CONTACT: JENI HYDER, DIANE MINOR

NOW LEADER SAYS MISOGYNIST `CONTRACT ON AMERICA' SHOULD NOT PLAY IN PEORIA OR ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.; ORGANIZES ILLINOIS ACTIVISTS FOR MASSIVE APRIL 9 RALLY

"It's time to show the 104th Congress, President Clinton and the nation that women will no longer tolerate institutionalized violence designed to keep us in our place," Dempsey said. "This includes the violence in our homes and in the streets, anti-abortion terrorism and the tyrannical measures of the Republican Contract ON America."

Dempsey is an activist attourney who founded of one of the first battered women's shelters in the country and organized New Jersey's first Women Take Back the Night marches. Since being elected NOW's Action Vice President in 1990, Dempsey has traveled to campuses around the country, motivating thousands of people to attend NOW's record-breaking 1992 abortion rights march.

Tour Highlights

Press Conference, 1:30 p.m., 2/16, Ill. State, Bloomington; _Public Lecture, 7 p.m., 2/16, Ill. State, Bloomington; _Press Conference, 1 p.m., 2/17, Springfield;

University and community college appearances: Northwestern, 2/14; Harper & Moraine Valley Community Colleges, 2/15; Illinois State, 2/16.

Rosemary Dempsey's tour to mobilize Illinois activists is part of NOW's 100 Days of Action designed to counter Republican plans for the first 100 Days of Congress, as spelled out in the Contract ON America. NOW's actions will culminate with a massive Rally For Women's Lives April 9 on the mall in front of the U.S. Capitol, which will call for an end to all violence against women, anti- abortion violence, the Contract ON America and the war on poor women.