illegal only succeeds in doing one
thing --making it unsafe, dangerous for women. As the Guttmacher Institute study released
yesterday makes clear, even in some countries where abortion is illegal, they have abortion rates
higher than what we have here in the United States. Because even when abortion is illegal,
women who feel they need or have a right to the procedure find a way --but often at great risks to
themselves. Every year around the world, almost 600,000 women die of pregnancy related
causes --and 78,000 of these deaths are because of unsafe abortions.
Even in our country, we have seen what can happen when a small group of extremists
tries to accomplish through violence and intimidation what they have been unable to achieve
through the ballot box or the courts.
That brings me to the second principle that I hope continues to guide our country, and
that is this: Violence, harassment, and intimidation have no role in our health care system or in
this debate. Yes, we should respect each other's First Amendment rights to express our views.
But no one debases the values of free speech, life and religion more than terrorists who claim to
be acting in their name.
At Dr. Slepian's memorial, there were countless parents who came to honor him. And
they did not come alone. In their arms or by their sides were the children that he had delivered,
some of whose lives he had literally saved. They will be his lasting legacy.
But what can each of us do that would best honor his memory, and the memory of others
who have been killed? We must honor them as Dr. Wortman has done, by refusing to back down
in our efforts to make sure that doctors are trained and available to provide safe and
comprehensive health care to women all over our nation.
And we can do everything in our power to prevent violence and terrorism before it
happens. In the last 10 years, there have been seven murders, 38 bombings, 146 cases of arson,
and 733 cases of vandalism. Wherever one stands on the issue of abortion, surely we should all
agree that when doctors are murdered, when clinics are bombed, splattered with acid, or set on
fire, this is not free expression. This is domestic terrorism. And it must stop.
That's why I'm pleased to announce that the President's FY 2000 budget will include
$4.5 million to provide extra security to clinics at risk. And that means proper lighting, motion
detectors, closed-circuit cameras, security systems, and bullet-resistant windows.
You know, we should recognize that nothing good can come from people preaching or
practicing hate --whether they do it from a street corner or from a website. And no one has
taught us this lesson better than the man whose birthday we celebrated this past Monday. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech about this topic 33 years ago said, "There is scarcely
anything more tragic in life than a child who is not wanted." And that brings me to my third
point.
More than anything, as Americans I think we can find common ground in the belief that
all children should be wanted --and that indeed abortions should be rare.
I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met
anyone who is pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is
trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting
that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government in any regard.
Now I think we can all agree that it is a tragedy when four in 10 pregnancies worldwide
are unplanned --and half of them end in abortion. Now if we want, really, to reduce these
numbers, we know we cannot achieve that goal by making abortions harder to get. We must do
it by standing up for family planning here and around the world. And I am pleased to announce
that the President's budget request for FY 2000 does just that.
He is asking for an increase of $25 million in Title X Family Planning grants --the largest
increase in 15 years --and is also asking for $25 million for the United Nations Population Fund
--thereby renewing our commitment to those women around the world who rely upon that fund
for contraceptives, maternal care, and child care.
Now, I am always amazed --as I was during the debates on this issue last year --that those
who oppose family planning try to link family planning to increases in abortion. Now we know
that it is, on the contrary, by refusing to fund family planning programs that we force women to
fall back on abortion.
We know that contraception reduces the probability of having an abortion by 85 percent.
We know that every year, U.S. family planning programs prevent 1.2 million unintended
pregnancies and 516,000 abortions in our country alone. And we have seen the same results the
world over.
I am looking forward to my trip to the Hague in a little over, a little less, I guess now,
than two weeks, where nations will gather in anticipation of Cairo plus five, to highlight success
stories --and find ways of replicating them worldwide.
But I have already seen many of those success stories firsthand. As I have personally had
the opportunity to visit health centers all over the world, where family planning is decreasing the
abortion rate --and helping women gain authority and dignity in their own lives.
I remember visiting a maternity hospital in Brazil, where they had integrated family
planning and reproductive health into their maternal and health services.
I saw mothers standing in the crowded hallways, cradling their newborns, waiting for
well-baby appointments. Young women waiting for their prenatal appointments. Infants getting
immunized. I saw parents getting the information they needed to make wise choices about
planning their families. And I also saw wards of women who were there because they had not
received quality health care. Many had, however, received self-induced or back-alley abortions.
I spoke to a number of mothers who told me that for the first time they could adequately
care for the children they had. I learned about how rates of maternal mortality and abortion
decreased because women received health care they needed in a timely fashion. And I fell in
love with the Minister of Health for the state I was visiting when he said what everyone knows,
and that is he intended to bring to poor women the same access to family planning services that
well-to-do women take for granted.
It was indeed a victory when contraceptives were included last year in health plans for
federal employees. But now, private plans should cover contraceptives as well. It is also past
time to pass a Patient's Bill of Rights so that women will not have to go through a gatekeeper to
see their OB/GYN every year. And it is time, through our community health clinics and other
facilities, to give all people access to effective family planning and, knope someday universal
health care
And, if we want to decrease unintended pregnancies, abortions, welfare, and the number
of young people dropping out of school, we must continue the progress we have made on
preventing teen pregnancy. I am very pleased with the results of the National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, headed by Sarah Brown and enlisting many distinguished Americans.
That campaign has made teen pregnancy an issue on the front covers of teen magazines and soap
operas, and has used many imaginative ways of reaching out with many Americans, particularly
young Americans, as possible. And we've got some success to show for this effort.
Fewer teens are having sex, getting pregnant, and having abortions, so we are getting the
word out, but there are clearly too many young people who have not yet gotten this message. I'
m always stunned when I meet with groups of young women who have babies already, who are
pregnant and perhaps attending a class I visit. They sit there with a totally straight face and tell
me that as soon as their boyfriend gets a job or gets back from the Army, or gets out of jail, they'
Il be a family, and everything will work out just fine. Well, we know better, and we have to
continue to educate our young women about that reality as well.
But we know that young women get pregnant for a whole host of reasons. Some just
don't understand why it's a bad idea, because they will, they think, have someone who is totally
there who will love them unconditionally, at least until that child becomes a toddler and learns to
say no. But that's another story. Some are coerced by older boyfriends. Some are the victims of
incest. Others can't cope with school or their family and see pregnancy and motherhood as a
way out. Whatever the reason might be, we have to try to reach every single teenager. We're
doing that in a variety of ways. We are leaving no strategy unused. The pregnancy prevention
programs include abstinence education, more after-school programs, efforts like Secretary
Shalala's Girl Power Campaign, access to family planning, decision-making groups --any
approach that we think can work.
And we are seeing that this multi-pronged strategy can give us positive results. For
example, back in 1990, Cortland, New York, had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates around.
The county's family planning clinic and Catholic Charities decided to work together. They made
the clinic free. They enlisted teens to talk to teens. They created a place for youngsters to go
every Saturday night with adult supervision. They brought in religious leaders and businesses
and they taught parents how to talk to their own children. And they set a goal of reducing the
teenage pregnancy rate by one-third by the year 2000. Today they have almost reached that goal.
As of 1996, the rates had decreased 30 percent --the lowest in that community in 20 years.
So we know what works. We have to muster the will and build the coalitions that reach
out and include all members of a community in making it possible for not only young people, but
people of any age, to have access to the services, to be given the support they need to make wise
decisions about their sexual life so that they can prevent pregnancy and prevent abortion.
I remember hearing about a conversation that Sarah Brown had with a teen father in Los
Angeles. As they talked about what he felt like, being a father at such a young age, at the end of
the conversation, he told Sarah that, "No adult had ever taken that much interest in what
happened to me."
Well, the truth is that we have to pay attention to young women and young men, we have
to do what we can to make it possible that they can have the equipment they need
--psychologically, emotionally --to withstand pressure and to make the right decisions.
One young person from Texas, when asked what parents could do to prevent their own
children from becoming pregnant said: "Don't leave us alone so much." Now, as any parent of
teenagers knows, I don't think he meant literally he wanted to spend every second with his
parents. But I do think that he was sending us in the adult community a very important message:
that we have to fill our young people's lives with meaningful activities, skills they can obtain, a
good education and just plain old-fashioned support and love. If we give them something else in
their lives to look forward to --playing on a soccer team, being in a school play, or going to
college, becoming a teacher, whatever it might be --then the needs that they sometimes feel to
achieve maturity early will have some tough competition.
A number of years ago, at the Baltimore Self Center, Rosalie Strett used to give pregnant
girls baby dolls to teach them to be parents. But she replaced the face of the doll with a mirror
--not only so they would learn to make eye contact with their children, but so that when they
looked down, they would see themselves, and that child, in the future.
Imagine if every person looked into the mirror before sexual activity, before a pregnancy,
and asked, "Am I ready for this?" Imagine if boys and men --not just girls and women --looked
into that mirror as well. Because we have to do more to reach out to young men, and enlist them
in the campaign to make abortion rare, and to make it possible for them also to define their lives
in terms other than what they imagine sexual prowess and fatherhood being.
All of us --citizens, parents, teachers, government officials, the media, sports figures,
religious leaders, business leaders --all of us need to look in that mirror. We have to make it our
responsibility to create a new ethic of planned parenthood in this country. An ethic where people
have the tools they need to plan every pregnancy --probably, by any measurement, the most
important event in their lives --with as much care and detail as they plan other major events.
I hope we will do more than imagine. I think again of Dr. Slepian, who despite the
harassment, had the courage every day to be there for the women who relied upon him.
I think of the women who died in back-alley abortions. The women forced to bear
children in Romania or forced to abort them in China. And I think of the pioneers in our own
country before Roe V. Wade --some in this room --who, even when you were ridiculed,
threatened or ostracized, stood up for the right of each woman to choose. You have led us to this
day, and we are grateful for your leadership. But now we have to expand far beyond this room,
and far beyond those who are already identified an understanding that the issue we are proposing
--the pro-choice issue --is an issue with deep roots in American democracy and human rights.
I hope that at the 50th anniversary of NARAL, the people on this podium speaking to you
and the people in the audience will be able to say that we persevered. We did not turn our backs
on our fundamental principles, but we also faced forward. That we worked with those who were
willing to work with us to end some of the divisiveness that has plagued this issue. And we
found the courage --and the common ground --to make it possible for future generations to say
that abortion is safe, legal and indeed, rare.
At some point in that future, where we will be able, I hope, to have built a much stronger
foundation, and created on much more common ground, we will not have to hear these endless
debates about family planning, about reproductive rights, but instead, we will all be focused on
giving to each person in our country the respect that person needs to make the decisions all of our
lives that only we can and should make. That's the kind of America that we celebrate today.
That's the kind of America we must continue to fight for. Thank you all very much.
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Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
June 28, 2000
CITE: 36 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1531
LENGTH: 137 words
HEADLINE: Statement on the Supreme Court Decision on Restriction of Protests Outside Health
Care Facilities
BODY:
I am pleased that the Supreme Court today, in Hill v. Colorado, upheld a Colorado statute
balancing a person's right to protest certain medical procedures against another person's right to
obtain medical treatment free from harassment, fear, and intimidation. The Colorado law was
enacted in response to a real need to ensure safe access to medical treatment in light of increasing
obstruction, harassment, and violence in front of health care facilities. To preserve a woman's
right to choose, we must protect access to reproductive health services. That is why I
championed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), a Federal statute that protects
women and doctors from violence at reproductive health clinics
NOTE: The statement referred to Public Law No. 103 -- 259, approved May 26, 1994.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
January 22, 1998
CITE: 34 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 124
LENGTH: 324 words
HEADLINE: Videotaped Remarks on the 25th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe V. Wade
Decision
BODY:
On January 22d, we marked the 25th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court
decision that affirmed every woman's right to choose whether and when to have a child, and in
doing so, affirmed two of our Nation's most deeply-held values, personal privacy and family
responsibility
Over the past 25 years, Roe V. Wade has had a major positive impact on the health and well-being
of American women and their families Safe, legal abortion has all but eliminated the dangerous,
clandestine conditions that claimed too many women's lives when the procedure was illegal
I'm committed to keeping abortion safe, legal, and accessible and to making it more rare. Over
the last 5 years, we've led the way on policies to prevent unintended pregnancy by making
comprehensive family planning and sex education programs more widely available. We've
increased support for Title X family planning services every year in our budget. And I'll do so again
this year.
I fought to continue funding for international family planning, bringing much needed health care to
women all around the world. Here at home, by working together with health care professionals,
community groups, schools, and family planning agencies, we've made real progress in reducing
teen pregnancy. And I was proud to sign legislation to protect the rights Roe established by
protecting women's clinics from violence. We have enforced that law to its full extent.
I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that every child in America is a wanted child,
raised in a loving, strong family. Ultimately, that idea is what the anniversary of Roe V. Wade
celebrates.
Hillary and I join with all of you in commemorating this milestone and pledge ourselves anew to
protecting the right to choose.
Thank you, and God bless you.
NOTE: The President recorded these remarks on January 6 in the Cabinet Room at the White
House.
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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:
Supporting Women and Families
Expanding Economic Opportunity
Moving From Record Deficits to Record Surplus. In 1992, the deficit was $290 billion, a record
dollar high. In 2000, we have a projected budget surplus of $167 billion -- the largest dollar surplus on
record (even after adjusting for inflation) and the largest as a share of our economy since 1951. This is
the first time we have had three surpluses in a row in more than a half century.
Tax Cuts for Working Families. 15 million additional working families received additional tax relief
because of the President's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 1998, the EITC lifted 4.3
million people out of poverty - double the number lifted out of poverty by the EITC in 1993. This year,
the President proposed expanding the EITC to provide tax relief to an additional 6.8 million hard-
pressed working families.
Helping Parents Balance Work and Family. The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- the first
piece of legislation the President signed into law -- enables workers to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave
to care for a new baby or ailing family member without jeopardizing their job. Since its enactment,
millions of Americans have benefited from FMLA, and the President has expanded leave options for
Federal employees. President Clinton has called for extending this benefit to 12 million more working
families and expanding the law to allow workers to take leave for family obligations such as doctors
appointments and parent-teacher conferences. Additionally, in his FY 2001 budget, the President is
proposing new grants to enable states and regions to develop innovative paid leave options for working
parents.
Fighting for Fair Pay. The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked to ensure fair pay for women and
close the wage gap. The average woman who works full-time now earns about 75 cents for each dollar
that an average man earns. The President and Vice President have called on Congress to pass the
Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen laws prohibiting wage discrimination. This year, the
President has proposed a $27 million initiative to help the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission
and the Labor Department fight wage discrimination.
Increased the Minimum Wage. The minimum wage has risen from $4.25 to $5.15 per hour, increasing
wages for six million women. The President and Vice President have called for an additional increase to
$6.15.
Highest Homeownership Rate in History. There are 7.8 million new homeowners since the President
took office. Women's homeownership has increased 14% with 1.9 million new women homeowners
since the first quarter of 1994.
Providing Incentives to Save. President Clinton signed legislation creating Individual Development
Accounts, providing incentives for low-income families to save for a first home, higher education, or to
start a new business, a key part of his 1992 community empowerment agenda. In FY 1999, $10 million
was awarded to establish savings accounts for over 10,000 low-income workers in 40 communities, and
an additional $10 million will be awarded in FY 2000. The President's budget provides $25 million for
IDAs in FY 2001 and proposes to allow low-income working families to use IDAs to save for a car that
will allow them to get or keep a job.
Increasing Pension Security. President Clinton proposed and signed the Retirement Protection Act of
1994, protecting the benefits of more than 40 million American workers and retirees. The President also
signed the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, which provided a tax credit to small business that
adopt pension plans; created a simplified and better defined contribution plan for small businesses; and
promoted portability.
Saving Social Security. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have coupled fiscal
discipline with a commitment to preserve and protect Social Security. President Clinton has
proposed extending the program's solvency to 2050 by paying down the national debt and dedicating the
interest savings to Social Security. This would be a down payment on truly saving Social Security.
President Clinton has also called for a bipartisan effort to save Social Security for 75 years.
Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, the life of the Social Security trust fund has been extended until
2037.
Social Security Reform Critical to Women. Women live an average of six years longer than men, and
because they live longer they become increasingly dependent on Social Security benefits as they age.
Women represent 60 percent of all Social Security recipients at age 65, and by age 85, 71 percent of
recipients are women. Social Security provides 90 percent of income for 41 percent of all older women;
25 percent have no other source of income. The poverty rate among elderly women is twice the poverty
rate among seniors as a whole. President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to reforming
Social Security in a manner that will ensure fairness and reduce the poverty rate of single elderly women.
Tripled the Number of Small Business Loans to Women Entrepreneurs. Between FY 1992 and FY
1999 the SBA approved nearly 73,000 loans, amounting to more than $11 billion, to women
entrepreneurs under the 7(a) and 504 loan programs. In FY 1999 alone, the Small Business
Administration granted 10,244 loans, worth $1.85 billion, to women small business owners, triple the
number of loans granted in 1992; in FY 2000 to date the SBA has approved 3,612 loans worth $711
million dollars. [as of 2/00]
Women Are Starting Businesses at Twice the Rate of All Businesses. Women own nearly 40 percent
of all firms in the United States, and the number of women-owned small businesses have grown by 103
percent since 1987. These nine million women-owned firms employ more than 27.5 million employees
and contribute $3.6 trillion to the economy. The Small Business Administration's Office of Women's
Business Ownership is working to foster this growth.
Expanded Small Business Opportunities for Women. The Clinton-Gore Administration won $9
million in FY 2000 for Women's Business Centers, which provide resources to foster increased
entrepreneurship among women. In his FY 2001 budget, President Clinton has proposed to expand the
Women's Business Center network budget to $12 million, an increase of 33 percent. Today this network
includes more than 80 women's business centers, including an Online Women's Business Center. Of
those, 59 centers are currently funded by SBA grants; 22 have graduated from funding and are operating
independently.
Highest Median Family Income in History. Since the President launched his economic plan in 1993,
median family income is the highest it has ever been. The typical family's income is up over $5,000. In
1998, median household income is up 3.5 percent to a new high of $38,885.
Creating New Tools to Help Families Move from Welfare to Work. Since enactment of the 1996
welfare reform law, millions of families have moved from welfare to work. With the President's
leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included $3 billion to move long-term welfare recipients and
low-income non-custodial fathers into jobs. To fully implement this initiative, the President's FY 2001
budget allows grantees an additional two years to spend Welfare-to-Work funds. It also proposes $255
million for Fathers Work/Families Win grants to promote responsible fatherhood and support working
families. The Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit provides tax incentives to encourage businesses to hire long-
term welfare recipients. The President's Access to Jobs initiative helps communities design innovative
transportation solutions, such as van services, to help former welfare recipients and other low-income
workers get to work, and this year the President is proposing $150 million for this initiative, double last
year's level. President Clinton has secured 110,000 new housing vouchers in the last two years to help
welfare recipients and hard-pressed working families move closer to job opportunities, and this year he
is proposing $690 million for 120,000 new housing vouchers.
Nearly Doubled Child Support Collections. President Clinton signed into law the toughest child
support crackdown in history. Federal and state child support programs broke new records in
1999, collecting $15.5 billion -- nearly double the amount collected in 1992. The number of
paternities established rose to nearly 1.5 million in 1998 - more than triple the number from
516,000 in 1992. The number of child support cases with collections rose 59 percent, from
2.8 million 1992 to 4.5 million in 1998.
Signed the Landmark Work Incentives Improvement Act. Americans with disabilities often become
ineligible for Medicaid or Medicare if they work, forcing a choice between health care and employment.
The Work Incentives Improvement Act keeps people with disabilities from losing their Medicare or
Medicaid health coverage when they go to work. It also includes a $250 million demonstration, which
the President insisted on fully funding, that allows people with disabilities who are still working and are
not yet sufficiently disabled to qualify for Medicaid to buy into the program.
Caring For Our Children
Largest Five-Year Drop in Child Poverty Rate Since the '60s. Under President Clinton and Vice
President Gore, child poverty has declined from 22.7 percent in 1993 to 18.9 percent in 1998 -- the
biggest five-year drop in nearly 30 years.
