Lifepac Homepage

Life Issues/Family Ethics Political Action Committee

of Southwest Washington

National Right To Life

Hundreds of thousands march for abortion rights
Bush policies are harmful to women, protesters say

WASHINGTON -- A huge mass of abortion rights protesters marched through the capital and rallied at the National Mall yesterday, demanding an end to what they say is an assault on reproductive rights by the Bush administration.

"The number of people here is indicative of the concerns in the country for the administration's intention to interfere with reproductive health care," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who marched with his wife, Tiia Karlen, and their two young sons ....

... March participants also criticized the Bush administration's policies on sex education, access to health services and contraceptives and its so-called "gag rule" that prevents international family planning groups from receiving U.S. aid if they spend any money on programs that discuss or promote abortion.

Many parents of high-school-age children grew up before the emergence of HIV and AIDS, and don't know what to tell their children about the disease, said Judith Billings, former superintendent of public instruction for Washington and a leader on HIV/AIDS prevention boards and committees.

"It doesn't make any sense to not have the best sex education we possibly can," said Billings, who contracted HIV in the early 1980s from artificial insemination. She is leading an effort to lobby the Washington Legislature to pay for broader sex education in the state's schools.

In 2002, the Governor’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (GACHA) asked Governor Gary Locke (D) to reject the federal Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding in part because of concerns that the Bush Administration and a Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will put stricter requirements on the program. In the letter to Governor Locke, GACHA Chair Judith Billings stated that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs “do not give students complete information that they need to help them make responsible choices about their sexual activity. To deny them a balanced program that offers life-saving knowledge is irresponsible.” The letter also pointed out that the federal government’s eight-point definition is about “ideology, not scientifically stated factors.” “Council members are strongly in favor of comprehensive health education which includes abstinence as a choice, but just as strongly unanimously oppose attempted indoctrination to a particular political/moral dogma that attempts to pass as good public education,” the letter said. GACHA also emphasized that the program’s insistence on sexual intercourse only within the confines of marriage is harmful to gay and lesbian youth and those living in nontraditional households and that it offers “only shame and fear” to sexually abused youth. Governor Locke responded through the Secretary of the Department of Health, Mary C. Selecky. In her letter to GACHA, Secretary Selecky noted that in order to reject the funding statutory changes would have to be made to current Washington law. She also stated that programs funded with Title V money are “only one component of a comprehensive sexuality education program for communities, clients, and partners of clients.” She further stated that all Title V funded programs must be“consistent with public health and scientific and medical accuracy.” 2.2 “Washington State HIV/AIDS Council Asks Governor to Reject Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Title V Funding,”

SEATTLE -- Judith Billings finished her second term as state schools superintendent sapped, unable to focus on meetings or other parts of her job. Her doctor diagnosed her with AIDS and gave her two years to live.

"I'm doing really, really well," Billings said after announcing her candidacy Wednesday. "At the end of my last term, when I had no idea I had AIDS, the energy I had to devote to things wasn't what it should have been. That's not the case anymore."

Billings, 64, became the state superintendent of public instruction when she beat a better-known, better-financed candidate -- Denny Heck -- in 1988.

She won re-election in 1992, but learned three years later that she had AIDS. She apparently contracted it while being artificially inseminated in the early 1980s.

If this information has helped you with your vote, please Donate a few dollars now to help LifePac with its candidate research work.