Testimony on The 1996 Democratic National Platform to The Platform Committee

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
August 5, 1996

Patricia Ireland, President
National Organization for Women

In considering the 1996 draft Democratic Platform, the National Organization for Women is concerned that the platform's treatment of sex discrimination issues will weaken the Party's stand on constitutional equality for all Americans. The following discussion examines this problem and proposes changes to remedy it.

CONCERNS

Although the statement affirming Democratic Party support of the Equal Rights Amendment has been restored in the current draft, the fact that omitting this provision was even considered (Washington Post, 7/12/96, A1) does not reflect well on the party's commitment to women's rights. Since constitutional equality for women is essential, the party's platform now needs to be made consistent with the meaning of the amendment.

Review of the 1992 Platform shows that it divided and isolated three key sex discrimination issues, setting them up to be picked off one by one: the Equal Rights Amendment, sexual orientation, and pregnancy discrimination (represented by restrictions on abortion). For example, in the Civil Rights and Equality section where support for the ERA was stated, the Platform pledged to "lead the fight to ensure that no Americans suffer discrimination or deprivation of rights on the basis of...gender."

But then, in a separate Choice section, the 1992 Platform affirmed that "Democrats stand behind the right of every woman to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, regardless of ability to pay, and support a national law to protect that right." Separation and isolation of this statement from the Civil Rights and Equality section signaled that abortion was unrelated to civil rights, to equality between men and women, or to pregnancy discrimination. This tactic set abortion rights up for attack.

And now, under the Choice section of the draft 1996 Platform (page 15), support for "choice" means that the Democratic party not only "stands behind the right of every woman to choose" to terminate a pregnancy as before but also stands behind the newly added right of Democratic politicians to choose to make abortion "a difficult issue" for women by restricting access to it in any way imaginable, including relentless legislative harassment, excused as a matter of "individual conscience," not condemned as sex discrimination.

This proposed 1996 "conscience" escape clause offers reassurance to party members who favor this kind of pregnancy discrimination that they are "welcome to participate at every level" within the party.

If in fact the Democratic Party wants to persist in "welcoming" all points of view and respects the individual conscience of each American on a "difficult issue" which has severe disparate impact on half of the population, why is there no "conscience" clause at the head of the Fighting Discrimination and Protecting Civil Rights section of the Platform (page 29), making it apply to all "difficult issues" of denial of human and civil rights? If the Party cannot offer such deference to the consciences of racists, antisemites, and homophobes, it needs to explain why women can be targeted for harassment by misogynists without the disapproval of the Democratic Party.

The 1996 Platform's perfunctory treatment of basic human and civil rights issues reflects the party's decision to prioritize a few legislative specifics viewed as "more attainable" and "more targeted to working families," according to a Washington Post report (7/12/96, A1). But the well-being of "working families" requires full citizenship for women. We also reject any notion that a family is defined by the presumed heterosexuality of its members.

While the 1992 Platform promised to "provide civil rights protection for gay men and lesbians and an end to Defense Department discrimination," the draft 1996 Platform narrows its aims to merely ending employment discrimination against gay men and lesbians. However, the party must not forget that gay men and lesbians are among the 1,485,000 Americans employed in military service.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Eliminate the separate Choice section (page 15), retaining material as described below.
Include all statements on women's constitutional, civil, and reproductive rights in the Fighting Discrimination and Protecting Civil Rights section (page 29).
Revise the Fighting Discrimination and Protecting Civil Rights section as follows:
- Change the second to last sentence of the first paragraph to read: "The Democratic Party has always supported the Equal Rights Amendment and supports a constitutional amendment to ensure that no one in this country suffer discrimination or deprivation of rights on any basis defined by sex, including abortion, pregnancy, and sexual orientation."
- Insert the following, which is based on the first paragraph in the Choice section: "Democrats affirm the right of every woman to bodily integrity and freedom from pregnancy discrimination, including freedom from interference with her right to terminate a pregnancy and regardless of ability to pay. President Clinton took executive action to ensure that the right to make reproductive decisions is protected for some women; the Democratic Party is committed to expanding this right to include military women, military dependents, federal employees, women living on reservations, and others excluded from existing provisions for reproductive freedom. Over the last four years, we have taken action to end the gag rule and increase safety at family planning and women's health clinics. We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individuals - not government - can best take responsibility for making personal decisions regarding reproduction."
- Insert the following, which is now the third paragraph in the Choice section.
  "Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare, not more difficult and more dangerous. We support contraceptive research, family planning, comprehensive family life education, and policies that support healthy childbearing. For four years in a row, we have increased support for family planning. The abortion rate is dropping. Now we must continue to support efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, and we call on all Americans to take personal responsibility to meet this important goal."
- Insert: "The President and the Democratic Party support the ratification by the U.S. Senate of the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and also support the fulfillment of the United States Commitments to Women announced at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995."
- Insert: "The Party commits to enactment of the Equal Remedies Act to assure that remedies for sex discrimination are the same as those available to other protected classes."
Exclude any language that treats women's reproductive decisions as problems, such as the underlined words that appeared in the Choice section: "We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individual Americans - not government - can best take responsibility for making the most difficult and intensely personal decisions regarding reproduction."
Exclude any language like that of the second paragraph of the Choice section creating an "individual conscience" pretext for obstructing women's reproductive decisions. (See the discussion above.)

CONCLUSION

Women's right to equal protection of the law has been denied for over two hundred years by legislative bodies dominated by men. It would be foolish to disregard the paramount need to define and secure our right to equality because, without such affirmation, sex discrimination is not fully unconstitutional and can continue to be used selectively in the making, interpreting and enforcing of law to privilege men at women's expense or to advantage heterosexist institutions.

No candidate or party can guarantee delivery on campaign promises. But the ideas put forward in a serious bid for votes can inform public opinion, not just mirror entrenched opinions. The Democratic Party has chosen to represent a constituency whose aspirations to full citizenship in the "American Community" require constitutional change. The party cannot claim support from that constituency while clinging to the status quo of injustice and inequality.

The Platform Committee would do well to recall Aesop's fable of the dog that lost its bone by trying to grab a "bigger" bone from its own reflection in the water.

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