Fought For and Won $500 Child Tax Credit for 27 Million Families with 45 Million Children
under Age 17. Twelve million children from families with income below $30,000 will receive the child
tax credit as a result of the President's efforts.
Nutrition for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). President Clinton won over $4 billion for
nutrition assistance to millions of women, infants, and children through the WIC program, an
increase of $108 million over FY 1999. The additional funds will allow the program to provide
a monthly package of nourishing supplemental foods, nutrition education, and health care
referrals to 7.3 million low-income women, infants and children who are at nutritional risk -- 1.4
million more people than in 1993. Research shows that every $1 increase in the prenatal care
portion of the WIC program cuts between $1.77 and $3.90 in medical expenses in the first 60
days following childbirth.
Ensuring Safe Food for America's Families. President Clinton created the President's
Council on Food Safety to develop a comprehensive food safety strategic plan for federal
agencies. The Clinton-Gore Administration has implemented a new science-based inspection system --
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points -- and reduced the prevalence of salmonella in raw
meat and poultry by as much as 50 percent. The Administration formed national computer
network of public health laboratories, called PulseNet, to help rapidly identify and stop
outbreaks of foodborne illness by performing DNA "fingerprinting" on foodborne pathogens.
The President signed the Food Quality Protection Act, which included special safeguards for
kids and strengthened laws governing pesticides and food safety. The Administration also
issued new rules to prevent foodborne illness caused by pathogens such as E. coli.
Held First-Ever White House Conference on Early Child Development and Learning and the
White House Conference on Child Care. In April 1997, the President and First Lady held the White
House Conference on Early Child Development and Learning to highlight the benefits of early nurturing
by parents. And in October 1997, the White House Conference on Child Care began a dialogue on the
child care challenges facing parents today availability, affordability, and assuring safety and quality.
Improved Access to Affordable, Quality Child Care. Under the Clinton-Gore
Administration, federal funding for child care has more than doubled, helping parents pay for
the care of about 1.5 million children in 1998. And the 1996 welfare reform law increased child
care funding by $4 billion over six years to provide child care assistance to families moving
from welfare to work.
Signed the Adoption and Safe Families Act. The Adoption and Safe Families Act, which was based in
large part on the recommendations of the Clinton-Gore Administration's Adoption 2002 report, made
sweeping changes in adoption law so that thousands of children in foster care move more quickly into
safe and permanent homes. In 1998, 36,000 children in foster care were adopted, up from 28,000 in
1996. This is the first significant increase in adoption since the national foster care program was
established nearly 20 years ago.
Using the Internet to Increase Adoptions. In November 1998 the President directed the Department
of Health and Human Services to expand the use of the Internet as a tool to link children in foster care
more quickly with possible adoptive families. HHS will launch a national web site by September 2001
to break down geographic barriers to adoption.
Enacted the Foster Care Independence Act. Nearly 20,000 young people leave foster care each
year when they reach age 18 without an adoptive family or other guardian. The Foster Care
Independence Act will ensure that those young people will get the tools they need to make the most of
their lives by providing them better educational opportunities, access to health care, training, housing
assistance, counseling, and other services.
Raised Child Immunization Rates to All Time High. Childhood immunization coverage rates in 1998
were the highest ever recorded. 90 percent of toddlers in 1996, 1997 and 1998 received the most critical
doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines, surpassing the President's 1993 goal.
Enacted Single Largest Investment in Health Care for Children since 1965. The five year, $24
billion State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will provide health care coverage for up to
five million children. Two million children have already been enrolled, and in October 1999 President
Clinton announced new outreach initiatives to enroll millions more uninsured, eligible children. Last
year, the President launched a nationwide "Insure Kids Now" campaign that will bring together
major TV and radio networks, healthcare organizations, religious groups and other community-
based organizations to help enroll more children in the Children's Health Insurance Program, with the
goal of enrolling 5 million of the estimated 10 million children eligible for health insurance under CHIP
within 5 years. This year, the budget includes several of Vice President Gore's proposals to accelerate
enrollment of children in CHIP. The President is also proposing a new FamilyCare program, which
would give States the option to cover parents in the same plan as their children.
Issued Regulation that Drug Companies Provide Adequate Testing for Children.
President Clinton directed an important Food and Drug Administration regulation requiring
manufacturers to do studies on pediatric populations for new prescription drugs -- and those
currently on the market to ensure that prescription drugs have been adequately tested for
the unique needs of children.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency. The teen birth rate has fallen seven years in a row, by 18 percent
from 1991 to 1998. The teen pregnancy rate is now the lowest rate on record.
Standing Up to the Tobacco Industry. The President and Vice President developed and
implemented the first-ever plan to protect our children from tobacco, including: proposing to
hold the tobacco industry accountable by charging the tobacco industry an assessment for
every underage smoker and increasing the price of cigarettes by 25 cents a pack; urging
Congress to grant FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products, prohibit advertising aimed
at children and curb minors' access to tobacco products; pursuing the suit filed against the
tobacco industry by the Justice Department to recover the federal costs of smoking-related
illnesses; advocating that states use tobacco settlement money for tobacco prevention and
control; and helping people to quit by proposing a smoking cessation program for Medicaid.
Investing in Education
Largest Investment in Education in 30 Years. Maintaining his longtime commitment to education,
President Clinton enacted the largest investment in education in 30 years -- and the largest investment in
higher education since the G.I. Bill by signing the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
Providing Early Education to Nearly 900,000 Children with Head Start. The President and Vice
President have expanded Head Start funding by 90 percent since 1993. Head Start will reach
approximately 880,000 low-income children in FY 2000 and, with the President's proposed increase for
the program, will be on the way to reaching the President's goal of serving one million children and their
families by the year 2002. The Administration also created Early Head Start, bringing Head Start's
successful comprehensive services to families with children ages zero to three, and set high quality
standards for both programs.
More High-Quality Teachers with Smaller Class Sizes. The Clinton-Gore Administration won a
second installment of $1.3 billion for the President's plan to hire an additional 100,000 well-prepared
teachers to reduce class size in the early grades, when children learn to read and master the basic skills.
Already, 29,000 teachers have been hired through this initiative. This year's budget provides $1.75
billion, a $450 million increase enough to fund nearly 49,000 teachers.
Turning Around Failing Schools. 13 million low-income students now benefit from higher
expectations and a challenging curriculum geared to higher standards through Title I-Aid to
Disadvantaged Students. The FY 2000 budget provides a $134 million accountability fund to
help turn around the worst performing schools and hold them accountable for results through
such measures as overhauling curriculum, improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening
them as charter schools. This year, the President is proposing to double funding for this fund to turn
around the nation's failing schools to ensure all children receive a quality education.
Protecting Title IX. The Clinton-Gore Administration firmly supports and enforces Title IX, which has
enabled young women to participate fully in high school and college athletics. When Title IX was
passed more than 25 years ago, only 300,000 girls participated in high school sports. In 1999, well over
two million participated.
Teaching Every Child to Read by the 3rd Grade. The President challenged Americans to unite to be
sure that every child can read well and independently by the third grade. In response to his America
Reads challenge, more than 1,100 colleges have committed Work Study students to tutor children in
reading, and more than two million children have been taught, tutored or mentored by national service
programs like AmeriCorps, VISTA, and Foster Grandparents. In addition, colleges and universities
that participate in the Federal work-study program must include at least one tutoring or family
literacy project as part of its community service activities, giving priority to the employment of
work-study students as reading tutors in schools participating in reading reform efforts. Grants
are awarded through the Reading Excellence Act to high-poverty schools to improve the
teaching and learning of reading.
Expanding Choice and Accountability in Public Schools. The Clinton-Gore Administration has
worked to expand public school choice and support the growth of public charter schools, which
have increased from one public charter school in the nation when the President was first elected to more
than 1,600 as of September 1999. More than 250,000 students nationwide are now enrolled in charter
schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The President won $145 million in FY 2000 -- and
has proposed $175 million in his FY01 budget -- to continue working toward his goal of
establishing 3,000 quality charter schools by 2002.
Establishing the GEAR-UP Mentoring Program for Middle School Children. President Clinton and
Vice President Gore created and expanded GEAR-UP, a nationwide mentoring initiative, to help over
750,000 low-income middle school children finish school and prepare for college. GEAR-UP will
expand mentoring efforts by states and provide new grants to partnerships of middle schools, institutions
of higher education, and community organizations, to provide intensive early intervention services to
help prepare over 750,000 students at high-poverty middle schools for college. The President's FY
2001 budget would expand services to 1.4 million students with a 63 percent increase.
Providing Safe After-School Opportunities for 850,000 Students Each Year. The 21st Century
Community Learning Centers program will provide enriching after-school and summer school
opportunities for 850,000 school-age children in rural and urban communities in FY 2000.
Extended learning time has not only been shown to increase achievement in reading and
math, but to decrease youth violence and drug use. Funding for this program more than
doubled from FY 1999 to FY 2000. For FY 2001, the President's budget calls on Congress to
invest $1 billion in the 21st Century Program and to ensure that all children in failing schools
have access to quality after-school and summer school opportunities. This proposal will double
funding and nearly triple the number of students served to 2.5 million.
Expanding Access to Technology. With the Vice President's leadership, the Clinton-Gore
Administration has made increasing access to technology a top priority. The President and Vice
President created the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to help connect every school to the Internet,
increase the number of multimedia computers in the classroom and provide technology training for
teachers. They increased overall investments in educational technology from $23 million in 1993 to
$769 million in FY 2000, and tripled funding for Community Technology Centers to reach at least 120
low-income communities. Through the E-rate program, they secured low-cost connections to the
Internet for schools, libraries, rural health clinics and hospitals, benefiting more than 80 percent of
America's public schools. They also increased investment in education research to ensure all children
benefit from educational technology. In 1999, 95 percent of public schools were connected to the
Internet -- up from just 35 percent in 1994.
Paying for College Through Community Service. In just five years, AmeriCorps has allowed 150,000
young people to serve in their communities while earning money for college or skills training.
Opening the Doors of College to All Americans. In 1997, President Clinton proposed and passed the
HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits to provide tax relief to nearly 13 million
Americans each year who are struggling to pay for college. The Hope Scholarship helps make the
first two years of college universally available to about 5.6 million students annually by
providing a tax credit of up to $1,500 for tuition and fees for the first two years of college. The
Lifetime Learning tax credit provides a 20 percent tax credit on the first $5,000 of tuition and
fees for students beyond the first two years of college, or those taking classes part-time (in
2003, this increases to $10,000 of tuition and fees). In his FY 2001 budget, the President has
proposed to expand the Lifetime Learning tax credit with a 10-year, $30 billion College
Opportunity tax cut, which will give families the option of taking a tax deduction or claiming a
28 percent credit for the first $5,000 of college tuition and fees until 2002, and $10,000
thereafter.
Expanding Work Study and Pell Grants. One million students will be able to work their way
through college because of the President's expansion of the Work Study Program, and nearly
four million students will receive a Pell Grant of up to $3,300, the largest maximum award
ever. The maximum award has increased 43 percent under the Clinton-Gore Administration.
This year President Clinton proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study to continue to
support one million awards, and a $200 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award, to raise it
to $3,500.
Improving Our Nation's Health
Protected and Strengthened Medicare, Benefiting 22 Million American Women Enrollees. In the
1997 Balanced Budget, the Clinton-Gore Administration protected, modernized and extended the life of
the Medicare Trust Fund while offering new options for patient choice and preventive care. New
preventive benefits passed include coverage of annual mammograms, cervical cancer screening, and
tests to help detect osteoporosis. The President proposed a plan to reform and modernize Medicare's
benefits, including an optional prescription drug benefit that is affordable and available to all
beneficiaries. The President has also proposed a reserve fund to help Medicare beneficiaries with
extremely high prescription drug costs. In March 1999, the Medicare Trustees reported that the life of
the Medicare Trust Fund has been extended until 2023. In 1993, Medicare was expected to run out of
money in 1999.
Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research. Since President Clinton and Vice President took
office, funding for breast cancer research, prevention and treatment has more than doubled. This year,
the Administration's budget will provide $27 million in funding -- a 56 percent increase -- to learn more
about environmental causes of diseases like breast cancer. In addition, the President has implemented the
Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure the quality of mammograms. Women can now find a
certified mammography facility by calling 1-800-4-CANCER.
Created Office of Cancer Survivorship. President Clinton unveiled the new Office of Cancer
Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute. The Office will support research covering the range of
issues facing survivors of cancer.
Providing Protection with the Patients' Bill of Rights. The President and Vice President have called
on Congress to pass Federally enforceable consumer health care protections that include: guaranteed
access to needed health care specialists including direct access to an OB-GYN; access to emergency
room services when and where the need arises; continuity of care protections to ensure that patients' care
will not abruptly change if their provider is dropped; access to a timely internal and independent external
appeals process for consumers to resolve their differences with their health plans; a limit on financial
incentives to doctors to limit care and assurances that doctors and patients can openly discuss treatment
options. Women are particularly vulnerable without these health care protections because they are
greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their
families, and they have specific health care needs that are directly addressed by a patients' bill of rights.
Leading by example, the President directed all federal agencies to ensure that their employees and
beneficiaries have the benefits and rights guaranteed under the proposed Patients' Bill of Rights.
Preventing Discrimination Based on Genetic Information Both by Health Plans and Employers.
The Clinton-Gore Administration has urged Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to prohibit health
plans from inappropriately using genetic screening information to deny coverage, set premiums, or to
distribute confidential information. The President also has supported legislation that ensures that
employers do not use genetic information to discriminate against employees. President Clinton signed
an executive order banning the use of genetic information in federal hiring and promotion actions and
strengthening privacy protections of federal employees' genetic information.
Passed Meaningful Health Insurance Reform. The President signed into law the Kennedy-
Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which helps individuals keep health
insurance when they change jobs, guarantees renewability of coverage, and ensures access to health
insurance for small businesses. As many as 25 million people will benefit from this law. The bill also
eliminated the discriminatory tax treatment the of the approximately 10 million Americans who are self-
employed; strengthened efforts to combat health care fraud, waste and abuse by creating a stable source
of funding; and provided consumer protections and tax incentives for private long-term care insurance.
Released Strong New Protections for the Privacy of Electronic Medical Records. The
Clinton-Gore Administration released a new regulation to protect the privacy of electronic
medical records held by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers.
This rule would limit the use and release of private health information without consent; restrict
the disclosure of protected health information to the minimum amount of information
necessary; establish new requirements for disclosure of information to researchers and others
seeking access to health records; and establish new administrative and criminal sanctions for
the improper use or disclosure of private information.
Endorsed Legislation That Would Ban Drive-Through Mastectomies. President Clinton endorsed
the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, which would allow women to stay in the hospital at least 48
hours following a mastectomy.
Ended Drive-Through Deliveries. President Clinton proposed and signed into law legislation requiring
insurers to cover at least 48 hours of a post-natal hospital stay (72 hours for a Cesarean).
Promoting Reproductive Health Services for Women
Expanding Family Planning Services. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have taken strong
steps to promote safe reproductive health services for women. They won a nearly $25 million increase
for Title X family planning, the largest increase since 1993, bringing the program to almost $240 million
in FY 2000. This year, the President's budget includes a $274 million investment -- a 15 percent
increase -- to prevent unintended pregnancy and ensure access to safe, high quality family planning
services. This investment will help fund clinics and community-based health services that reach more
than 5 million women and families. In 1998 and 1999, the Clinton-Gore Administration successfully
defeated parental consent restrictions on contraceptive services for minors.
Provided Contraceptive Coverage to More than a Million Women. The FY 1999 and FY 2000
budgets require the 300 Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans (FEHBP) to cover contraceptive drugs
and devices, providing coverage to approximately 1.2 million women of childbearing age.
Protected FDA's Role in Testing RU-486. In 1993, President Clinton reversed the ban on the
importation of Mifepristone or RU-486. In 1998 and 1999, the President and Vice President
successfully fought for removal of a provision that would prohibit the FDA from testing, developing or
approving RU-486, thereby usurping the Agency's role in making scientific determinations about the
effect of drugs on the safety and health of the American people.
Signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. President Clinton signed into law the
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, establishing a safety-zone around women's health clinics.
Throughout the Administration, the President and Vice President have worked hard to protect a woman's
right to choose.
Reversed the "Gag Rule." President Clinton reversed the "Gag Rule," which limited the information
federally funded family planning clinics could give to women.
Making Our Communities Safer
Lowest Crime Rate in 25 Years. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the
longest continuous drop in crime on record. The violent crime rate fell 7 percent in 1998 and 27 percent
since 1993. The murder rate is down more than 25 percent since 1993, its lowest point since 1967. The
overall crime rate is the lowest in 25 years. The rate of forcible rape is down 12 percent since 1994.
Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets. In 1999, ahead of schedule and under budget, the
Clinton-Gore Administration met its commitment to fund an additional 100,000 police officers for our
communities. As a part of the COPS Program, the President announced new grants to increase
community policing in high-crime and underserved neighborhoods. To help keep crime at record lows,
the President won funding for the first installment toward his goal to hire up to 50,000 more officers by
2005. This year, the Clinton-Gore budget includes over $1 billion to continue the successful COPS
initiative to hire more officers, hire new community prosecutors, give police the tools they need to fight
crime, and to fund community-wide crime fighting efforts.
More than 500,000 Felons, Fugitives and Domestic Abusers Denied Guns. Since the President
signed the Brady Bill into law, more than 500,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers have been
prevented from purchasing guns. And the historic 1994 Crime Bill banned 19 of the deadliest assault
weapons and their copies, keeping assault weapons off our streets. The homicide rate dropped 7 percent
in 1998 - almost entirely due to a decrease in homicides committed with guns. Since 1993, there has
been a more than 35 percent drop in gun-related crime and a 57 percent decrease in juvenile
gun homicide offenders.
Held the First-Ever White House Conference on School Safety. On October 15, 1998, the President
hosted the White House Conference on School Safety. The participants explored solutions to this
national challenge: how do schools, families and communities work together to make sure that every
child is safe in every school in America.
National Campaign Against Youth Violence. In August 1999, President Clinton announced the
formation of an independent, national campaign to address the problem of youth violence. The
Campaign plans to launch anti-violence activities including a major media campaign, concerts, town hall
meetings, in- and after-school programs. The Campaign will also highlight effective youth violence
initiatives in cities across the country.
New Tools in the Fight Against Domestic Violence. President Clinton championed and signed into
law the Violence Against Women Act, bolstering local law enforcement, prosecution, and victims'
services to better address these crimes. The Clinton-Gore Administration more than quadrupled funding
to domestic violence shelters and signed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act, making
it a Federal crime to cross state lines intending to injure or harass another person. And the
Administration established a nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides immediate
crisis intervention, counseling and referrals for those in need.
Protecting Children from Sex Offenders. President Clinton signed Megan's Law and the Jacob
Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, requiring states to
set up sex offender registration systems and require community notification when sex offenders are
released from prison.
Fighting for Equal Opportunity
Appointed More Women Than Any Other President. Women make up 44 percent of Clinton
Administration appointees, and 29 percent of the positions requiring Senate confirmation are
held by women. Additionally, 30 percent of the President's judicial nominees are women,
including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman in history to serve on the Supreme Court.
Appointed the First Women Ever to Serve as Attorney General, Janet Reno; and Secretary of
State, Madeleine Albright. Other women who serve in the Clinton Cabinet include Alexis Herman,
Secretary of Labor; Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Carol Browner,
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Aida Alverez, Administrator of the Small
Business Association; Charlene Barshefsky, United States Trade Representative and Janice LaChance,
Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Working to Expand Civil Rights Enforcement. In FY 2000, the President won a six percent
increase in funding for federal civil rights enforcement agencies including $82 million for the
Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, a 19 percent increase. And this year,
President Clinton has proposed $698 million for civil rights enforcement -- a 13 percent increase --
to prosecute criminal civil rights cases (including hate crimes and police misconduct), enforce
the American with Disabilities Act, pursue Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
employment actions and prevent housing discrimination, and other civil rights enforcement
efforts.
