"We won't let the hearing on Tommy Thompson be hidden behind the hype over his ultra-conservative counterpart John Ashcroft," said NOW President Patricia Ireland. "The record of Thompson, Bush's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, is equally horrid on women's right issues. Just as feminists have protested outside Ashcroft's hearings we will also protest outside Thompson's."

"Senators who vote to confirm these radical-right poster boys could be in for a rude awakening in their next elections. The majority of voters in this country, and women in particular, reject the ultra-conservative agenda time and time again," Ireland said. "Women's organizations with millions of constituents from across the country are calling on the U.S. Senate to reject the nominations of Ashcroft and Thompson."

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