Tell members of your congressional delegation that throwing women under the bus in health care reform legislation is not acceptable. Contrary to what women's advocates have repeatedly been told, it now appears health care legislation allows gender rating after all. This, coupled with the anti-abortion rights language and other problems, renders the bill not worth passing unless these harmful provisions are removed.

Call AND send an email message as soon as possible!

Please send a message to your senators and House member asking them to assure that restrictive abortion language in health care reform legislation be withdrawn, that a strong public plan is included, that age discrimination is removed, that better cost control measures are included and insurance is made truly more affordable for everyone.

Take Action NOW: Please call your senators immediately and urge them to oppose the Manager's Amendment in the Senate health care reform bill, which will effectively make abortion coverage unavailable in health insurance exchanges and, ultimately, in private insurance policies as well. If the Manager's Amendment passes, urge your senators to oppose the entire health reform bill.

There is a stealth move under way in Washington, D.C., to recover the billions spent on bailing out the banks and Wall Street by cutting benefits under the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. A special commission would address the federal deficit by considering cuts to entitlements programs and would fast track recommendations by an up or down vote in Congress -- with little debate and no opportunity for amendments. This is a reverse Robin Hood -- stealing from the poor and middle-class to give to the rich in a way that will have a disproportionately negative impact on women.

Tell your senators: Do not balance the federal deficit caused by bailing out big banks and Wall Street on the backs of the elderly and poor women who depend on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to survive! Oppose the creation of a debt-reduction, entitlements-cutting commission with fast-tracked recommendations -- make these important decisions in public.

Abortion rights opponents are continuing their tactics to stall major health care reform legislation and to press for even more restrictions that would make it impossible for women to obtain insurance coverage for abortion services. This effort threatens to derail an existing compromise known as the Capps amendment that was previously agreed upon in order to allow the health care reform bill to go forward. Tell your House member that you oppose any further changes to language relating to abortion services in health care reform and urge her/him to support this position as well.

Abstinence-only education is dangerous and ineffective, and has no place in our health care reform legislation. But Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) abstinence-only-until-marriage amendment has been tucked in with the health care reform legislation -- and we need your help to strike it when it reaches Senate floor. Women everywhere need the Senate to support comprehensive sex education programs, not ideological crusades.

The beauty of the Internet is that it is open to everyone. It offers a platform for dialogue amongst feminists who might not otherwise have a chance to strategize together. This is OUR Internet, and we can save it.

From NOW President Terry O'Neill:

"I need you to share your story. Has private insurance failed to cover your health care? Is your insurance company refusing to cover your birth control? Was your pregnancy declared a pre-existing condition? Are you one of the millions upon millions of women uninsured or underinsured by profit-driven health insurance?

I'm going to take your stories and share them widely. I'm going to share them with members of Congress. I'm going to publicize them on our website. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this country knows women won't stand for right-wing extremists or profit-driven health insurance companies discriminating against us."

Soon the U.S. Senate will be reviewing an international treaty that could dramatically advance women's rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The U.S. is one of the very few countries that have not ratified this treaty since it was introduced some three decades ago. Known as the "women's treaty," CEDAW addresses many areas where women are denied equal treatment and opportunity.

Unfortunately, a set of conditions have been attached to CEDAW -- known as Reservations, Declarations and Understandings (RDUs) -- which place severe restrictions on various parts of the treaty as it would be applied in the U.S. Currently, the treaty and its attached conditions are being reviewed by various executive agencies. Send a message to President Obama urging that all unnecessary, undesirable and objectionable RDUs be eliminated before the treaty is sent to the Senate for their advice and consent.

If there is a hell on earth for women and girls, it surely must be found in Afghanistan. Desperate poverty persists and gender-based violence is increasing. The Afghan Women Empowerment Act, S. 229, would give Afghan women and girls a chance at a better life with more opportunities. Take action now!

The first-ever hearing on important work/family legislation, the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 2460), is being held tomorrow, June 11, in the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the Healthy Families Act would guarantee seven paid sick days per year for workers at businesses with 15 or more employees, to be used to recover from routine illnesses, care for a sick family member or seek services to recover from domestic violence.

We need your help to urge your Representative to become a co-sponsor -- if they have not already done so -- and to take leadership in moving this important bill to a floor vote. Working people need assurance that if they or a loved one becomes ill they will not lose their jobs and that a critically needed paycheck will be there when they most need it.

We are angered. We are saddened. And we will not be silenced. We must redouble our efforts to maintain safe and legal access to abortion and birth control. When you sign this pledge, you can choose to send a message to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and let them know that the murder and intimidation of abortion providers is domestic terrorism.

Countless military women and military spouses are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. It is estimated that rates of marital abuse in the military are two to five times higher than civilian rates of domestic violence. Moreover, one in three women in the military will be sexually assaulted during their tour of duty. Ending sexual violence against women in the military must start now!

Ask your senators to support upcoming legislation to guarantee federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for a new child, as a first step toward universal paid leave.

The House version of the Paycheck Fairness Act was passed in January, and now it's time for Senate action. The House passed both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, but the Senate considered and passed ONLY the Ledbetter legislation. In order to build up steam for this bill, we need to DOUBLE the number of Senate sponsors; currently, there are only 26 co-sponsors.