Ordered an Assessment of Affirmative Action Programs. The President ordered a comprehensive
review of the government's affirmative action programs, which concluded that affirmative action is still
an effective and important tool to expand educational and economic opportunity to all Americans. This
review of federal affirmative action programs has helped to ensure that these programs are fair and
effective and that they can survive legal challenges. As a result, programs that benefit African
Americans, including students, working men and women, and business owners, remain in effect and are
more likely to be upheld by the courts.
4/00
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:
Supporting Women and Families
January 2000
EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.
Tax Cuts for Working Families. 15 million working families receive additional tax relief through the
President's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 1998, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people out of
poverty - double the number lifted out of poverty by the EITC in 1993. This year the President proposed
expanding the EITC to provide tax relief to an additional 6.4 million hard-pressed working families.
Helping Parents Balance Work and Family. The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take
up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for seriously ill family members, new born or adoptive children, or
their own serious health problems without fear of losing their jobs. Nearly 91 million workers (71% of the
labor force) are covered and millions of workers have benefited from FMLA since its enactment.
Narrowing the Wage Gap. The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked to ensure fair pay for women and
close the wage gap. The average woman who works full-time now earns about 75 cents for each dollar that
an average man earns. The President and Vice President have called on Congress to pass the Paycheck
Fairness Act, which would strengthen laws prohibiting wage discrimination. This year, the President has
proposed a $27 million initiative to help the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the Labor
Department fight wage discrimination
More Than Triple the Number of Small Business Loans to Women Entrepreneurs. Between 1993 and
1998, the Small Business Administration approved over 72,000 loans to women entrepreneurs. In 1998
alone, the SBA granted more than 11,000 loans, worth over $1.8 million, to women small business owners,
more than triple the number of loans granted in 1992.
Lowest Unemployment in Nearly 50 Years. The unemployment rate for women was 4.2 percent in
November 1999 -- staying around the lowest level since 1953.
INVESTING IN EDUCATION:
Providing Early Education to Nearly 900,000 Children with Head Start. The President and Vice
President have expanded Head Start funding by 90 percent since 1993. Head Start will reach approximately
880,000 low-income children in FY 2000 and, with the President's proposed increase for the program, will
be on the way to reaching the President's goal of serving 1 million children and their families by the year
2002. The Administration also created Early Head Start, bringing Head Start's successful comprehensive
services to families with children ages zero to three, and set high quality standards for both programs.
Opening the Doors of College to All Americans. President Clinton and Vice President Gore
proposed and passed the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship credits, making the first two years of college
universally available for 6 million students, and the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, a 20 percent credit
will help more than 7 million students offset tuition costs for college or lifetime learning. The
Administration expanded the Work Study Program to allow 1 million students to work their way through
college, and increased the maximum Pell Grant award to $3,300 a 43 percent increase since 1993.
This year, the President proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study, and an increase in the maximum
Pell Grant to $3,500.
Protecting Title IX. The Clinton-Gore Administration firmly supports and enforces Title IX, which has
enabled young women to participate fully in high school and college athletics. When Title IX was passed
more than 25 years ago, only 300,000 girls participated in high school sports. Today, well over 2 million
participate.
STRENGTHENING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES:
Increasing Access to Child Care. The Clinton-Gore Administration has increased child care funding by 80
percent since 1993, helping parents to pay for the care of about 1.5 million children in FY98. And President
Clinton won $182 million to improve the quality of child care for America's working families in FY99.
Increasing Child Support Collections. President Clinton signed into law the toughest child support
crackdown in history. Federal and state child support programs broke new records in child support
collections -- nearly doubling the amount collected in 1992. The number of child support cases with
collections rose 59 percent, from 2.8 million 1992 to 4.5 million in 1998.
New Tools in the Fight Against Domestic Violence. President Clinton championed and signed into law
the Violence Against Women Act, bolstering local law enforcement, prosecution, and victims' services to
better address these crimes. The Clinton-Gore Administration more than quadrupled funding to domestic
violence shelters and signed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act, making it a Federal
crime to cross state lines intending to injure or harass another person. And the Administration established a
nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides immediate crisis intervention, counseling
and referrals for those in need.
Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets. In 1999, ahead of schedule and under budget, the Clinton-
Gore Administration met its commitment to fund an additional 100,000 police officers for our communities.
As a part of the COPS Program, the President announced new grants to increase community policing in
high-crime and underserved neighborhoods. To help keep crime at record lows, the President won funding
in the FY 2000 budget for the first installment toward his goal to hire up to 50,000 more officers by 2005.
More than 470,000 Felons, Fugitives and Domestic Abusers Denied Guns. Since the President signed
the Brady Bill into law, more than 470,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers have been prevented from
purchasing guns through Brady background checks.
IMPROVING OUR NATION'S HEALTH:
Enacted Single Largest Investment in Health Care for Children since 1965. The $24 billion Children's
Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will provide health care coverage for up to five million children. Two
million children have already been enrolled, and in October 1999 President Clinton announced new outreach
initiatives to enroll millions more uninsured, eligible children.
Promoting Reproductive Health. The Clinton-Gore Administration has taken strong steps to protect a
woman's right to choose and to promote safe reproductive health services for women. The President signed
the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act; provided contraceptive coverage to more than a million
women covered by federal health plans; provided family planning services to low income women through
the Medicaid program; stood up against attempts to prohibit the FDA from approving RU-486; and
continues to fight restrictions on international family planning.
Expanding Family Planning Services. This year, the President's budget includes a $274 million investment
-- a 15% increase to prevent unintended pregnancy and ensure access to safe, high quality family planning
services. This investment will help fund clinics and community-based health services that reach more than 5
million women and families.
Signed Legislation to End Drive-Through Deliveries. President Clinton signed into law common sense
legislation that requires health plans to allow new mothers to remain in the hospital for at least 48 hours
following most normal deliveries and 96 hours after a Cesarean section.
Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research. Since 1993, funding for breast cancer research,
prevention and treatment has doubled, from $283 million in FY93 to $550 million in FY98 (Health and
Human Services' discretionary funding). Proposed new funding to learn more about environmental causes of
diseases like breast and prostate cancer.
Expanding Coverage to Uninsured Americans. The President has proposes a 10-year, $110 billion
initiative that would dramatically improve the affordability of and access to health insurance. The proposal
would expand coverage to at least 5 million uninsured Americans and expand access to millions more. If
enacted, these policies would be the largest expansion of coverage since Medicare was created in 1965.
Strengthening and Modernizing Medicare. Nearly 60 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are women and
this proportion rises with age - over 4 in 5 people over age 100 are women. The President has proposed a
comprehensive plan to reform and modernize Medicare by making the program more efficient and
competitive, extending the solvency of the Health Insurance trust fund, and modernizing benefits --
including adding a long overdue, voluntary prescription drug benefit.
Women as Partners in Decision-Making: Appointed More Women Than Any Other President. Women
make up 44 percent of Clinton Administration appointees, and 29 percent of the positions requiring Senate
confirmation are held by women. Additionally, 30 percent of the President's judicial nominees are women,
including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Search - 273 Results abortion
http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_.WS&_md5=8ae2l288a6c1996e3d47babafd5ef4
Public Papers of the Presidents, January 22, 1993
Public Papers of the Presidents
January 22, 1993
CITE: 29 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 85
LENGTH: 1509 words
HEADLINE: Remarks on Signing Memorandums on Medical Research and Reproductive Health and
an Exchange With Reporters
BODY:
The President. Please sit down, ladies and gentlemen. Today I am acting to separate our national
health and medical policy from the divisive conflict over abortion. This conflict, which stems from
the Roe V. Wade decision of 20 years ago, has brought to a halt promising research on treatment for
serious conditions and diseases that affect millions of Americans, millions of American men, women,
and children who include the members of the family and friends of mine and I'm sure virtually every
other set of family and friends in the United States. We must free science and medicine from the
grasp of politics and give all Americans access to the very latest and best medical treatments.
Today I am directing Secretary of Health and Human Services Shalala immediately to lift the
moratorium on Federal funding for research involving transplantation of fetal tissue. This
moratorium, which was first imposed in 1988, was extended indefinitely in 1989 despite the
recommendation of a blue ribbon National Institutes of Health advisory panel that it be ended. Five
years later, the evidence is overwhelming. The moratorium has dramatically limited the development
of possible treatment for millions of individuals who suffer from serious disorders, including
Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and leukemia. We must let medicine and science
proceed unencumbered by antiabortion politics.
Today also marks the beginning of a new national reproductive health policy that aims to prevent
unintended pregnancies. Our administration is committed to providing the kind of prenatal care, child
care, and family and medical leave that will lead to healthy childbearing and support America's
families.
As a Nation, our goal should be to protect individual freedom while fostering responsible décision
making, an approach that seeks to protect the right to choose while reducing the number of
abortions. Our vision should be of an America where abortion is safe and legal, but rate.
Let me also say that our administration is particularly concerned with the epidemic of teenage
pregnancy. The greatest human cost of our continuing national debate over reproductive policy is
borne by our children and by their children. A few teenagers choose to have and raise children, and
we must help them to succeed. But for millions a teen pregnancy is unintended, leaving the young
woman and her partner totally unprepared for the responsibilities of parenthood. The social and
economic price paid today and for the last several years by our Nation is enormous.
So today I am also directing Secretary Shalala to act immediately to implement her intended
suspension of the Title X family planning regulations that are also known as the "gag rule." For
almost 5 years, HHS has prohibited Title X recipients from providing their patients with full
information and counseling concerning pregnancy. This dangerous restriction censors the medical
information and advice that health care professionals can give their patients. As a result of today's
action, every woman will be able to receive medical advice and referrals that will not be censored or
distorted by ideological arguments that should not be a part of medicine.
I'm also ordering today the Director of the Agency for International Development to repeal
immediately what has become known as the Mexico City policy, that has effectively applied the "gag
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To:
Interested Persons
From: NARAL® Legal Department
Date: February 22, 2000
Re:
The Presidency and Supreme Court Justices
The next President may have the opportunity to appoint enough
Supreme Court Justices so that the Supreme Court overturns
Roe/Casey. Whether this occurs depends on three factors. First,
the next President must be given a chance to appoint a sufficient
number of Justices, at least two, to overcome the current 6-3 split
FACT SHEETS
in favor of Roe/Casey. Second, because the President will likely
only get two to three appointees, the purported President's
appointees must replace existing pro-Roe/Casey Justices. Third,
PRESS RELEASES
he or she must appoint and the Senate must confirm Justices who
would overturn Roe/Casey. If an anti-choice President is elected,
all three factors will possibly, if not likely, occur.
PUBLICATIONS
The next President will likely nominate two or three
individuals who will serve as Supreme Court Justices.
NARAL AFFILIATES
One-hundred and ten Justices1 have served on the United States
Supreme Court (John Jay, the first Chief Justice, through Stephen
Breyer, the most recent appointee). These 110 Justices have been
appointed by 42 Presidents (George Washington through Bill
Clinton), for an average of 2.62 Supreme Court Justice
appointments per President. Moreover, since 1869 when the
maximum number of Justices serving on the Supreme Court was
fixed at its current level of 9 (hereinafter "modern times"), the
average number of Supreme Court Justices per President is even
higher: 70 Justices (William Strong through Stephen Breyer) have
been appointed to the Court, and these Justices were appointed by
25 Presidents (Ulysses S. Grant through Bill Clinton), for an
average of 2.80 Justices per President.² Either two or three new
anti-choice Justices are sufficient to guarantee Roe's demise if
these Justices replace current pro-Roe/Casey Justices.
Given the age of the current membership of the Court, it
seems likely that at least two of the next three Justices to
leave the Court will be ones who support Roe or Casey. The
current Court is comprised of three blocks of Justices. Each
member of the first block, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas, would
vote to overturn Roe V. Wade. Each member of the second block,
O'Connor, Kennedy and Souter, would not vote to overturn Roe,
but would continue applying the more restrictive undue burden
standard they announced in Planned Parenthood V. Casey. Each
member of the third block, Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer, would
vote to uphold Roe. The following chart presents the three blocks
in visual format:
Block 1 - Anti-Choice
Block 2 - Pro-Casey
Block 3 - Pro-Roe
Justices
Justices
Justices
Chief Justice
Justice O'Connor
Justice Stevens
Rehnquist
Justice Scalia
Justice Kennedy
Justice Ginsburg
Justice Souter
Justice Thomas
Justice Breyer
The current membership of the Court listed by age, as of January
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2001, the beginning of the next President's term, as as follows:
Stevens - 80 (Born April 20, 1920)
Rehnquist-76 (Born October 1, 1924)
O'Connor-70 (Born March 26, 1930)
Ginsburg-67 (Born March 15, 1933)
Scalia-64 (Born March 11, 1936)
Kennedy-64 (Born July 23, 1936)
Breyer-62 (Born August 15, 1938)
Souter-61 (Born September 17, 1939)
Thomas-52 (Born June 23, 1948)
Thus, three of the four oldest members of the Court recognize that
the Constitution protects the right to choose an abortion under
either Roe or Casey. If only two of these three Justices left the
Court (most likely Stevens and O'Connor) during the next
Presidency, the outcome of the 2000 election could determine
whether Roe survives. Furthermore, even if the three oldest
Justices left, the next President could appoint three anti-choice
Justices who would join with Scalia and Thomas to overturn Roe.
Finally, it seems likely that an anti-choice President would
nominate Justices who would overturn Roe/Casey and that
the anti-choice Senate would confirm their President's choice.
The Senate is likely to remain in anti-choice hands for the
foreseeable future. Currently, there are only 32 pro-choice
members of the Senate, and pro-choice Senators such as
Republican John Chafee of Rhode Island have announced that
they will not seek reelection in 2000. Thus, pro-choice forces are
not likely to retake the Senate in 2000 and will probably have
difficulty overcoming their low numbers by 2002. Therefore,
anti-choice Justices who would overturn Roe/Casey are likely to be
nominated by an anti-choice President and confirmed by an
anti-choice Senate.
The historical record demonstrates that it is accurate to say that
the outcome of the next election may determine the fate of Roe V.
Wade and a woman's right to choose.
NUMBER OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICES PER PRESIDENT
WHO NOMINATED THEM
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SUPREME COURT DECISIONS CONCERNING
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
A Chronology: 1965-1999
Griswold V.
By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated
Connecticut,
a Connecticut statute that prohibited the use of
381 U.S. 479
contraceptives, holding that the statute violated
(1965)
the constitutional right to marital privacy.
FACT SHEETS
Eisenstadt V.
By a vote of 6-1, the Court invalidated a law
PRESS RELEASES
Baird,
prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives to
405 U.S. 438
unmarried people, holding that the constitutional
(1972)
right to privacy extends to the reproductive
PUBLICATIONS
decisions of both married and unmarried people.
NARAL AFFILIATES
Roe V. Wade,
By a vote of 7-2, the Court invalidated a Texas
410 U.S. 113
law prohibiting abortions not necessary to save
(1973)
the woman's life. The Court held that the
fundamental right to privacy extends to a
woman's decision whether or not to have an
abortion and that any governmental interference
with that right is subject to strict judicial scrutiny.
The Court recognized two compelling state
interests sufficient to justify restrictions on a
woman's right to choose. States may regulate
the abortion procedure after the first trimester of
pregnancy in ways necessary to promote
women's health. After the point of fetal viability --
approximately 24 to 28 weeks -- a state may, to
protect the potential life of the fetus, prohibit
abortions not necessary to preserve the
woman's life or health.
Doe V. Bolton,
Decided with Roe V. Wade. By a vote of 7-2, the
410 U.S. 179
Court invalidated provisions of a Georgia law
(1973)
that required that (1) any abortion be performed
in a hospital; (2) a woman secure the approval
of three physicians and a hospital committee
before obtaining an abortion; and (3) a woman
seeking to obtain an abortion be a resident of
the state.
Bigelow V.
By a vote of 7-2, the Court invalidated the
Virginia,
application of a
421 U.S. 809
(1975)
Virginia statute that prohibited the advertisement
of abortion services.
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Connecticut
The Court unanimously upheld the use of a
V. Menillo,
Connecticut statute that prohibited the
423 U.S. 9
performance of abortion to prosecute a
(1975)
non-physician.
Bellotti V.
The Court unanimously ruled that the district
Baird (I),
court should have abstained from deciding the
428 U.S. 132
constitutionality of a Massachusetts statute
(1976)
requiring parental consent until the state court
had interpreted the statute. The Court noted,
however that a state may, in some
circumstances, require a minor woman to obtain
parental consent before obtaining an abortion.
Planned
By a vote of 6-3, the Court invalidated provisions
Parenthood
of a Missouri statute that (1) required a married
of Central
woman to obtain the consent of her husband
Missouri V.
prior to obtaining an abortion; (2) required a
Danforth,
physician to preserve the life and health of the
428 U.S. 52
fetus at every stage of pregnancy; and (3)
(1976)
prohibited the use of saline amniocentesis as a
method of abortion. By a vote of 5-4, the Court
struck down a requirement that an unmarried
minor woman obtain the written consent of one
parent before obtaining an abortion because the
statute provided no alternative to parental
consent such as judicial waiver of the consent
requirement. The Court upheld provisions that
(1) required facilities to keep confidential
records, available only for statistical purposes to
public health officials, intended to preserve
maternal health and life by increasing medical
knowledge and to monitor whether abortions are
performed in accordance with the law; (2)
required that a woman sign a consent form prior
to an abortion; and (3) defined "viability" as "that
stage of fetal development when the life of the
unborn child may be continued indefinitely
outside the womb by natural or artificial
life-supportive systems."
Maher V. Roe,
By a vote of 6-3, the Court upheld a Connecticut
432 U.S. 464
prohibition of the use of public funds for
(1977)
abortions, except those "medically necessary,"
even though the state provides funding for
childbirth.
Beal V. Doe,
Decided with Maher V. Roe. By a vote of 6-3, the
432 U.S. 438
Court upheld a Pennsylvania regulation that
(1977)
prohibited the use of public funds for abortions
not "medically necessary."
Poelker V.
By a vote of 6-3, per curiam, the Court upheld
Doe,
the refusal of a public hospital to provide publicly
432 U.S. 519
funded abortions when there was no threat to
(1977)
the health or life of the woman.
Carey V.
By a vote of 7-2, the Court invalidated a New
Population
York law prohibiting the sale or distribution of
Services
contraceptives to minors.
431 U.S. 678
(1977)
Colautti V.
By a vote of 6-3, the Court invalidated as
Franklin,
unconstitutionally vague a Pennsylvania statute
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439 U.S. 379
that required a physician, under threat of
(1979)
criminal penalties, to use the method and
"degree of care" most likely to preserve the life
and health of the fetus if the physician
determined the fetus was viable or had
"sufficient reason to believe that the fetus may
be viable."
Bellotti V.
By a vote of 8-1, the Court invalidated a
Baird (II),
Massachusetts law that required a minor to
443 U.S. 622
obtain the consent of both parents before
(1979)
obtaining an abortion. Four Justices reasoned
that the procedure for judicial waiver was
unconstitutional because it required parental
consultation in every case before the minor
woman was permitted to go to court to
demonstrate that she was mature enough to
make her own decision or that an abortion was
in her best interests. Four other Justices
considered the statute unconstitutional
because it provided an absolute veto over a
minor woman's abortion decision to a
third-party, whether a parent or a judge.
Harris V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court upheld the Hyde
McRae,
amendment, which prohibits the use of federal
448 U.S. 297
funds for abortions not necessary to preserve
(1980)
the woman's life. The Court also held that
states that participate in the Medicaid program
are not required by Title XIX of the Social
Security Act to fund medically necessary
abortions for which federal funds are
unavailable under the Hyde amendment.
Williams V.
