SAMPLE NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  Contact: Maria Mujer 
January 15, 1997                                               555-555-5555

NOW ACTIVISTS TO COMMEMORATE ROE WITH SOLEMNITY, 
MARKING CHANGE FROM DEATHS OF WOMEN IN BACK ALLEYS 
TO DEATHS OF ACTIVISTS IN FRONT OF CLINICS, DEADLY LAWS

NOW activists who remember the trauma women experienced before abortion was legal and activists who have experienced hate and violence first-hand in defending abortion since it became legal will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Roe decision with a (rally Thursday, Jan. 22 at 12 noon in front of the state capitol building). (Or insert another event here).

"Just a quarter of a century after the Supreme Court legalized abortion we have very little to celebrate of the original content and spirit of the court's Roe v. Wade decision," said Hometown NOW President Imani Smith. "While we have been successful in our efforts to keep abortion legal, for a growing number of women the right to abortion is little more than an intellectual abstraction."

Hometown NOW will commemorate this year's anniversary by noting the serious setbacks since the Roe decision and taking action to defend rights now in jeopardy. For example, though anti-abortion extremists paint a picture that women can obtain abortions on virtually any street corner, the reality is that 83 percent of U.S. counties and more than 25 percent of metropolitan areas do not have an abortion provider (Source: Outrageous Practices by Leslie Laurence and Beth Weinhouse, Ballentine Books, 1994)

"In our 25th anniversary year of abortion rights, we face a congressional vote on whether to override the president's veto of a proposed law that would undercut the basic protections for a woman's health that are guaranteed in the Roe decision," said national NOW President Patricia Ireland. "In the 1970s we faced attacks on funding for abortions, in the 1980s we faced violent attacks as women entered clinics that culminated with murderous assaults in this decade. We refuse to face a new century with a loss on something as fundamental as women's health."

WHO: Hometown NOW and a Coalition of Abortion Rights Organizations

WHAT: Rally for Women's Lives (or some other action or event)

WHERE: State Capitol (or some appropriate location)

WHEN: Thursday, January 22, 1998 12 noon

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