Meeting in his brother Jeb Bush's backyard, activists at NOW's National Conference in Miami Beach this weekend vowed to beat George W. Bush in November.
"Women won't elect a president who disregards our rights and isn't concerned with our lives. During the next four months, NOW will shine a spotlight on Governor Bush's pitiful record in his home state. Under Bush, Texas has ranked last in the nation in health care, reproductive freedom, and teachers' salaries and benefits," NOW President Patricia Ireland said. "At the same time, Texas ranks first in the country for pollution and percentage of children without health insurance. Texas rates last in quality criminal defense for poor defendants and number one in executions. And this man who calls himself a compassionate conservative mocked death row inmate Betty Lou Beets, sneering that she begged 'Please don't kill me'."
"Bush supported an anti-abortion rights law that even this Supreme Court rejected," Ireland continued. "In a recent 5-4 decision that upheld reproductive freedom, Bush's favorite justices—Scalia and Thomas—were in the minority. These are the same two justices who lead a one-vote majority in gutting the Violence Against Women Act and other civil rights remedies. With women's rights at the mercy of such a closely split court, a Bush presidency could turn the tide against us with even one more politically conservative appointment."
At the Conference, NOW defined a strategy to step up get-out-the-vote efforts for feminist candidates running in presidential battleground states where votes against Bush are also crucial. NOW will also work with supporters of Vermont's civil unions legislation, who face tough re-election campaigns this fall. NOW activists committed to take action on issues including mifepristone (RU-486), the Violence Against Women Act and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. NOW pledged to support protests at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer, building momentum for the World March of Women 2000.
"NOW activists are returning to their chapters and states ready to elect the candidates who support women's rights and challenge head-on those who don't," Ireland said. "We will unite again on October 15 in Washington, D.C., for the World March of Women 2000, calling for equality and an end to violence against women and poverty worldwide. Women will take the energy and the issues from this march to the polls in November."