Decided with Harris V. McRae. By a vote of 5-4,
Zbaraz,
the Court upheld an Illinois statute prohibiting
448 U.S. 358
the use of state funds for abortions not
(1980)
necessary to save the woman's life.
H.L. V.
By a vote of 6-3, the Court upheld as not invalid
Matheson,
on its face a Utah statute requiring a physician
450 U.S. 398
to notify a minor woman's parent before
(1981)
performing an abortion, but the Court did not
decide whether the statute would be
unconstitutional as applied to a mature minor
because the plaintiff had not alleged that she
was mature.
City of Akron
By a vote of 6-3, the Court invalidated those
V. Akron
provisions of a city ordinance that (1) required
Center for
physicians to give their patients anti-abortion
Reproductive
information, including telling them that "the
Health,
unborn child is a human life from the moment
462 U.S. 416
of conception;" (2) required a 24-hour waiting
(1983)
period following these lectures; (3) mandated
that all abortions after the first trimester be
performed in a hospital; (4) required parental
consent for a minor woman to obtain an
abortion, without providing a procedure for
waiver of the consent requirement; and (5)
required physicians to dispose of fetal remains
in an unspecified "humane and sanitary
manner."
Planned
Decided with Akron Center. By a vote of 6-3,
Parenthood
the Court invalidated a provision of a Missouri
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statute that required all second-trimester
Kansas City,
abortions to be performed in a hospital. By a
Mo. V.
vote of 5-4, the Court upheld requirements that
Ashcroft,
(1) a second physician be present during a
462 U.S. 476
post-viability abortion; (2) a minor woman
(1983)
obtain either parental consent or a judicial
waiver; and (3) a pathology report be made for
each abortion.
Simopoulos V.
By a vote of 8-1, the Court affirmed the criminal
Virginia,
conviction of a physician for performing a
462 U.S. 506
second-trimester abortion outside a licensed
(1983)
hospital, noting that Virginia's definition of
"hospital" differed from Missouri's and Akron's
in that it included "outpatient hospitals," and
was therefore broad enough to include any
adequately equipped clinic. Thus, the Court
held that the Virginia restriction on abortions
after the first trimester was necessary to
promote the health of women obtaining
abortions.
Thornburgh V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court invalidated
American
provisions of a Pennsylvania statute that
College of
required (1) physicians to give their patients
Obstetricians
anti-abortion information, including pictures of
and
fetuses at various stages of development, to
Gynecologists,
discourage them from obtaining abortions; (2)
476 U.S. 747
the filing of detailed reports, available to the
(1986)
public for copying, including identification of the
attending physician and information about the
woman obtaining an abortion; (3) a physician
performing a post-viability abortion to use that
"degree of care" required to preserve the life
and health of any unborn child intended to be
born and to use the method of abortion most
likely to preserve the life of the fetus, even at
some risk to a woman's health; and (4) the
presence of a second physician at post-viability
abortions without providing an exception for a
medical emergency.
Webster V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court upheld provisions of
Reproductive
a Missouri statute prohibiting the use of public
Health
facilities or public personnel to perform
Services,
abortions and requiring a physician to make
492 U.S. 490
determinations and perform tests concerning
(1989)
gestational age, weight and lung maturity when
he or she has reason to believe a woman to be
20 weeks or more pregnant. For the first time in
the sixteen years since Roe V. Wade, only a
minority of the Justices on the Court -- four
Justices -- voted to reaffirm Roe.
Hodgson V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court invalidated as
Minnesota,
having no rational basis a Minnesota law
497 U.S. 417
requiring notification of both parents without a
(1990)
procedure for judicial waiver of the notice
requirement. However, by a vote of 5-4, the
Court upheld another provision that required
two-parent notification but included a procedure
for judicial waiver, as well as a 48-hour waiting
period for minors.
Ohio V. Akron
By a vote of 6-3, the Court upheld an Ohio
Center for
statute that required a minor woman to notify
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Reproductive
one parent or obtain a judicial waiver, rejecting
Health,
a facial challenge alleging that the burdensome
497 U.S. 502
judicial procedure did not fulfill the
(1990)
constitutional requirement of a meaningful
bypass procedure.
Rust V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court upheld federal
Sullivan,
regulations prohibiting health care
500 U.S. 173
professionals at family planning clinics that
(1991)
receive Title X funds from counseling or
referring women regarding abortion, or even
informing a pregnant patient that abortion is a
legal option.
Planned
By a vote of 7-2, the Court upheld provisions of
Parenthood of
a Pennsylvania statute that required (1)
Southeastern
physicians to provide patients with anti-abortion
Pennsylvania
information, including pictures of fetuses at
V. Casey,
various stages of development, to discourage
505 U.S. 833
women from obtaining abortions; (2) a
(1992)
mandatory 24-hour delay following these
lectures; (3) the filing of reports, available for
public inspection and copying, including the
name and location of any facility performing
abortions that receives any state funds; and (4)
a one-parent consent requirement for minors
with a judicial bypass. The Court explicitly
overruled parts of Akron and Thornburgh. The
plurality opinion of three Justices abandoned
the strict scrutiny standard of review applied to
fundamental rights for a less protective "undue
burden" standard of review, which these
restrictions passed. Two Justices voted to
continue to protect the right to choose as a
fundamental right under Roe by subjecting
state restrictions to strict scrutiny. These five
Justices voted to strike down a provision that
barred a married woman from obtaining an
abortion unless she notified her husband. Four
Justices voted to uphold all challenged
provisions and overturn Roe completely,
stating that it was wrongly decided and the
Constitution does not protect the right to
choose.
Bray V.
By a vote of 5-4, the Court held that a federal
Alexandria
civil rights law, known as the "Ku Klux Klan" Act,
Women's
42 U.S.C. ? 1985(3), does not protect women
Health Clinic,
from anti-choice blockaders obstructing access
506 U.S. 263
to reproductive health clinics. The Court held
(1993)
that anti-choice blockades do not constitute
sex-based discrimination for the purpose of the
statute.
National
By a vote of 9-0, the Court held that claims
Organization
under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
for Women V.
Organizations (RICO) act do not require proof of
Scheidler,
an economic motive, and that NOW and a group
510 U.S. 249
of women's health centers could pursue their
(1994)
civil suit against Joseph Scheidler, the Pro-Life
Action Network (PLAN) and others anti-choice
clinic blockaders.
Madsen V.
By a vote of 5-4 the Court upheld provisions of a
Women?s
Florida injunction that (1) created a 36-foot
Health
buffer zone outside the entrance to a
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reproductive health clinic; and (2) prohibited
512 U.S. 753
anti-choice protesters from making noise that
(1994)
could be heard by patients inside the clinic
during the hours in which surgical procedures
were performed. The Court noted that such
injunctions burden ?no more speech than
necessary to serve a significant government
interest.? The court invalidated provisions
creating a 300-foot ?no approach? zone around
the clinic, a ban on signs and images visible to
people inside the clinic, and a 300-foot ban on
picketing outside the residences of clinic
employees.
Schenck V.
By a vote of 8-1, the Court invalidated the
Pro-Choice
provision in a New York injunction that created a
Network,
15-foot ?floating? buffer zone around any
117 S. Ct. 855
person or vehicle seeking access to or leaving a
(1997)
clinic. The Court held that the ?floating? buffer
zones ?burden more speech than necessary to
serve the relevant government interests. ? The
Court limited this holding to the facts of this case
and noted that it did not address ?whether the
governmental interests involved would ever
justify some sort of zone of separation between
individuals entering the clinics and protestors,
as measured by the distance between the two.?
By a vote of 6-3, the Court upheld a provision
creating a 15-foot ?fixed? buffer zone outside of
clinic doorways, driveways, and parking lot
entrances. The Court also upheld a ?cease and
desist? provision that permits two ?sidewalk
counselors? to approach a person inside the
?fixed? buffer zones unless and until the person
indicates a desire for the counselor to withdraw;
the ?sidewalk counselor? must then retreat 15
feet from the person he/she had been
counseling and remain outside of the buffer
zone.
Mazurek V.
By a vote of 6-3, the Court reversed a lower
Armstrong,
court ruling that would have permitted health
117 S. Ct.
care providers to move forward with their
1865 (1997)
challenge to a Montana law banning the
performance of abortion by licensed physician
assistants working under the supervision of a
doctor. Without full briefing or oral argument, the
Court found that, in general, physician-only
requirements are constitutional. As the Court?s
first application of the ?undue burden? standard
since Planned Parenthood of Southeastern
Pennsylvania V. Casey, this decision indicates
that the standard is less protective than it initially
appeared and that regardless of a law?s
intended effect, the Court will not invalidate state
restrictions on abortion before viability unless
the actual effect is to create a substantial
obstacle on women obtaining an abortion.
1/7/2000
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2 of 2
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 24, 2000
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN STATEMENT ON EQUAL PAY
Presidential Hall
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
11:44 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, first of all, I think Sharon was
a little apprehensive coming out here because she doesn't do public
speaking for a living, but I thought she was magnificent and I thank her
for it. (Applause.) I want to thank Secretary Herman, for her
leadership on this issue, and Secretary Shalala, and our EEOC Chair, Ida
Castro, who is here.
We have a number of members of Congress who are here and I would
like to acknowledge their presence, because this will be a bipartisan
effort. I thank -- we'll start down here, Congressman Eliot Engel, from
New York; Congressman Jim McGovern, from Massachusetts; Congresswoman
Ellen Tauscher, from California; Representative Eleanor Holmes-Norton,
from the District of Columbia; Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
from Texas; Representative Rosa DeLauro, from Connecticut;
Representative Ted Strickland, from Ohio; Representative Connie Morella,
from Maryland; and Representative Albert Wynn from Maryland. Thank you
all for coming. (Applause.)
I'd also like to thank Donna DeVarona for being here. She' was the
World's Cup organizing chair last year, and herself a great athlete; and
she's now working with General McCaffrey and the Olympic's Committee to
try to make sure that the Olympics in Sydney and all future Olympics are
properly conducted in every conceivable way. Thank you very much for
being here, we're delighted to see you. (Applause.)
I want to thank Michelle Akers for coming here and telling the
story of her life and her family's. I think all of us who saw the
Women's World Cup final -- and I had the privilege of being there, much
to the dismay of my wife and daughter, I had the privilege of going
(laughter) -- were truly overwhelmed by the experience. It was one of
those just excruciatingly exciting moments. Grown people of both
genders were weeping in our group.
And afterward, you may remember that Michelle took quite a blow and
was hurt. And I saw her walking through the stadium after the game and
I went up to her and I said, you're my favorite because you can take a
punch, and I know something about that. (Laughter.) And SO I am
delighted that she was able to come here and be with us today; and
delighted that she has both continued to fight for the interests of
women athletes, and never forgotten about the experience of her own
mother.
You heard Michelle talking about the role of Title IX. Whenever
something really magnificent happens, like that World Cup final, it's a
tribute to -- it's not just a moment. In that moment, you see years and
years and years of hard work and determination and victory and
disappointment -- all the things people go through -- that is all lost
in the glory of the moment. And something no one ever thinks about is,
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how did these people get this opportunity? What kind of framework was
there so that they got to develop their talents, and live their dreams?
Well, that's what Title IX is all about, and we've had the honor,
Hillary and I have, of having big events here at the White House to
celebrate Title IX, and that wonderful HBO series on the history of
women and sports, which I hope you've all seen -- if you hadn't, you
ought to make arrangements to do SO.
But if you were thinking about the application of the principle of
Title IX to the workplace, and you think about Sharon Long's heroic
story -- and how many people like her there have been; how many
countless people like her there have been, who didn't stand up and fight
like she did -- then you have to view the Equal Pay Act as Title IX for
the playing field of life. That's why I'm glad both these women are
here today.
We want to make sure that in every field of endeavor, everyone
knows that those who work hard and play by the rules will have the
chance to make the most of their abilities. This is about the value of
work, the values of our country. It's about whether people can truly
have a chance to choose the life they will lead; and for women,
increasingly, it's about whether they'll have the chance to succeed both
at home and at work.
That's what the Family Leave Law was all about. Twenty million
people have now taken advantage of that, to take some time off and not
lose their jobs when there's a baby born or a sick parent. It's what
the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage and the child care
reference and the strengthened pension coverage that these members of
Congress have worked with me on over these last few years are all about.
And so, today, because there's still a big need, as you have heard, we
want to take new steps this year to reward work, to strengthen pay and
to make equal pay a reality for all Americans.
First of all, I want to propose a $27-million equal pay initiative,
which will be part of my budget, to expand opportunities for women and
to do more to end wage discrimination. If Congress agrees, we'll be
making the largest investment ever to promote equal pay. There's never
been a better time to take on this challenge. We have the strongest
economy in generations; more than 20 million new jobs; next month, the
longest economic expansion in American history.
Working women have had a big role in this economic expansion. You
heard Secretary Herman detailing that in just the last year. And women
are sharing in the progress. Listen to this: even though we have a
higher percentage of women in the work force than ever before, the
female unemployment rate is now the lowest since the end of World War II
the lowest female household poverty rate -- female-headed household
poverty rate we have ever recorded; wages for women up 25 percent since
1992. The pay gap has narrowed by about half since the Equal Pay Act
was passed back in 1963.
But that means that we've still got half to go, after 37 years.
And 25 percent is a lot of money. You heard -- Secretary Herman gave
you her grocery store analogy. How would you like to show up for work
every day, but only get to take home three out of every four paychecks?
If someone tried to do that, there would be riots in the street; but if
you get paid 75 percent for the same kind of work, it's as if you were
only picking up three paychecks, instead of four, in four pay periods.
The average woman has to work, therefore, an extra 17 weeks a year
to earn what a similarly-qualified man in the same kind of job makes.
And even after you make adjustments -- and that's why I thought what
Sharon said was so important today, to hammer home this point. Yes,
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some of this can be explained -- by differences in education, experience
and occupation. But even after you make all those adjustments, there is
still a very significant gap. As women get older, the gap gets wider.
And it is widest, regrettably, for women of color. African-American
women earn 64 cents for every dollar earned by white men; Hispanic women
just 55 cents.
Now, this is not just a women's issue. And I appreciate the fact
that we have five women members of Congress and four men here. I'm the
son of a working mother, the grandson of a working grandmother, the
husband of a working wife, and my daughter plans to follow suit. I've
joked, every time I do an event like this, that the first time in our
entire marriage that I made more money than Hillary was when I became
President -- (laughter) -- and all I'm really doing is trying to give
other men the privilege of riding on the same gravy train I did all
these years. (Laughter.)
But it's not a women's issue. If a woman with a family is being
denied equal pay for equal work, then her husband suffers. Her children
suffer. The family dynamic suffers. You think about how much time you
spend at work every day, you can't go to a workplace and feel like
you're getting the shaft and not have it have an impact that goes even
beyond economics on your home life. And I'm glad -- Sharon has her
husband and family members here today, they all paid. Everybody pays.
So this is a big issue in that sense. I'd also like to point out
that it's a much bigger economic issue, even in the paycheck. Why?
Because if you make less, then you have less going into your Social
Security account and you'll earn less in your Social Security check.
Because if you make less, you're far less likely to be able to have your
own retirement plan. And if you do have one, it'll be smaller.
The average woman who is about to retire -- keep in mind the pay
gap is 75 percent -- the average woman who is about to retire, if she
even gets a pension in the first place, can expect only about half the
pension benefits of the average man who retires. So the pay gap leads
to an even bigger retirement gap. And this is something we have to
think about more and more and more. And again, it's not just a women's
issue.
The poverty rate among elderly women is about twice the poverty
rate for people over 65 generally. The number of people over 65 will
double in the next 30 years. Americans today who are 65 years old
already have a life expectancy in excess of 82 years. And women live a
few years longer than men, on the average. This is a huge deal, with
implications for our entire society -- even for families where women do
not experience discrimination in the workplace. They, too, will be
affected in an aging society where more and more retirees are women who
are severely disadvantaged.
So today we want to close those gaps. First, I propose $10 million
for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to train more than 1,000
EEOC enforcement personnel to identify and respond to wage
discrimination. This would be, believe it or not, the first time the
EEOC has ever received funding for this kind of training. The resources
will also be used to educate employers and workers about their
responsibilities and their rights under the law.
I made this request last year, and Congress failed to pass it. I
again implore Congress to do the right thing and pass this funding. And
I hope you will help us do this. If we train enough people to spot the
problems early and work on them aggressively, the EEOC can help give us
more stories like Sharon Long's, without the waiting time.
Second, another important way to close the wage gap is to open new
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opportunities. So we propose a $17 million investment in the Department
of Labor, to include resources to expand opportunities for women in
non-traditional jobs. We're making headway in the construction
industry. We're also going to put a special focus on the jobs of the
future in the high-tech industry.
Today -- listen to this -- men outnumber women by more than two to
one in many high-tech occupations. These are among the highest-paid
jobs in our economy, paying on average almost 80 percent above the
average jobs. Now, that's another element of the digital divide. We
need to close the divide in employment and expand opportunities for
women in these kinds of jobs.
Third, and finally, we need to clearly send the message that wage
discrimination against women is just as unacceptable as discrimination
based on race or ethnicity. So once again I ask the Congress to pass
the paycheck fairness act sponsored by Representative DeLauro and
Senator Tom Daschle. Pass it. It's a good bill. There is no excuse
not to pass it. We plainly need to strengthen the law. We've had the
other Equal Pay Act on the books since 1963, and we've still got a 25
percent gap. The evidence is there. We should have been able to
eliminate this problem after 37 years, and we have to do more.
Again, I say -- and I thank, particularly, Representative Morella
for being here, this is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. It's a
family issue and it's an American issue. It's about what kind of
country we want our children to grow up in. I am delighted that these
young women and the soccer team have come here as a team. And it must
be a great thrill for them to see Michelle Akers, and I hope it spurs
them to greater achievement in athletics and in academics. Most of them
won't be professional soccer players. Most of them will be in the work
force.
We do not want them to grow up and have children in a country which
still has not solved this problem. And we can do better. Again I say
that the same rules that apply on the playing field ought to apply in
life. People who work hard and play by the rules ought to be rewarded,
and rewarded in proportion to their contribution, not their gender.
This is a time of enormous promise. As I always say when I urge
greater action to bring economic opportunity to poor areas that have
been left behind, if we can't deal with this issue now, at a time of
unprecedented prosperity, when in the wide world will we ever get around
to dealing with it?
I thank the members of Congress for their commitment. I thank you
for being here. I ask you to help us bear down, and act, now.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END
12:00 P.M. EST
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 10, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON THE EQUAL PAY ACT
Room 450
Old Executive Office Building
3:29 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. We gather
here to recognize and reaffirm the historic commitment of this nation to
equal opportunity.
Before I get into my remarks, I hope you will understand if I don't let
the moment pass without making a brief comment about the shocking and
outrageous murder of James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas. Federal law
enforcement officials are on the ground there, assisting local law
enforcement officials. Because it's an ongoing investigation can't
comment on the facts of the case, but I can tell you this. We are
determined that the investigation will be thorough, will be fair, and
that the guilty will be brought to justice.
I ask for your thoughts and your prayers to be with the family of Mr.
Byrd today, and with the people of that community, because in the face
of this tragedy, they must join together across racial lines to
demonstrate that an act of evil like this is not what this country is
all about. I think we've all been touched by it. I can only imagine
that virtually everyone who lives there is in agony at this moment. But
they must reaffirm -- and so must we -- that we will not tolerate this.
Now, let me just say, I've had a wonderful time here today, and
everything that needs to be said has been said. (Laughter.) I thank
Hillary and Al and Tipper. We care a lot about these issues. We spent
hours in 1992 -- hours -- talking about how we had to change the
framework of American life so that people could succeed at work and at
home; how we had to make it possible for everyone who was able-bodied to
work, but how the most important work of any society was taking good
care of our children. And we went through this whole long litany of
things -- of which unequal pay is clearly a big one -- that are barriers
to building strong families, strong communities, and the strongest
possible economy.
