NOW Political Action Committee
Endorses Connie Saltonstall for Stupak Seat

Statement of NOW President and NOW/PAC Chair Terry O'Neill

March 17, 2010

The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee is proud to announce our endorsement of Connie Saltonstall for Congress, representing Michigan's 1st District. Saltonstall is taking on reproductive rights foe and health care reform obstructer Rep. Bart Stupak in the state's Democratic primary this August.

What a relief that a courageous feminist candidate stepped up to the plate to challenge the co-author of the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Thanks to Connie Saltonstall, Stupak's bullying attempts to use health care reform as an opportunity to restrict women's access to abortion will be contested at the polls. Saltonstall stated: "I believe that [Stupak] has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible."

Saltonstall is a strong supporter of the full range of feminist issues, including reproductive justice, affirmative action, pay equity, constitutional equality and equal marriage rights. More specifically, she is in favor of repealing the Hyde Amendment, fully funding the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, rescinding the Defense Of Marriage Act, expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to add paid leave, and undoing the Bush-era damage done to Title IX.

Saltonstall ran for state representative in 2008 and served as a Charlevoix County commissioner in 2006. Her background includes both education and business. She taught fourth grade in the Charlevoix Schools and in 1978 was elected to the Charlevoix Board of Education, then appointed to the Michigan Association of School Boards Taxation Committee and recently completed a three-year term on the Charlevoix County Commission on Aging.

Saltonstall may be entering the race with less than six months for campaigning, but she has the force of many outraged women and men behind her. The recent health care reform negotiations have demonstrated just how vulnerable reproductive rights are when we don't have true feminist champions in Congress. NOW/PAC is pleased that a stellar candidate like Saltonstall has emerged, and we look forward to sending her to Capitol Hill to fight for the rights of women and girls.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki c. 202-641-1906, w. 202-628-8669, ext. 116

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