I thank Senator Kennedy, Senator Boxer, and Congresswoman DeLauro, and
Delegate Norton, and all the members of the House who are here -- and my
special friend, Dorothy Height, for a lifetime of commitment to all
this.
I'm here because, like Rosa DeLauro, I'm the son of a working mother, I
had a working grandmother, I have a hard working wife, and we have done
everything we could to make sure that our daughter never faced any
barriers to her dreams. That's what I want for every American young
person.
Although, I must say -- you remember when Senator Kennedy said that he
talked about how much we'd closed the inequality gap in the last three
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or four years and if that pace of progress had been kept for the last 35
years, then women would be earning $1.71 for every dollar of men. And
that's about the ratio of my earnings and Hillary's before I became
President. (Laughter and applause.) And I liked it quite well.
(Laughter.) First thing you know, the people that don't agree with us
on anything will be accusing me of some strategy to make men lazy.
(Laughter.)
We have indeed come a long way since Dorothy Height and
Congresswoman Edna Kelly and others were here 35 years ago. President
Kennedy said that the Equal Pay Act was basic to democracy, giving women
the same rights in the workplace they have enjoyed at the polling place.
You've already heard that we have moved in that 35 years from a period
when, on average, women earned 58 cents for every dollar men earned, to
a report released by the Council of Economic Advisors -- and Dr. Yellen
is here -- saying that women now earn more than 75 cents on the dollar.
But that's just three-quarters of the way home.
And to people who think it isn't very much, I ask you if you had
the choice, would you rather have 100 cents on the dollar or 75, you
would think it was quite a lot after you had taken a few of those
75-cent dollars.
Here's something that's interesting that no one else has pointed
out. The CEA study shows that the gender gap is persistent, though
narrowing, despite women's gains in education and experience, and even
accounting for the difficulties of balancing family and work so that
there are more women in part time jobs. When you take account of every
conceivable variable explainable by something other than plain old
discrimination in equal pay for equal work, there is still this 25
percent gap.
And the Labor Department today -- and I thank Deputy Secretary
Higgins for being here - - is releasing a report which shows a history of
women's employment. It shows what the obstacles were, which ones have
faded away, which ones still remain. To those of you who have been
involved in this for a long time, I urge you to look at the Council of
Economic Advisors report and the Labor Department report, and I think
you will be persuaded that there is no explanation for the gap that is
complete without acknowledging the continued existence of
discrimination.
Now, this should not be a partisan political issue. In a funny
way, is shouldn't even be a gender issue. More fundamentally, it is a
civil rights issue; more fundamentally than that, it is a family issue
-- or I can testify that young boys eat at the table where the bread is
earned by their mothers as well. And it is a matter of American
principle. It's a question of what kind of America we want our children
and our grandchildren to live in in the 21st century.
That's why I strongly support the Equal Pay Act that Senator
Daschle and Congresswoman DeLauro introduced. Wage discrimination based
on gender is just as wrong as wage discrimination based on race or any
other artificial category.
This legislation will help us to close the last part of the gap.
It will strengthen enforcement of the Equal Pay Act. It will toughen
penalties for violations. And it will boost compensation for working
women. It is tough, it is fair. Congress should pass it. And I join
Congresswoman DeLauro in asking that it be scheduled for a vote. Let's
give everybody in Congress the chance to vote on something good and the
chance to do something good for the people back home. (Applause.)
We're coming up on the first anniversary of the President's
Initiative on Race, so I've been thinking a lot about what it means to
2 of 3
9/27/2000 3:58 PM
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2...pdi://oma.cop.gov.us/1998/6/12/5.tex1
have a society with equal opportunity, where people are bound together
celebrating their differences, but understanding there are things we
have in common that are more fundamental.
There have been a lot of people who have written some interesting
books and some that I didn't quite agree with over the last several
years, talking about the inherent differences between men and women --
Venus, Mars, Uranus, Pluto, whatever -- (laughter) -- and others on a
more -- with a more political overtone. But I believe that whatever
your views on that are, surely all of us believe that the citizenship we
share is unitary, and that the guarantees of the Constitution are
sweeping enough to embrace us all without regard to our gender.
Therefore, it is ludicrous to say that 75 percent equality is enough.
You wouldn't tolerate getting to vote in three out of every four
elections. (Laughter.) You wouldn't like it if someone said you could
only pick up three out of every four paychecks. But that is, in effect,
what we have said to the women of America. Show up every month, show up
every day -- show up every day -- but only three out of four paydays.
It's not good enough.
The 21st century, as I have been pounding the podium about for the
last five and a half years, will be the time of greatest opportunity in
all human history, especially for our country. We cannot let it be
known also for the opportunities that were lost and the people who were
left behind. With your help, we will prevail.
Thank you and God bless you. (Applause.)
END
3:37 P.M. EDT
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IV - neadine (avortion and wine House)
United Press International April 7, 2000, Friday
Copyright 2000 U.P.I.
United Press International
April 7, 2000, Friday
SECTION: GENERAL NEWS
LENGTH: 534 words
HEADLINE: White House readies for budget fight over abortion issues
BYLINE: By MARK KUKIS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, April 7
BODY:
President Clinton set the stage for another abortion fight on Capitol Hill Friday with a White
House ceremony for World Health Day promoting the family planning initiatives in the
administration's 2001 budget.
"This week Congress begins debate on a new budget, and we have a new chance to return
America's support for family planning around the world to the level it ought to be," Clinton said,
referring to congressional cuts in U.S. family planning programs abroad in recent years. "I have
made clear at every opportunity that we are ready to fight."
U.S. contributions to international family planning have declined by more than 30 percent since
1995, Secretary of Madeleine Albright said.
In the administration's 2001 budget, Clinton has proposed an increase of $169 million United
States Agency for International Development and $25 million to support the U.N. Population Fund,
with the money earmarked for family planning and reproductive health initiatives opposed by
pro-life advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill.
Stressing familiar arguments in one of foreign policy's oldest debates, Clinton said family planning
and maternal health care was a vital part of fostering economies and societies abroad.
"It allows women and families to make their own choices and plan their own futures," Clinton said
at a White House talk attended by policy supporters from Congress and activists organizations as
well Albright. "If you believe God created women equal, if you believe every society needs women's
contributions to succeed, then you must be in favor of returning decisions on family life to the
hands of women and their families."
Clinton said family planning initiatives could save some 150,000 of the of 600,000 women who die
worldwide every year from pregnancy complications. But pro-life advocates say the Clinton
administration's family planning measures, such as contraceptives and abortion, rob the lives of
unborn children.
"The tragic reality is that the Clinton administration has married the concept of the 'healthy
person' to their fascination with the tools of killing, particularly contraception, abortion and
sterilization," said American Life League president Judie Brown. "Sadly, the population eliminators,
beginning with the Clintons, do not value the dignity of the human being. They prefer to exercise
an excessive abuse of power of the type that manifests itself in the various projects touted during
today's World Health Day event."
Brown said the Clinton administration could better serve poor communities overseas with financial
PHOTOCOPY
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9/26/2000 2:48 PM
Search - 16 Results - headline (abortion and White House)
http://www.lexis.com/research/retr..5=5(0fb6e22ebc64b239e1c87c12c1ae491
support for skill training, parenting education and prenatal care instead of birth control.
New Jersey GOP Rep. Christopher Smith, a long-time opponent of U.S. funds for family planning
programs involving abortion, has fought against the administration's overseas initiatives for years.
An aide said his alternative proposal includes steps to fund family planning efforts as long as
abortion is neither undertaken nor advocated by programs with U.S. funds. Smith himself could not
be reached for further comment late Friday, and aides familiar with his policy did not return
repeated calls for explanation.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: April 8, 2000
Source: All Sources : / /: News Group File, All
i
Terms: headline (abortion and white house) and date geq (09/26/1999) (Edit Search)
View: Full
Date/Time: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 2:48 PM EDT
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PHOTOCOPY
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4
001
VIDEO PROPOSAL
Date: Sept. 26, 2000
ACCEPT
REGRET
PENDING
TO:
Stephanie Streett
FROM:
Mary Beth Cahill
Lauren Supina
REQUEST:
For the President to videotape a greeting for the National
Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League's
(NARAL) Choice 2000 fundraiser to celebrate the opening
of the Supreme Court.
PURPOSE:
* To wish NARAL a successful fundraising event to
celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court;
* To thank NARAL and their supporters for their "fight"
to protect and promote reproductive freedom and choice;
and
*
To especially thank Kate Michelman, NARAL
President, for her continued leadership and her courageous
defense of reproductive freedom and choice.
BACKGROUND:
The video will be introduced by Kate Michelman, NARAL
President, at the top of their cocktail reception to celebrate
the opening of the Supreme Court. The event will be
attended by 500+ celebrities and distinguished guests,
including event co-chairs and key supporters Barbra
Streisand, Laura Dern, Christine Lahti, Ed Harris and Amy
Madigan, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, at the
home of Diane Lander-Simon in Beverly Hills, CA.
This will be the first time the President has had a
"presence" at a NARAL event. He was personally
requested to attend this event by Ms. Michelman, but was
unable to accept (see the President's note attached). The
Vice President, First Lady and Mrs. Gore have all appeared
at various fundraisers for and meetings with NARAL over
the last few years.
For more than a decade NARAL has worked at the grass-
roots level during election years, and this year they plan to
reach over 2 million swing voters and as many pro-choice
Americans as possible.
NARAL, formerly NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
THE REPEAL OF ABORTION LAWS (1969-73), was
founded in 1969 to centralize state abortion-rights efforts
09/27/00 WED 13:54 FAX
X
002
and continuing its mission thereafter to protect and promote
reproductive freedom. The organization consists of three
related entities: NARAL Inc., a nonprofit organization that
focuses on defending abortion rights and on making
abortions less necessary; NARAL-PAC, a registered
political action committee that backs pro-choice political
candidates; and the NARAL Foundation, a charitable
organization devoted to educating the public about
reproductive rights.
An early form of the organization was established in 1969,
when a group of abortions-rights activists--including Betty
Friedan-founded the National Association for the Repeal
of Abortion Laws. The goal of the organization was to
consolidate and strengthen the efforts of state abortions-
rights groups under the aegis of the first national pro-choice
organization. In its early years the organization orchestrated
lobbying efforts in states and organized grassroots
demonstrations. In 1973, with the Roe V. Wade ruling
securing women's right to have abortions, the organization
adopted its current name and concentrated on identifying
allies in the federal government.
NARAL-PAC ranks as one of the wealthiest single-issue
political action committees and has been credited with
supplying crucial support for close races. NARAL is also
noted for its highly effective media campaigns. In 1991, the
NARAL Foundation unveiled a new campaign to take some
of the focus off abortion and emphasize the necessity of
keeping available a full range of reproductive health
services.
SOURCE OF PAYMENT:
NARAL.
VIDEO NEEDED:
Friday, September 29, 2000.
DATE AIRING/ SHOWING:
Monday, October 2, 2000; 6:30 PM (PST).
DURATION:
2 minutes.
SCRIPT ATTACHED:
Yes.
STAFF CONTACT:
Sondra Seba, ph. 6-7310.
ORIGIN OF PROPOSAL:
Letter from Kate Michelman, NARAL President (attached).
09/27/00 WED 13:55 FAX
4.
003
NARAL
Suggested Text for Video
September 26, 2000
For eight years, I have been proud to join hands with NARAL to protect a basic
American right: a woman's freedom to choose.
This freedom is more than just a policy. It is a promise -- one bound up in the
idea of America itself.
But this November 7, everything we have fought together to protect- everything
we have worked together to achieve - is at risk.
Because this election could lead to the repeal of Roe v. Wade and an end to legal
abortion in America.
One of the most important and most lasting powers of the president is the
appointment of Supreme Court Justices. Twice I have used this power to appoint justices
who believe a woman's right to choose is fundamental to America's promise. But if I
must hand that power over to an anti-choice President, he may have the opportunity to
appoint the two justices whose votes are all it takes to repeal Roe V. Wade.
With an anti-choice Congress there have been dozens of times I have used the
power of my office to veto bills that would restrict a woman's right to choose. But if an
anti-choice President succeeds me, he will sign those bills into law.
So much more than policy is at stake. A promise may be broken.
Al Gore is committed to that promise. He has stood proudly with me -- with you -
- with millions of American women - for a woman's right to choose.
But he cannot win alone. And neither can NARAL. And that is why we need and
appreciate your help.
In these final weeks of the campaign, NARAL has launched its most aggressive
effort ever to reach pro-choice Americans. The more than two million voters NARAL is
mobilizing in 15 battleground states is enough to make the difference for the presidency
and for the Congress.
So I want to thank you for your support -- but even more important, I need you to
do one more thing - put on your comfortable shoes
Knock on your neighbors' doors. Tell them about the value we share, and urge
them to tell their friends in turn. Contribute more if you can, call everyone you know in
09/27/00 WED 13:55 FAX
004
those target states - you all know what needs to be done.
Because this election will be won voter by voter - neighborhood by
neighborhood- - precinct by precinct - state by state.
The stakes are high. The risk is real. Two more anti-choice justices and Roe
could be lost. So keep up your good work and keep America's promise for America's
women.
Thanks again for everything.
09/27/00 WED 13:55 FAX
005
09/25/00 MUN 22:28 FAA
001
knowledge 155tmite
MEMORANDUM
wants wee the cown to
9-18-00
TO:
The President
in LiH. at Drew Swiris
FROM:
Betty
RE:
home 10/2- (Hsual
Items of Interest
to been
copied
Ricchett
Streett
Kate Michelman called - Personal - a NARAL idea which would involve you.
Podesta
202-973-3001 0
202-543-5178 n
202-288-8189
9/74
12:05
wants me to come to
11:45AM
NARALI save the Supreme cart
E
Event in LA at Diane simons
1m
home 1012 - Its real important
to her. -
KaTina Rannell
BC
(202) (202)973-3007
D67311
09/27/00
WED 13:55 FAX
006
09/25/00 MON 22:28 FAX
SEP-15-2000 FRI 03:26 PM NARAL
FAX NO. 2029733099
002
r.
02
Video?
Kate Micholman
President
September 15, 2000
President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Northwest Gate
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Many thanks for returning my call. I appreciate the thoughtfulness and
expression of friendship it represents.
1 do hope it is possible for you to join me in Los Angeles on October 2 at
Diane's. It would be a thrill for me personally to honor your work on behalf of
women during your Presidency, particularly your principled and courageous
defense of reproductive freedom and choice. And of course, with the
Supreme Court opening it is the perfect peg.
Mr. President, we have never done an event together. It would mean a great
deal to NARAL and to me personally to honor and celebrate your extraordinary
commitment to protecting women's rights and advancing the status of women.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Warmly,
Kate
you areterrific will
National Abonton
Kate Michelman
Hope wark This
and Repraductive Righ
Action League
Attachment
Promoting
Repruductive
Choices
Carrie- pls- (Gll to
NARAL
1156 15th Street NV.
Suito 700
degret
washingcon. DC ZOO
12021 973-9003
1
09/27/00
WED
13:56
FAX
007
09/25/00 MON 22:28 FAX
SEP-15-2000 FRI 03:27 PM NARAL
FAX NO. 2029733099
2003
P. U3
NARAL
Choice 2000 Los Angeles Event
The Los Angeles Choice 2000 event will celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court.
This will be NARAL's major Las Angeles event before the November elections.
Date - Monday, October 2, 2000
Location - the home of Diane Lander-Simon
623 N. Oakhurst Drive
Beverly Hills, CA
Time - 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Expected Attendance - 500+ guests
Guests include NARAL major donors and supporters, celebrities, elected officials
and candidates
Event type - Cocktall reception targeting $5,000 - $250 level donors
Event co-chairs and key supporters include:
Potus neir
Meredith Baxter
Christine Lahti
Dr. Marjorie Braude
Diane Lander-Simon
Katie Buckland
The Honorable Mel Levine
you hand 86/15
Linda Burrows
Amy Madigan and Ed Harris
Barbara Corday
Ann L. Nickoll
Hollace Davids
Sandi Nimoy
Laura Dern
Jennifer Perry
Kate Edelman-Johnson
Michele Singer Reiner
Nan Eisley-Bennett
and Rob Reiner
ve ARC into
Dlane English
The Honorable Vicki Reynolds
Kathy Garmezy
Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum
Richard Gladstein
Susan Shilliday
Katharine Hepburn
Mike and Corky Hale Stoller
Anita Hirsh
Barbra Streisand
Rus,
Ruth Hunter
Margery Tabankin
The Honorable Richard Katz
Heather Thomas
and Gini Barrett
Hope Warschaw
Cindra and Alan Ladd
NARAL: About Us
http://www.naral.org/about/index.html
HOME
SUPPORT NARAL
FEEDBACK
SEARCH
JOIN CAN
SITEINDEX
ABOUT Us
NARAL
Reproductive Freedom & Choice
As essential to American freedom as our right to think, vote,
worship, work and marry, is our right to make decisions about our
own bodies. This very basic and necessary right to choose means
having access to safe and legal abortion, effective contraceptive
options, and quality reproductive health care. But unlike the other
rights we expect as Americans, this is not one we can take for
granted.
Despite Roe V. Wade, access to abortion is increasingly tenuous.
Over the last decade, the Supreme Court has granted states more
CONTACT INFORMATION
power to place restrictions on the procedure -- for example,
requiring waiting periods and counseling for women seeking
abortions. What's more, legislation passed by Congress does npt
WELCOME FROM
allow federal funding to provide abortions for the following: poor
KATE MICHELMAN
women enrolled in Medicaid, Peace Corps volunteers, Native
American women covered by the Indian Health Service, women in
federal prison, women in the military, and the 1.2 million federal
employees.
MISSION
And while the House and Senate continue to make obtaining a
legal abortion more difficult, if not impossible, legally a nationwide
campaign of violence, vandalism, anti-choice rhetoric and
threatening Internet "hit lists" has resulted in a dwindling number of
doctors willing or trained to perform abortions.
The fact is, the need for abortion will never go away until we, as a
country, can achieve two of NARAL's goals: better access to more
effective contraceptive options and better access to other kinds of
reproductive health care and information.
Our goal at NARAL is to help find sane, workable answers that will
ultimately reduce the need for abortions. Ignoring the problems
regarding contraception, reproductive health care and sex
education while ripping away a woman's right to choose whether or
not to continue a pregnancy will only result in more unintended
pregnancies and more abortions. This shortsighted approach is
neither American nor life affirming.
Until we achieve our goal, it is critical that those who value the
freedom and independence we enjoy in this country work hard now
to protect a woman's right to choose. For that basic American right
is seriously at risk.
1 of l
9/26/2000 1:11 PM
NARAL: About Us: Welcome From Kate Michelman
http://www.naral.org/about/welcome.html
HOME
SUPPORT NARAL
FEEDBACK
SEARCH
JOIN CAN
SITE INDEX
ABOUT Us
NARAL
Representative Previom & Chose
Welcome from Kate Michelman
Welcome to www.naral.org! NARAL is the political arm of the
pro-choice movement and a strong advocate of reproductive
freedom and choice. NARAL's mission is to protect and preserve
the right to choose while promoting policies and programs, that
improve women's health and make abortion less necessary. Our
website is just one way NARAL reaches out to pro-choice
Americans across the country with vital information about
reproductive choice and reproductive health issues and we
CONTACT INFORMATION
welcome you.
NARAL's site contains the most comprehensive array of
WELCOME FROM
information about reproductive rights and health issues on the
KATE MICHELMAN
Internet. While you're here, be sure to take a minute and join our
E-News List or Choice Action Network to receive updates on
reproductive rights issues. Click on our In Your State section to
MISSION
find the current status of abortion, reproductive rights, and
sexuality education laws in your state and local ways to get
involved with the choice issue. And take a look at our Act Now
section where we make it easy to contact your member of
Congress or state representative to make your voice heard in
important policy debates.
Our site is also the place to go for information on the 2000
elections. Check out NARAL's Choice 2000 section throughout the
campaign for information on candidates for every office, from the
Presidency on down to your local state representatives. And if you
are a member of the media, visit NARAL's Media Resources
section for a complete listing of all recent NARAL press releases
and other publications.
And should you decide you want to support our cause along the
way, just click on the Support NARAL button on any page for
information on becoming a NARAL member or donor.
Feel free to visit our site often. The freedom to choose is at a
critical crossroads. Down one road lies an America where women
have no access to legal abortion and no right to choose. Down the
other lies an America where women have the right to make their
own reproductive health decisions and those decisions are
respected. Pro-choice Americans must arm themselves with
information and unite as never before to set America on the right
path.
Sincerely,
Kate Michelman
NARAL President
Back to About Us
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
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NARAL: NARAL Resources: Press Releases
http://www.naral.org/mediaresources/press/pr081500_statement.html
HOME
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FEEDBACK
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NARAL RESOURCES
NARAL
Repreventative Providem & Chann
Kate Michelman, President of NARAL
Speech to the Democratic National Convention
Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
I'm very proud, very honored to stand here as the mother of three
daughters, a grandmother of five, as a person who has worked with
children with developmental disabilities. And for 20 years, I've been
FACT SHEETS
an advocate for reproductive freedom and choice.
I am one woman who felt the indignity of an abortion at a time when
PRESS RELEASES
the state controlled our reproductive choices. But I am not alone.
America's promise has been a long time in coming to all Americans.
Women entered the last century unable to vote. Some were
PUBLICATIONS
confined to the back of buses. Most bore the responsibilities of
family life without birth control.
NARAL AFFILIATES
Step by steady step, American heroes like Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger and Rosa Parks won
those freedoms.
The freedom to choose - and the movement to protect it - are the
daughters of those revolutions. This freedom is just as fundamental
as the rights to speak, worship, and vote.
A woman's right to choo: took an entire century to win. But could
be lost in only one day
lection Day. That's why we must elec AI
Gore and Joe Liebe nan President and Vice President of the
United States.
On politics and policy, sincere people will disagree. But to I millions
of Americans who believe in a woman's right to choose - those
who belong to different parties or to no party - whether you are
active, apathetic, or just distracted - something much larger is at
stake.
A fundamental value at America's heart .S threatened. And we must
rise above the daily differences of politics to protect this American
freedom together.
Barely a quarter of a century ago, Roe V. Wade placed a woman
right to choose where it belongs - in the sacred constellation of
Constitutional freedoms. But today, that freedom hangs in the
balance of a very very closely divided court.
With the appointment of just two justices hostile to Roe V. Wade,
the freedom to choose will be lost.
One election is all it takes. It is that simple. This election is that
serious. If he has the opportunity, George W. Bush will appoint
enough Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe V. Wade and end
legal abortion.
At every opportunity, Governor Bush has made clear his intent to
restrict a woman's right to choose. He is one of the nation's most
anti-choice governors. He won his party's nomination on an
anti-choice platform.
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NARAL: NARAL Resources: Press Releases
http://www.naral.org/mediaresources/press/pr081500_statement.lhtml
And amazingly, Governor Bush has found a running mate even
more anti-choice than he is. That takes some doing.
This election is not simply a contest of views, but of values - the
value we put on a woman's life, the value we place on her choice to
bear a child, the value we place in raising that child.
Al Gore and Joe Lieberman - men of leadership and faith - are
pro-choice. They understand that the freedom to choose is
fundamental to the dignity and equality of women and to the health
of their families.
Al Gore and Joe Lieberman will protect a woman's right to choose
- because they see women as full partners in the American
promise.
That promise - and America's values - have been based on a
very powerful question.
Who decides?
Who should make decisions about pregnancy, about abortion,
about childbearing - women - or the government and politicians?
Because I am a woman - because I am a mother and grandmother
- because I am an American - and because I believe in the
promise of this nation - I believe women must have the right to
choose.
And so do Al Gore and Joe Lieberman.
No matter your party, no matter your politics, if you are pro-choice,
then vote your values, vote our freedoms, vote pro-choice, vote for
Al Gore and Joe Lieberman to be the next President and Vice
President of the United States.
Contact: Julie Piscitelli or William Lutz at (202) 973-3032.
Back to NARAL Resources
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
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NARAL: About Us: Mission
http://www.naral.org/about/mission.htm.
HOME
SUPPORT NARAL
FEEDBACK
SEARCH
JOIN CAN
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ABOUT Us
NARAL
Representive Providem & Choice
The NARAL Mission
For over thirty years, NARAL has been the political arm of the
pro-choice movement and a strong advocate of reproductive
freedom and choice NARAL's mission is to protect and preserve
the right to choose while promoting policies and programs that
improve women's health and make abortion less necessary.
NARAL works to educate Americans and officeholders about
reproductive rights and health issues and elect pro-choice
candidates at all levels of government.
CONTACT INFORMATION
When women were dying from back-alley abortions, NARAL fought
and mobilized our grassroots to build broad-based support for the
WELCOME FROM
right to safe, legal abortion.
KATE MICHELMAN
When women were in danger of losing that right, NARAL activated
America's pro-choice majority, championed reproductive freedom
MISSION
in the courts and advocated access to family planning and abortion
services in Congress and the statehouses.
When the opponents of choice stepped up their attacks on the
freedom to choose, NARAL refocused the discussion from whether
abortion was a choice between "right and wrong" to one of "who
makes the decision?" -- government and politicians or women.
Through its "Silent No More" campaign, NARAL featured women
telling their own compelling stories about the decisions they made
when faced with unintended pregnancies.
Now, along with defending and securing a woman's freedom to
choose, NARAL is leading the way to make abortion less
necessary, fighting for policies and programs that enable women
and men to make responsible and informed decisions about
sexuality, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth and abortion.
NARAL's Work Is Divided Among Three Organizations
NARAL, Inc., a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, works through
the political and legislative systems to advocate for comprehensive
reproductive health policies and to secure reproductive choice for
all Americans. NARAL defends the right to choose and works to
make abortion less necessary. Using sophisticated political
strategies, extensive grassroots organizing, and effective lobbying
efforts, NARAL has fought and won numerous pro-choice victories
in its 30-year history.
NARAL-PAC, a political action committee, is the driving force
behind the election of many pro-choice candidates. NARAL-PAC
mounts multi-faceted campaigns, including paid advertising and
effective get-out-the-vote election day efforts, to elect pro-choice
candidates and defeat anti-choice candidates. NARAL-PAC's
financial contributions and political advice and services provide a
critical edge to pro-choice candidates across the country.
The NARAL Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
founded in 1977, performs in-depth research and legal work,
publishes substantive policy reports, mounts public education
campaigns, and provides leadership training for grassroots
activists across the nation.
Fortune Magazine has described NARAL as "one of the top 10
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http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-rcs/12..pdi:/oma.eop.gov.us/999/126/I5.texl
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 6, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT HUMAN RIGHTS DAY/ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AWARD CEREMONY
Presidential Hall
2:17 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Belquis. Congressmen
Gilman, Lewis, Jackson Lee; Reverend and Mrs. Jackson; Deputy Attorney
General Holder; Harold Koh, Bob Seiple, Julia Taft, Hattie Babbitt;
Bette Bao Lord, thank you for coming back.
Ladies and gentlemen, I need, before I begin, because this is
my only opportunity before the press today just to say a brief word
about this school shooting this morning in Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Fire Arms are on the scene now working with the local authorities. I
expect to get a detailed briefing shortly. Meanwhile, our prayers are
with each of the children and their families, and the entire Ft. Gibson
community is. Right now there are no fatalities, only people who are
wounded, and we hope and pray it will stay that way.
It occurs to me that at some point tonight someone will be
doing what some of us -- Hillary says it's mostly a male thing --
somebody will be channel-surfing tonight. (Laughter.) And they will
just come upon Belquis speaking. And they may stop and listen or they
may not. They may know what the Taliban is, or they may not. But I
wonder if, even someone who hears her, will recognize that in nearly
half the world today, in spite of the fact that for the first time in
history more than half the people of the world live under governments of
their own choosing in nearly half the world, doing what Belquis just did
-- simply standing up and speaking freely could get her arrested,
jailed, beaten, even tortured. That's why we're here today.
I wonder if someone who just happened along her remarks
tonight would understand that until people like Eleanor Roosevelt came
along, the rest of the world didn't even recognize that the right to
speak out is more than something enshrined in the American Constitution.
It is truly an international human right.
Sometimes we forget how long it took the world to agree on a
common definition, a universal declaration of what freedom actually
means. Half a century ago the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
said it in very simple words: "All human beings are free and equal in
dignity and human rights. All have the right to life, liberty and
security. All are endowed with reason and conscience. All have the
right to a standard of living adequate to health and well-being.
The real genius of the Declaration of Human Rights is that it
affirmed that basic human rights are not cultural, but universal; that
what a country does to people within its own borders is not its business
alone, but the business of all of us. We in the United States know how
hard it is to achieve the aspirations of that declaration. We've been
living with it since our founders, and living with our flaws in failing
to meet up to its standards.
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One hundred years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt was a 15-year-old
girl, growing up in a country where women could not vote. Half a
century ago, if the standards of the Universal Declaration were held up
to segregated schools and lunch counters in the United States, we would
have failed the test resoundingly.
This century has taught us that even though human rights are
endowed by the hand of our Creator, they are ensured by the hearts and
hands of men and women among us who cannot bear to see it otherwise.
Inch by inch, such people have moved the world forward. Today, we honor
five brave Americans whose lives have made a difference -- and we ask
that all of us remember, in their triumphs, the struggles of people like
Belquis; the continuing tensions in Africa; the continuing tensions in
the Balkans; and elsewhere in the world where human rights are not yet
secure.
It is said that when Burke Marshall first me Robert Kennedy,
they sat across a table for 10 minutes and didn't say a single word.
Those of us who had Burke Marshall in law school can believe that story.
(Laughter.) Perhaps now, he will tell us who spoke first. But from
that silent moment sprang a truly extraordinary partnership.
As Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in
the Kennedy administration, Burke Marshall was a bridge between
government and those activists fighting every day to end Jim Crow.
Congressman John Lewis, who received this award last year, once recalled
that whenever Martin Luther King or James Farmer needs to talk to
somebody in Washington -- needed to talk to someone in Washington, they
would simply say, "call Burke.'
His work was crucial to passing the Civil Rights Act and the
Voting Rights Act. After he had helped shape a new America, he later
worked equally hard to shape young minds at Yale Law School.
I made a joke about Hillary and I being students. But I can
tell you, I never will forget the first time I saw him. And I imagined
how this man of slight stature and such a modest demeanor could almost
shake with his passion for justice. It was quite something to see for
the first time, and we are all in his debt. (Applause.)
When Leon Sullivan was eight years old, he walked into a
grocery store, slapped a nickel on the counter and said, "I want a
Coke." The place, being in segregated South Carolina, the shopkeeper
threw him out. That moment was the beginning of his life's work. The
pastor of two churches by the time he was at the ripe old age of 17,
Reverend Sullivan went on to write "The Sullivan Principles,' which
called upon companies all around the world to act in a socially
responsible manner. By compelling dozens of businesses to desegregate
their plants in South Africa, his work helped to pull down apartheid.
Today, as the author of the new Global Sullivan Principle,
Leon Sullivan is still changing the world. He's too big for anyone to
deny him a Coke, but he has helped to win that right for millions of
others who aren't SO large.
Reverend Sullivan, thank you for keeping your eyes on the
prize for nearly 80 years now. Thank you. (Applause.)
For those of you who wonder from time to time about whether
there really could be a divine plan guiding our lives, consider this:
In Spanish, the name, Dolores Huerta means "sorrowful orchard." But if
Dolores has her way, her name will be the only sorrowful orchard left in
America. (Applause.)
She began her career teaching young migrant children, but
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couldn't stand seeing them come to class hungry. So, in 1962, she and
Cesar Chavez co-founded of the United Farm Workers. While Cesar Chavez
worked the fields, she worked the boardrooms and the statehouses,
negotiating contracts and fighting for laws that lifted the lives of
thousands and thousands of Americans. In the process, she found time to
raise 11 children.
Dolores, we thank you for all you have done and all you still
do to promote the dignity and human rights of your family and America's
family. Thank you. (Applause.)
It is no accident that when America opened its arms to Kosovar
Albanians early this year, one of the first calls that went out was to a
Dominican nun in the Fordham section of the Bronx. Scripture tells us
that "if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungary and satisfy the
needs of the oppressed, then your life will rise in the darkness and
your night will become like noonday.' If that is true, there are few
people who live their lives in more sunshine than Sister Jean Marshall.
Disturbed by the sight of refugee families picking up garbage
off the street to feed their children. In 1983, Sister Jean founded St.
Rita's Center for Immigrant and Refugee Services. In the days since, it
has helped thousands of refugees, from Vietnam to Cambodia to Bosnia, to
find jobs, learn English, live better lives.
Sister Jean, we thank you for all you are doing to make our
democracy real and dreams come true for thousands who flee human rights
abuses and come here expecting the Statue of Liberty to live up to her
promise. (Applause.)
Lastly, there are few people who have done more to directly
build on Eleanor Roosevelt's work on women's rights around the world
than Charlotte Bunch. Gloria Steinem once observed that for every
question that comes up regarding women's rights, sooner or later someone
asks, what does Charlotte think? (Laughter.)
As the founder of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at
Rutgers University, she has worked to build a worldwide network of
activists. As a result, when the World Conference on Human Rights was
held in Vienna in 1993, for the first time there was a network in place
to raise international awareness of issues like violence against women
and gay and lesbian issues. And for the first time, the U.N.
acknowledged that women's rights are human rights.
Today, I think the best way to thank Charlotte Bunch is for
the Senate to finally ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women. (Applause.) Thank you.
We honor these five Americans today with the thanks of a
grateful nation. But let me say again, to echo what Hillary said
earlier, if we truly want to honor their work, we must stay committed in
the places where the glory has not come and continue to speak out for
human rights around the world, from Burma to Cuba to Sudan, from Serbia
to North Korea and Vietnam. We must do so because it's the right thing
to do and the surest path to a world that is safe, democratic and free.
In Afghanistan, we have strongly condemned the Taliban's
despicable treatment of women and girls. We have worked with the United
Nations to impose sanctions against that Taliban, while ensuring that
the Afghan people continue to receive humanitarian assistance. We are
Afghanistan's strongest critic, but also its largest humanitarian donor.
And today we take another step forward. I am pleased to
announce that we will spend, next year, at least $2 million to educate
and improve the health of Afghan women and children refugees. We are
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also making an additional $1.5 million available in emergency aid for
those displaced by the recent Taliban offensive. And we're dramatically
expanding our resettlement program for women and children who are not
safe where they are. (Applause.)
But, as Belquis said, these are but temporary solutions. The
Taliban must stop violating the rights of women, and respect the human
rights of all people. And we must continue to work until the day when
Afghanistan has a government that reflects the wisdom of its people.
The whole world is also concerned about the plight of innocent
people in Chechnya. Two weeks ago, at the OSCE Summit in Turkey, I
raised the issue directly with President Yeltsin. The people of
Chechnya are in a terrible position -- beleaguered by paramilitary
groups and terrorists, on the one hand, and the Russian offensive on the
other. I made clear that Russia's fight against terrorism is right, but
the methods being used in Chechnya are wrong.
And I am convinced they are counterproductive. We've seen
rocket and artillery attacks on largely civilian areas, with heavy
losses of life and at least 200,000 people pushed from their homes. I'm
deeply disturbed by reports that suggest that innocent Chechens will
continue to bear the brunt of this war, and not the militants Russia is
fighting.
Russia has set a deadline for all inhabitants, now, to leave
Grozny or face the consequences. That means that there is a threat to
the lives of the old, the infirm, the injured people and other innocent
civilians who simply cannot leave, or are too scared to leave their
homes. Russia will pay a heavy price for those actions with each
passing day, sinking deeply into a morass that will intensify extremism
and diminish its own standing in the world.
Another country about which we must continue to express
concern is China. China is progressing and opening to the world in many
ways that are welcome, including its entry into the WTO. Yet its
progress is still being held back by the government's response to those
who test the limits of freedom. A troubling example, of course, is the
detention by Chinese authorities, of adherents of the Falun Gong
movement.
Its targets are not political dissidents, and their practices
and beliefs are unfamiliar to us. But the principle still, surely, must
be the same: freedom of conscience, and freedom of association. And
our interest, surely, must be the same: seeing China maintain stability
and growth at home by meeting, not stifling, the growing demands of its
people for openness and accountability.
For all these challenges, we have to say that we enter the new
millennium more hopeful than we have been at any time in the past
century. The second half of this century began with delegates from 18
nations, including the United States, coming together to write the
Universal Declaration. The century ends with 18 nations having come
together with the United States to reaffirm those basic rights in Kosovo
with progress from Indonesia and East Timor to Nigeria.
Now, as I've said, more than half the world's people live
under governments of their own choosing. Shortly before the Congress
went home, the United States Senate unanimously ratified the
International Convention against Child Labor, and I became the third
head of state to sign the convention. We are moving, but we have much
to do as we enter a new century. And again I would say to my fellow
Americans, we all know that our efforts have to begin at home.
On the 10th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
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Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated a book called "In Your Hands. 11 On
that day she said -- and I quote "Human rights begin in small places
close to home. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little
meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close
to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."
Today we honor that message by honoring five people whose work
close to home has made the whole world a better place. May their work
continue to inspire us all for generations yet to come.
Lieutenant Colonel, read the citations.
(The citations are read.) (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for coming. Thank you for
honoring these great people. Thank you for reminding us of all the
important work still to be done, Belquis. We're adjourned. (Applause.)
END
2:42 P.M. EST
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
July 27, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE FIRST LADY
ON WOMEN AND MEDICARE
Presidential Hall
10:24 A.M. EDT
MRS. CLINTON: Thank you very much. And I want to thank
Secretary Shalala, who has been a strong voice and strong force on
behalf of issues that affect how we live and what kind of country we
are.
I want to thank all of you for being here, as we come together
to talk about one of most important challenges our nation faces today
saving and preserving Medicare. I want to acknowledge the many people
here who have done so much over the years to help us meet our
obligations to each other and to the next generation -- members of the
Older Women's League, the American Association of University Women, and
those of you who represent women's and seniors' groups and Medicare
advocates from one end of our country to the other.
We've come here today because our nation is engaged in a
critical debate about America's future. We're living in a time of great
prosperity and blessings, and of almost unparalleled opportunities for
progress for all of our citizens. And we should all take pride in what
we have been able to accomplish together over the last six and a half
years. But the question before us now is how do we take advantage of
this historic opportunity to take on some of the tough challenges our
nation faces? How do we strengthen, rather than weaken, our fundamental
commitments not only to our parents and our grandparents, but to future
generations as well?
And that brings me to an issue that touches all of us, the
urgent need to protect and preserve Medicare. Unless we act now,
current projections say the Medicare trust fund will be insolvent in the
year 2015, which is not very long at all. While this is a major concern
for all of us, we're here today to spotlight those who have the greatest
stake in a strong and healthy Medicare program, and that is America's
women.
As the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation and OWL have reminded us
again and again, women simply live longer than men. Now, we hope that
is one gender gap that will eventually be closed, but it is the fact.
And it is the fact as we project out into the 21st century. Now, that
means we have more years to cherish our mothers and our grandmothers,
but it also means that they and we are more likely to suffer from
multiple and chronic illnesses and have greater long-term care needs.
Four out of five of America's elderly women are widowed and almost half
live out their days alone. And, not surprisingly, elderly women are
much more likely to be poor. Nearly 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries
living in poverty are women.
For all these reasons, supported by new data that the
President will talk about in a few minutes, women rely more on Medicare
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than men and are, therefore, more vulnerable to changes in Medicare
policies.
Over the past six and a half years, and as recently as a few
weeks ago, I've spoken with women around the country about their
concerns about the future: Women living alone who worry about who's
going to care for them when they can no longer live independently; women
with limited incomes who are struggling to pay for their prescription
drugs, who don't think they can afford to get regular check-ups or get
screening tests for osteoporosis, or breast cancer; women who, in their
60s and their 70s, are taking care of their aging or disabled parents,
and who rely on Medicare to help them meet their family
responsibilities.
I'm sure each of us here today has a story to tell. And we
have with us just one example of a devoted daughter: Mary Lee
DiSpirito, whose mother came to live with her in Virginia after her
father died. As her mother became increasingly frail, Mary Lee had to
stop working to care for her mother full-time. Like so many elderly
women today, Mary Lee's mother suffered from multiple health problems.
And while she had Medicare, and even a Medigap policy, it did not cover
prescription drugs.
Because her mother's sole source of income was a monthly $800
Social Security check, Mary Lee and her family paid $4,500 a year in
out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs an amount that would
have -- if her mother had been alone, without a devoted daughter and
family -- would have depleted half of her mother's yearly income. Mary
Lee's mother passed away last November. But her valiant efforts to care
for her mother, often under very difficult circumstances, are a vivid
reminder of why we must act now to protect and preserve Medicare. I'd
like to ask Mary Lee to stand up, because she is emblematic, and
symbolic, of women throughout our country. (Applause.)
We owe Mary Lee and all of us the commitment that goes not
only to our parents and our grandparents, but to those of us in this
generation who are the caretakers who will soon begin to age, may become
disabled or chronically ill ourselves. And we owe it to our children
and eventually our children's children because if we don't invest in
our nation's priorities and dedicate the necessary funds to save and
modernize Medicare, countless women, like Mary Lee and all of us, and
her mother and ours, will be at even greater risk than they are today.
If we don't save and modernize Medicare, then women will
continue to struggle to pay for out-patient prescription drugs, and the
problem will only get worse as medical advances increasingly rely on
drug treatments that even today are beyond the means of most ordinary
citizens. If we don't save and modernize Medicare, then women will
continue to skip regular screenings and check-ups that would enhance the
quality of their lives and reduce Medicare's long-term costs.
And perhaps most importantly, if we don't take advantage of
this time of prosperity that we have worked so hard to achieve, then we
will look back at our generation as having missed a unique opportunity
to make responsible decisions and we will instead have run the risk of
becoming a great burden to our own children that none of us ever wanted
to be.
That's why I believe that to meet these critical challenges we
must take a responsible and balanced approach to tax cuts. Only then
will we be able to meet our obligations to America's elderly and
disabled, and extend the life of the trust fund for the next quarter
century. Only then will we be able to modernize the benefit package to
include prescription drugs and preventive care, and support the teaching
hospitals that are so critical to serving America's poor and elderly.
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And only then will we be able to sustain and expand the investments we
are making now in our schools, in our environment, in our cities and our
country that are so critical to our future prosperity.
So, as we continue to debate these critical issues, not only
in the halls of Congress, but around our kitchen tables -- let's not
forget the human dimension of what we stand for and we fight for, and
what we are seeking to protect and support. Sometimes these debates
have a way of making our eyes glaze over as hundreds of billions of
dollars are talked about. So let's remember to keep a human face on
this debate. (Applause.)
And I want to introduce someone who will add to our
understanding and make sure we keep that human dimension, just as Mary
Lee has, someone who knows firsthand the challenges of caring for an
aging mother at a time when her own daughter had not even yet left home.
She knows what's at stake for women in this debate over the future of
Medicare. She also represents millions of women who would benefit if we
act now to strengthen and modernize Medicare. So it is my great
pleasure to introduce Judith Cato. (Applause.)
*****
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I must say that Judith did such a good
job, there's hardly anything left to say. (Laughter.) Thank you very
much for being here, and we welcome your daughter here.
I want to thank Secretary Shalala, and acknowledge the
presence in the audience of Deborah Briceland Betts, the Executive
Director of the Older Women's League; the people here from the Henry
Kaiser Family Foundation, and the other representatives of women's
groups, senior women's groups, and Medicare advocates. Hillary and
Secretary Shalala and I are delighted to welcome you to the White House
today, and we thank you for your interest in this critical issue.
We are here to discuss what I have repeatedly called a
high-class problem: the American people are living longer, especially
women. And it is a high-class problem because we have this surplus
today, and a projected surplus for several years into the future, which
will enable us to deal with the challenge of people living longer and
spending more money on Medicare, and then the retirement of the baby
boomers, which will put additional pressure on Medicare and on Social
Security.
It is a high-class problem, but we don't want it to turn into
a nightmare because we walked away from it when we could have dealt with
it and we had the money to deal with it -- when we had the time to deal
with it, and we knew good and well we ought to deal with it. So, again
I say I thank you for being here, and I hope today we can get out some
information which will persuade the American people and members of the
Congress that the approach I have recommended for the future is the
right one.
For 34 years now, Medicare has protected the health of our
seniors it has enriched the lives of the disabled, it has eased the
financial burdens on families as they cared for their loved ones. For
millions of American women, in particular, Medicare has been the
lifeline to a dignified retirement.
As the report released today by the Older Women's League so
clearly tells us, a strong and modern Medicare system is absolutely
vital to the health and future of America's women. First it is critical
because the majority of beneficiaries quite simply are women. Listen to
this: 20 of the 34 million Americans currently enrolled in Medicare are
women. I think we've got a chart that says that. But look here: 41
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million -- 41 percent of the people in this country on Medicare over 65
are men; 59 percent are women.
And, of course, as time goes one, the percentages get better
or worse, depending on the perspective. (Laughter.) Twenty-nine
percent of the people over 85 are men, 71 percent are women; 17 percent
of people over 100 are men, 83 percent are women. You may think those
numbers are insubstantial, but Americans over 80 are the fastest growing
population group in the United States, and I'm sure that most of us hope
to be among them some day. So this is very important.
Second, without Medicare the doors to hospitals and doctor's
offices to basic medical treatment and good health would actually be
closed to millions of older women. Throughout their lives, women's
incomes have always lagged behind those of men, a gap underscored in
retirement through smaller pensions and Social Security checks. So even
as they must make ends meet on smaller incomes, women must meet greater
health care needs. Nearly three-fourths of older women have two or more
chronic illnesses, compared to just 65 percent of older men. For these
women, Medicare has truly meant the difference between a healthy
retirement and one clouded by uncertainty, untreated illness and
poverty.
Now, as you have just heard, the clock is ticking on
Medicare's ability to meet the needs of our seniors in the next century.
People living longer than ever, the retirement of the baby boom
approaching, the Medicare trust fund will become insolvent by 2015.
Now, you may think that's a good ways away, but let me tell you, when I
took office, Medicare was supposed to become insolvent this year. And
we took a lot of very strong steps to stop it from happening.
But we have taken all the easy steps, and some that, arguably,
have gone too far. Everywhere I go, people say, you know, the therapy
services have been cut back too much, or the inner-city hospitals with
big teaching loads or the teaching hospitals generally -- not just in
the big urban centers -- everywhere I go, people talk to me about this.
So it should be obvious to everyone, there are no longer any easy ways
to lengthen the life of the Medicare trust fund -- just as people are
living longer and accessing it more. So that is problem one.
Problem two is that Medicare's benefits have not changed
significantly since 1965, although the world of modern medicine has
changed dramatically. There are some who really believe we can afford
to put off this until later. I disagree. To them I say, listen to
Judith Cato's story. Like millions of women in the same situation,
affording prescription drugs for herself is right around the corner, and
for her mother is today.
The typical 65-year-old woman retiring this year can expect to
live to be 84. That's 19 more years of retirement. But if we don't act
soon, the Medicare trust fund will expire in 16 years. Over the past
six and a half years, we have managed to transform an economy burden by
an unconscionable deficit of $290 billion to an economy that today is
the picture of fiscal health, with a surplus of $99 billion and a large
projected surplus over the net decade. We've done this by balancing the
budget, cutting unnecessary spending, expanding our investments in
education and training, expanding our trade abroad; all of it bringing
interest rates down and getting investment up and giving us a remarkable
period of economic growth -- the longest peacetime expansion in our
history; nearly 19 million new jobs and the lowest minority unemployment
and the highest home ownership ever recorded.
The question is, what are we doing to do with this? We know
what one plan is -- you have talked about it. The majority in Congress
say, well, let's approve a big tax cut now and worry about Medicare and
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extending the life of the Social Security trust fund, scheduled to run
out of money in a little more than 30 years let's worry about that
later.
One of my bright staff members said, it's kind of like a
family sitting around the kitchen table saying, you know, we have always
wanted to plan a really fancy vacation to Europe -- let's just do it and
blow the works, and when we get home, we'll figure out whether we can
pay the mortgage, the car payment and send the kids to college.
(Laughter.)
You're laughing, but you know, it's not just a question of the
size of the tax cut. Why are we even discussing it before we decide
what it takes to save and strengthen Medicare, and what it takes to save
Social Security, and what we have to invest in the education of our
children, the defense of our nation, the protection of our environment.
Why don't we ask ourselves what it is we have to do before we ask
ourselves what it is we would like to do?
Now, so what do I think we have to do? Here's what I think we
should do. I think, first of all, my plan would secure Medicare by
dedicating over $320 billion of our budget surplus for 10 years, to
extend the life of the trust fund from 2015 to 2027. That would be the
longest projected life we've had on the trust fund in many years. But
we have not been this financially healthy in many years, nor have we
faced the challenge of so many people retiring and living so long ever
before. So we need to know it's going to be all right for a good while.
Secondly, we will introduce more modern mechanisms of
competition to improve quality, but to control costs as well as we can,
as private sector innovations have done. We will give seniors the
chance to choose between lower-cost Medicare managed-care plans and the
traditional program, but we will not support changes that would force
them to move from one to the other.
I also believe it's important to modernize benefits and, over
the long run, the economical thing to do. Over the last 30 years, a
medical revolution has transformed health care, and in many cases
prescription drugs now supplant what used to be routinely dealt with
with surgeries. They have lengthened and improved the quality of life.
As the Older Women's League study shows, women have borne the
greatest cost of this pharmaceutical revolution. According to the next
chart, women spend $1,200 a year on prescription drugs, on average
about 20 percent more than men. Now, as you have already heard, our
plan will help seniors to afford the prescription drugs that have become
essential to modern medicine. The plan is completely voluntary, but
available to all Medicare beneficiaries.
This is a challenge, I might add, not just for poor women. It
is also a challenge for middle-class women as well. Look at the next
chart. Half of all middle-class women -- that is, for seniors, those
who make at least $12,700 a year or, with couples, $17,000 a year
have no prescription drug coverage at all. So among those who have no
coverage, a quarter are below the poverty line, a quarter are between
100 and 150 percent of poverty, half are over 150 percent of the poverty
line -- although, if your drug bills are big enough, it doesn't take
long to get down below the poverty line again.
Women who have tried to buy extra coverage through private
Medigap policies have to cope with escalating premiums as they get
older. That's one of the great ironies of these Medigap policies that
-- I keep hearing about, you know, we don't really need this because of
Medigap. They get more and more and more expensive as you get older and
older and older and less and less and less able to come up with the
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money to pay for them.
Now, I think anybody that says we don't need to do this is out
of touch with people's real lives and out of date. I'd also like to
point out that our plan would eliminate the last barrier between seniors
and preventive screenings tests for breast cancer, colon cancer,
prostate cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis -- that can help save their
lives. For too many seniors on fixes incomes, especially low-income
women, the cost of the modest co-payment is prohibitive. Last year, for
example -- listen to this -- just one in seven women took advantage of
the mammograms covered by Medicare.
So what we want to do is to eliminate the deductible and the
co-payments for the preventive screenings -- (applause) -- and we pay
for it by introducing a modest co-pay on lab tests that are frequently
overused, ones that have been identified, and by indexing to inflation
the modest Part B premium, which will be much less burdensome because
it's more broadly spread in a smaller amount of money. But the people
who need these preventive screenings, this will save lives.
Consider the irony of this. Every condition I just outlined,
we pay for the doctor benefits, we pay for the hospital benefits, but we
don't want to let people get the preventive screenings that will keep
them from spending that money in the first place -- keep them healthy
and keep them alive. This is a good thing to do.
Now, this is a good plan. It is a responsible plan. And it
is important that we deal with the Medicare challenge now, while we have
the funds and the prosperity to do SO. I have proposed to dedicate the
Social Security portion of the surplus to Social Security, but also to
lengthen the life of the trust fund by taking the interest savings we'll
have, because this will allow us to pay the debt down, and putting it
into the Social Security trust fund, so it will last longer. So we'll
have at least over 50 years of life on the Social Security trust fund.
(Applause.)
And as I said, I proposed to put over $320 million in
Medicare. There's not a single expert on this program who believes that
we can stabilize the fund and lengthen the life of it and deal with the
coming demographic challenges without more money. No one who has looked
into this believes it. And I think this is very, very important,
because if the tax cut being pushed by the congressional majority, which
includes vast benefits for people in my income group and higher -- who
have done quite well in the stock market, thank you very much
(laughter) -- and are not clamoring for it, and are worried that it will
destabilize the economy even today, there are stories in the paper
that if we have a big tax cut, with the economy growing as fast as it
is, it might stimulate inflation, which would cause increases in
interest rates, which would take away all the economic benefits of the
tax cuts in higher interest rates.
So I say to you, I do not believe that is the wise thing to
do. I think first we should say, let's save Social Security and
Medicare; let's add this responsible prescription drug benefit; let's
decide the commitments that we ought to make -- to give our children
good education, to keep our streets safe, to biomedical research, to
national defense, to the environment and then let's decide what we
can afford in a tax cut. Let's do first things first.
In addition, another benefit of my plan not present in any
other one is that if my proposal were to pass the Congress, in about 15
years we would actually be out of debt as a nation, for the first time
since 1835. (Applause.)
Now, the significance of that for older Americans is quite
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important. Why? Because if we are out of debt, it means we will have
long-term prosperity, lower interest rates -- which means lower costs
for business borrowing, more investment, more jobs, higher incomes, and
for families, lower home mortgages, car payments, credit card payments
and college loan payments. That amounts to a very big tax cut over 10
or 15 years, getting this country out of debt, making us less vulnerable
to the vagaries of the international financial system, securing the
long-term economic stability for the young people here in the audience
and throughout our country.
Believe it or not, we can do all that and still have a fairly
sizable tax cut. I propose to let people use it for retirement savings,
for long-term care, for child care. But the point I want to make today
is not so much what we spend it on, but how much it can be, and in what
order we are doing this. We did not get to this moment of prosperity by
figuring out how to eat our cake, and then looking around for the
vegetables. (Laughter.) That's not how we got here. We got here --
and a lot of members of Congress lost their jobs over it because we took
the tough decisions in 1993 to get the deficit down, to bring interest
rates down, and to do it without having to give up on obligations to
education and to our other important national priorities.
So here we are with this opportunity of a lifetime to deal
with this, and I think we ought to do it. Now, I regret that, as all
of you know, the congressional majority appears to have a different
philosophy. Look what happened -- last week, in the House of
Representatives, they passed an irresponsible tax bill that would spend
our surplus, it wouldn't devote a dime -- not a dime not one dime to
extending the solvency of Medicare. And interestingly enough, these tax
cuts are worded so that they won't go into full effect until the year
2010, just when the baby boomers start to retire. And in the second 10
years, they'll cost way over twice as much as they did in the first 10
years.
Now -- so the whole impact of them will hit us right between
the eyes as the baby boomers retire, Medicare nears insolvency, Social
Security starts to show strains.
This week, the Senate is going to take up a similar bill.
They also, I might say, as all the analysis -- I don't know if you've
had -- I don't want to take time today to do this, but if you haven't
seen the analysis of the bills, you ought to, because they're standing
up there saying if we don't give this money back to you "they"
i.e., me and my allies in Congress -- will spend it on "their" friends.
Well, Judith is my friend. (Laughter and applause.) It
sounds SO great: "we want to give it back to you, they're going to
spend it on their friends." We want to spend it on saving Social
Security and Medicare, educating our children, paying down the national
debt and getting us out of debt, to help our friends, the American
people.
They tickle me, you know, these guys. They were fighting the
patients' bill of rights several days ago and they said, oh, these
Democrats, all they do is stand up and tell stories, we're talking about
something besides stories. Well, I don't know about you, but the older
I get the more it seems to me like life is just a collection of stories.
(Laughter.) And people are pretty important -- a lot more important
than statistics.
And I'm telling you, I've been at this business a long time.
This country may never have an opportunity like this. And they're
spending it on their friends. (Laughter and applause.) And,
ironically, their friends are better off under our plan because the
stock market has more than tripled their friends have done very well
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under our plan. We have had an economic policy that has been
non-discriminatory, benefitting Republicans and Democrats, alike.
(Laughter.)
Look, today I want you to read the papers today. They point
out that the Congress, the majority, has begun resorting now to
accounting gimmicks, because they've approved such a big tax cut they
can't meet the fundamental obligations of government without beginning,
right now, to spend the surplus. And they don't want to acknowledge
that, so they've resorted to accounting gimmicks to disguise the fact
that they're dipping into the surplus. They can't live within the
budget limits we set in 1997 -- I told you, we all know we cut Medicare
too much in '97; we're going to have to fix it. A lot of you know it.
A lot of you deal with these programs and these health care providers.
But they want to give the illusion they're living within the
budget limits, nothing has to be done, and they can have this tax cut.
I'm telling you what's going to happen. If this tax cut were to become
law, it would mean huge cuts in education, huge cuts in the environment,
huge cuts in medical research, huge cuts in health care, and huge cuts
in national defense -- or, if they didn't do that, we would see --
balloon the deficit again, just like we did in the 12 years before I
took office, when the national debt quadrupled.
We tried it that way; it didn't work very well. Why are we
going down the same road we tried before, when we have a road that we
have tried for six and a half years that has brought us to this point?
Why would we reverse course instead of building on what we've done and
going beyond it? It is a big mistake, and it's wrong. It's not just
wrong for the seniors. It's not just wrong for the women of this
country. It's wrong for all Americans. It is not the right thing to
do.
Now, it also -- it will take away the single best opportunity
any of us will ever have in our lifetimes to save Social Security for
the baby boomers, to save and strengthen Medicare, and to get us out of
debt for the first time since 1835 -- to give the young people in this
room a chance at a generation of prosperity. And I don't believe any
thinking person, once they understand what the real numbers are -- let's
get out of the rhetoric here, who's going to give it to whose friends
and all that. What are the numbers? This is an arithmetic problem.
You know, I told people when I got elected President -- I'd
come from a state with fairly straightforward values and ways of doing
things, and I thought we ought to have a radical new idea in Washington
-- we'd bring basic arithmetic back to the budget. (Laughter.) And
basic arithmetic has worked pretty well. This doesn't add up.
And so I ask you to help me send the word to the Congress that
let's do first things first. Let's fix Medicare. The women of America
especially need it. (Applause.)
You know, we have to work together. Every time we get in one
of these fights people throw their hands up. But there's normally a
process that goes on here. When we were doing welfare reform I vetoed
two bills because it took away the mandate of health care and nutrition
for children. We finally got a welfare reform that I thought was right,
it carried by big majorities in both parties, in both Houses -- we have
the lowest welfare rolls in 30 years. And we did it in an election
year.
Then the next year we did the Balanced Budget Act and it has
worked superbly. The only problem with it is that the Medicare cuts
were too burdensome on certain groups, and we're trying to fix that.
But I can tell you that if this tax cut passes there will be
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breathtaking cuts in every area of our national life that you would
believe is important, over and above what it would do to totally rob us
of any chance to stabilize and improve Medicare and save it for the baby
boom generation.
We have big tests as a country: How are we going to deal with
the aging of America? How are we going to give all of our kids a
world-class education, especially since more and more of them come from
families whose first language is not English? Those of us who expect to
be alive in 20 years, or hope to be, better hope we do a good job of
educating those kids.
How are we going to deal with all these other challenges? How
are we going to bring economic opportunity to people who still haven't
felt it? How are we going to stabilize the economy so that we'll still
be growing even better 10, 15, 20 years from now? These are big
challenges. But they are high-class problems in the sense that nations
rarely get these opportunities. Once in a lifetime you get a chance to
stand up with your country in good shape, bring people together, look
down the road and say, yes, these are big challenges and we're going to
check them off -- one, two, three, four -- because we have the money and
the vision to deal with them.
So my appeal today is that we not get into a big fight, we
just go back to basic arithmetic. These tax bills the majority is
pushing could not get the support of their own members if we had a chart
up on the wall that says, here is what we have to spend just to stay
where we are today in education, defense, the environment, medical
research; here's what every expert says it takes to stabilize Medicare;
here is the interest savings you ought to be putting into the Social
Security trust fund; here is what we have to do to fix health care.
They agree we have to do some more for veterans care. They agree with
these things -- the numbers don't add up. We cannot take the vacation
without paying the home mortgage, the car payment, and the college loan
bill. We can't do it. We can't eat the cake until the vegetables and
the soup are out of the way. And we cannot defy the basic laws of
arithmetic.
And contrary to some of the debate, we cannot forget the
stories. This is about how millions upon millions upon millions of
Americans will live. Will they live in dignity and health, or will they
live in want and insecurity, imposing unconscionable burdens on their
children, and limiting their children's ability to raise their
grandchildren?
Or will we use this moment to build a more prosperous, more
just, more decent society? This is about way more than drugs and trips
to the doctor. This is about what kind of people we are and whether we
can look beyond today to the tomorrow we all want for all of us.
Thank you. (Applause.)
END
11:06 A.M. EDT
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see 2g 5
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
August 11, 1995
CITE: 31 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1426
LENGTH: 4058 words
HEADLINE: Interview With Tabitha Soren of MTV
BODY:
Teenage Smoking
Ms. Soren. Mr. President, minors buy one billion packs of cigarettes a year. How are you going to
make not smoking and quitting smoking cool and attractive to young people?
The President. Well, I think we have to do several things. I think, first of all, the Government's
responsibility is to make sure that the young people understand that it's addictive and dangerous
and can kill them and that about one-third of the young people who start smoking every day --
about 1,000 people a day, young people, start smoking who will have their lives shortened because
of it. The second thing I think you have to do is make it less accessible. Then the third thing we
have to do is make it less attractive, that is, we need to change the advertising and limit the ability
of advertising to be a lure.
We had a young teenager in here who was part of an antismoking group yesterday who said to me
-- I was so touched she said, "We look at these TV ads," she said, "these girls smoking, they're
always tall; they're always thin; they always have long hair; they're always pretty." She said, "It's
just like when the boys who are young see a movie star holding a gun." And it was shocking what
she said.
And then what we want the tobacco companies to do is to spend some money on an affirmative
strategy to put out positive messages over MTV, for example about how it's cool not to smoke
instead of to smoke. So I think you make it less accessible, less attractive, and then put out a
positive message. And of course, we need a lot of help. We need people like you to do programs
like this, and every parent in this country needs to talk to their children -- all the parents need to
talk to their children about it, because we now have done 14 months careful research and we know
how damaging this is, and we know that the tobacco companies know how damaging it is from
their own files. We've got to do something about it.
Ms. Soren. Do you worry about making smoking more enticing by making it more forbidden to
young people?
The President. I think that's always a concern; there could be some of that. But the staggering
magnitude of the damage that it's doing is so great, I think if young people really understand how
dangerous it really is and all the things that can happen to them and how it can affect their future,
I don't think it will be more glamorous.
Ms. Soren. You know, though, what kids are going to say. In a time where they're growing up and
sex is associated with AIDS, alcohol with drunk driving, going out late at night you could be shot,
it's very violent, smoking during your adolescence almost seems like a lesser evil.
The President. I know it does, but in some ways it's the thing that puts the most at risk over the
long run. And we have to do something about the other things, too. I've fought very hard to get
the assault weapons out of the hands of gang members, to pass the Brady bill, to put more police
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officers on the street. The crime rate is going down in almost every almost every big city in this
country, the crime rate is going down. We have to -- we're doing a better job trying to keep big
shipments of drugs out of the country. We're working hard on that.
But this is a serious problem. On alcohol, it's less accessible than cigarettes. It's still a problem,
but I want a zero tolerance drunk driving law for young people in every State in the country or
here in the Congress. But the cigarettes -- the magnitude of the damage caused is greater than all
of that right now. And we just have to focus on it.
I know it -- because there normally is a period of several years between the time you start and
keep smoking and the time you face the consequences, and when you're young you think you're
going to live forever, I know that it's going to be harder to get young people to focus on that. But
we have to. There's a lot of destructive behavior in America we need to attack at the same time,
and I just think that we can get these numbers way, way down.
You gave the number a billion packs of cigarettes or a billion cigarettes a year we can get that
way down. And when we do, we'll get the life expectancy of these young people and their quality of
life way up.
Ms. Soren. Did you ever experiment with cigarettes as a teen? Did you go through that phase?
The President. I didn't. But I'm surprised I didn't, but I didn't. The reason I didn't is because my
mother was a heavy smoker. She smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes a day until my daughter
got her to quit for her 8th birthday. When my daughter turned 8, her grandmother gave her that
for a present. So I had a bad feeling about it from childhood. But it was only because of that. I'm
sure I would have done it otherwise.
Ms. Soren. Why were you savvy enough 1o have a bad feeling about it? You didn't like the smell of
the house, or you didn't like
The President. Yes, I didn't like the smell in the house. And I thought it was -- it struck me as a
bad habit, kind of a nervous habit, a reliance. And I had a feeling that it was not good for her
health.
Ms. Soren. What would you say to Chelsea if you saw her fall under peer pressure of some of her
friends and start smoking or if you found ashes in her bedroom in an ashtray or something?
The President. I would talk to her about it and tell her I thought it was a bad idea. She's the most
militant person in our house, though.
Ms. Soren. Yes, it doesn't sound like you're worried.
The President. She and Hillary are always on me. You know, as I confessed yesterday, I still, once
in a great while, maybe five, six, seven times a year, will smoke a cigar when I'm outside. They
think that's awful at all. And I've got to do better with it. But if they see me chewing one on the
golf course or something, they're on me. So my family is doing a better job with it than I am.
Ms. Soren. Some kids I talk to said that nothing but an outright ban on cigarettes would deter
them. So why not a ban? Because cigarettes are just as deadly, if not more so, for adults.
The President. They are, but they're not illegal. You have to go through all the same problems we
went through with prohibition with liquor, It would have significant economic dislocations for a
large number of Americans. And I think as a practical matter, because so many adults are, in
effect, hooked on it, it would be very, very difficult to enforce.
What I want to do is to phase it out over time by getting -- if young people stop using cigarettes
if we could get young people, the usage down to zero, then eventually it will phase out. That would
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be my goal. I think we just have to start with our young people.
Ms. Soren. Do you consider tobacco companies evil?
The President. I wouldn't go that far. I don't think that. And I certainly don't consider the tobacco
farmers evil. I think they're good people. Most of them -- a lot of them come from families that
have been doing it 100, sometimes 200 years.
I think some of these companies have known for a long time, according to their own documents,
that nicotine was both addictive and destructive. And they have -- insofar as they have pretended
that they did not know that, that is wrong.
I think some of these companies have said, we don't want teenagers to smoke, but they have
consciously directed their advertising strategies to make it appealing to young people and not just
Joe camel, which was obvious, but a lot of other things as well. I think those things are wrong.
And what I want the tobacco companies to do is stop doing the wrong thing and start doing the
right thing. I think they ought to come in here and support this -- these restrictions. I think they
ought to ask Congress to enact them into law now. If they don't want the FDA to regulate them,
let's enact the law now. And I think that we ought to start the very next day on this campaign
together. If the tobacco companies really don't want kids to smoke, we can do this together.
Ms. Soren. Are you going to try to bring back the cigarette tax? California has had a lot of success
with that in their State.
The President. Well, this Congress would not adopt that. I have had a number of people who've
come from tobacco countries suggest that some of the cigarette tax ought to be devoted to helping
the farmers who want to convert their farmland to other purposes, to some sort of buy-out
program.
But I think that right now what we ought to do is the bulk of the cigarette tax is available to the
States, and a lot of the States now are passing cigarette taxes to help to pay for the health care
bills of people who are suffering from tobacco-related illnesses. And I don't want to see the
Congress and the Federal Government crowd that out. So when I proposed a tobacco tax before, it
was to pay for health care. That's not going to happen this year.
Ms. Soren. Right now, advertising is written off as a business expense, and that means the public
pays in some fashion for all advertising, including cigarette advertising. Would you consider getting
rid of the tax deduction for cigarette advertising?
The President. You're the first person who's ever suggested it to me. I'd never though of that.
That's an interesting idea.
Ms. Soren. So I'll give you a few minutes to absorb it, and I'll come back.
The President. That's an interesting idea. I've never thought of that.
Ms. Soren. Because I think a lot of people would be offended by the idea of paying for an
unhealthy product to advertise and garner more smokers through it. But I'll let you dwell on it.
Not only do you want to regulate tobacco products, but you're also in favor of regulating how
they're marketed. And I was wondering, how far do you plan to go? When a musician sits down to
talk with me and they're smoking a cigarette, should I not air that footage on MTV? Should I ask
Keith Richards to put out his cigarette before he does an interview with me? Should this go for all
television? Because of lot of young people watch MTV.
The President. I think that's a decision for you to make. I think you should ask him to put it out
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because I think there are a lot of young people --
Ms. Soren. It is Keith Richards.
The President. I know. [Laughter] And I know he's an icon -- for me, too.
Ms. Soren. I don't know if he -- his heart might stop if he doesn't have a cigarette.
The President. That's the great thing about their endurance, you know.
But that's a decision that each network, each interviewer, they'll have to make. Let me just say
this: I believe very strongly in the first amendment and the right to free speech, free association,
and freedom of religion. I believe in a very broad interpretation of it. But I believe that we should
be restricting advertising directed at children because it's illegal to sell cigarettes to children. So,
therefore, if it's illegal to sell cigarettes to children, it can't be illegal to stop the advertising
directed at children. So that's what my focus is.
In terms of the interviews and everything, I would hope every American adult, even those who
smoke, would think, as I had to when I became President and I had this occasional bad habit of
having my cigar once in a while, I would hope they would think about not doing it in public, not
doing it around children, not setting a bad example. I think we adults have a responsibility to try
to set a good standard for our young people and to basically say everybody's got a lot of problems,
but being self-destructive is not a way to deal with them.
Ms. Soren. Mr. President, I want to say this as politely as I can, but I think a lot of our viewers are
going to be wondering why should they listen to you about this issue?
The President. Well, they don't have to listen to me about this issue. What we're going to do is
change the law. But I'll tell you why they should listen to me or to anybody else. I would say that if
they wanted to listen to me, don't listen to me, look at the medical research, look at the evidence.
This is about their lives, not mine. I've lived most of my life. Their lives are ahead of them. And the
reason they should listen to me is that the evidence is on my side, not just because I'm President.
We know that nicotine in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is addictive, is destructive, and will
shorten the lives of one out of three people who start smoking on a regular basis. We know that.
So what they should do is say, "Okay, here's the evidence; now, what kind of life do I want to
live?" Ultimately, it's going to be their decision, because even if the law keeps cigarettes away
from them in the near-term, soon they'll turn 18, and they'll be able to do whatever they want to
do. They have to make these decisions. But I think -- my job, what I'm trying to do here every day
and with the economy, with saving the college loan program, with trying to preserve tire
environment from this awful assault that tie Congress is making on it, is to give the young people
of our country a good country to grow up into and a good life to look forward to. Then they have to
make a decision about how to live that life.
And what those of us who are older are supposed to do is to say here's what we think will
maximize your choices. Here's what we think will give you the chance to live up to the fullest of
your abilities. And that's what I hope they'll listen to, because the evidence is on my side. I'm not
just preaching here, I have all this evidence.
Ms. Soren. Right. Right. It's not like you don't have enough things to do already.
The President. But this is a big deal. Look, look. Everything I try to do here, if you look at -- let's
just take trying to save the college loan program from attack and trying to preserve the
environmental protections we have in this country. Why would I do that? Because I want my child
and our grandchildren and all the young people coming up to enjoy a good life. That still requires
all these individuals who are watching us to make decisions about how they're going to live. And
being addicted to tobacco is not a smart thing to do if you want to have a long, full good life. It's a
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huge roll of the dice.
I never will forget a few years ago having to speak at the funeral of a very close friend of mine, a
man that had literally no other vices. He was one of the most perfect human beings I ever knew.
But he smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes a day, and he died of lung cancer 2 1/2 years after
he had his last cigarette because it takes that long to clean out your lungs.
Ms. Soren. Wow.
The President. And he was younger than me. I never got over it. I never will get over it.
Abortion
Ms. Soren. While I have you, there are a couple of other issues I wanted to ask you about that are
important to young voters, in addition to smoking and their health, which you sort of rattled off
very quickly.
First, though, the woman best known as Jane Roe whose struggle to obtain an abortion led to the
Supreme Court's Roe V. Wade decision, has come out against anything but first trimester
abortions. How big a blow do you feel this is to the prochoice movement?
The President. Well, as I understand it, she's gone through a number of changes in her life and had
a serious religious conversion and believes that abortion is wrong now. The rule of Roe v. Wade is
it permits everybody in America to make that same decision. That is, I think there are too many
abortions in America. I have always believed that abortion should be rare but that they should
be safe and legal until the third trimester when the child can live outside the mother's womb. If
somebody hasn't made the decision by then, unless the life of the mother's in danger, I think they
should be illegal, and they were in my State.
But I think that leaving the decision to the woman and her doctor and whoever else she wishes to
consult, I think on balance is still the right decision in our country. And that makes it possible for
people like this woman to make up her own mind and to have her own convictions and then try to
persuade other people that she's right. It leaves her free to say, "My religious conviction is what is
right for all of you; I hope you will follow me." People can do that.
And we have a very vibrant, as you know, pro-life movement in this country of people trying to
convince other people of that all the time. But we don't say to people who disagree that we're
going to criminalize your conduct until the child can live outside the mother's womb. And I think,
on balance, that is the right position for our country, and I would stick with it.
Ms. Soren. Since abortion is under such attack in Congress, do you think that you should be doing
more to support the prochoice movement?
The President. Well, I don't know what else I can do. I'm doing -- I think I'm doing everything I
can. I certainly have made it absolutely clear where I stand. I have resisted the attempts in the
Congress to take away the rights of choice to-women-in-the-service, to women who work for the
Federal Government,
There is a wholesale assault on the right to choose going on in the Congress now in all kinds of
little, indirect ways. And I hope we can beat it back because I think it's -- I don't think that's the
right thing to do. I don't think the law here is the way to resolve all these problems.
Opposition in Congress
Ms. Soren. You've used executive actions in the first 2 years of your Presidency for issues like
abortion. And in recent months, with the Republican majority, you've turned to them more
frequently, the regulation of teenage smoking being the most recent one. Do you feel like you're
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subverting the will of Congress by tackling issues this way?
The President. No. I think that I probably should have been doing more of this all along. But in the
first 2 years, I had to pour all of my energies into trying to do something to bring the deficit down,
to invest more in education, to try to expand trade, and get the economy going again. And we
were able to do that, but the voters still gave the Congress to the Republicans. And now it frees me
up, in a way, to -- most of my efforts, to try to keep them from undoing the gains we have made
from wrecking an economic strategy or wrecking the education program or wrecking the
environment.
But I can now do things like use my executive authority, for example, to promote welfare reform in
all 50 States, to do the other things that we talked about. So I think I probably should have been
doing more of it all along.
Legal Defense Fund
Ms. Soren. Today lawyers for the legal defense fund are announcing how much money they've
raised. Does that make you feel awkward to have them up there saying, "We've collected this
money for the President to defend him?"
The President. No. I mean, it's a little -- I wish it weren't necessary. But I'm not a wealthy person
and my adversaries decided that they would try to embroil me in all kinds of legal things, and I
can't afford to take any time off to think about it. So they're dealing with it the best they can in a
legal and appropriate way. And I did not want to go to a few wealthy people and ask them to
spend a ton of money to pay all my legal bills. So we resolved that the most appropriate thing to
do would be to raise funds in a legal defense fund that had the same financial restrictions that
running for Federal office does. And so that's what we've tried to do.
Bosnia
Ms. Soren. Senator Dole and Senator Helms have proposed asking for $ 100 million in arms aid for
Bosnia. Do you support this legislation?
The President. Not now because the arms embargo is on. My position is that the United States
should not, by ourselves, violate the U.N. rule against selling arms into Bosnia because it applies to
all Yugoslavia, that instead, what we ought to do is have that U.N. mission there work to stop
aggression against Bosnia by letting NATO use its air power and by strengthening the U.N. mission
on the ground.
What happened in Srebrenica was awful. But it happened in large measure because the United
Nations would not permit the United States and the other NATO allies to take strong action from
the air against the Serbs. Now that there's been a real change on the ground and the Serbs have
been rolled back in the western part of Bosnia and in Croatia by the Croats, I hope we have a
chance to make a decent peace there.
I would not be against if the U.N. mission fails, I would be for selling arms to the Bosnians or
making it possible for the Bosnians to buy arms, but only when we get everybody to lift the arms
embargo at the U.N.
But let me just say this in closing. We have an embargo against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and you
see what happened. We put a lot of pressure on it; we now have some defectors coming over,
weakening his power. If we say, "We're going to ignore you, and we're going to sell arms to the
Bosnians," then what's to prevent other countries from saying, "Okay, we'll ignore the U.N.
embargo in Iraq, and we'll bolster Saddam Hussein?"
Rap Music
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Ms. Soren. I just have two more quick questions. Do you think it's a good thing that Time-Warner
wants to sell Interscope Records? Do you know anything about that?
The President. No.
Death of Jerry Garcia
Ms. Soren. I wanted to ask you if you were -- well, Jerry Garcia has affected millions of Americans.
The President. Me, too.
Q. Were you a fan? Have you ever been to a Grateful Dead show? And why do you think he
affected so many people of different backgrounds and generations?
The President. Well, first of all, he was just a great talent. I mean, he was really -- he was a
genius. And I was really pleased to see the Grateful Dead have one more great run around the
country, you know, in the last couple of years and see all these young teenagers gravitating to a
group that all of us liked 20 or more years ago. He had a great gift. And he even wound up putting
out that line of ties. He had great ties. I would go around wearing Jerry Garcia ties and giving them
away to people. So I was very sad when he died.
But he also had a terrible problem that was a legacy of the life he lived and the demons he dealt
with. And I would hope that all of us who loved his music and valued his contributions would also
reflect on the consequences of, again, really self-destructive behavior. I mean, the lesson of Jerry
Garcia's life is that he made a great contribution and he really was a he had at least two
generations of Deadheads, you know.
Ms. Soren. Is Chelsea a fan at all? Has she ever gone to a show?
The President. Yes, very much. But she and I were talking -- we had a long talk about it the other
day, right before I left to come to the office. She called me on the phone. She's out of town, and
she called me on the phone, and we were talking about it. And she was talking about all the kids in
her school who are great fans of Jerry Garcia, and we had a long talk about it.
But I would hope that as we mourn him and sort of feel grateful for what he did, we also -- young
people should say, "I'm not going to die that way. I'm not going to die in a clinic with a drug
addition. I'm not going to do it." You don't have to have a destructive lifestyle to be a genius and
make a contribution. You don't have to do that.
Cigarette Advertising
Ms. Soren. Any thoughts on the advertising, cigarette advertising being a tax deduction?
The President. I'll look into it. It's an interesting idea. Nobody ever even raised it to me before.
Maybe you should be here making public policy. That's great.
Ms. Soren. I don't think so. I think I'm quite busy. I wouldn't want your job.
The President. Thanks.
NOTE: The interview began at 11 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, he
referred to Rolling Stone band member Keith Richards; the late Grateful Dead band member Jerry
Garcia; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 2, 1995
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