The National Organization for Women commends the jury in the Scott Roeder trial for its swift guilty verdict and for not being fooled by the outrageous defense claim of justifiable terrorism. Roeder sat on the stand this week and described the horrific ways he had planned to maim or kill Dr. George Tiller, and he admitted outright to murdering the doctor at his church last May.

Statement of NOW President Terry O'Neill

President Obama's State of the Union speech was never expected to be a policy address about women's rights, but women were keenly listening to every line -- and paying close attention to the messages between the lines, or left unsaid altogether.

The president acknowledged the alarming state of the economy, and the fierce challenges facing workers, homeowners, retirees and young people. But he did not explicitly remind Congress that women are suffering disproportionately in the current recession -- seeing more foreclosures, less health care coverage, worse predatory loan practices and struggling to support their families on incomes depressed by a persistent wage gap.

NOW President Terry O'Neill stated, "Today we celebrate the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which recognized a woman's constitutional right to legal abortion. However, we recognize that in 2010 women's ability to exercise this basic right is under attack as never before, not only by domestic terrorism but also in the halls of Congress. Just last summer, Wichita physician Dr. George Tiller was murdered as he attended church services, and today his admitted killer is being allowed to make the novel argument that his heinous act was not murder because he was driven by religious zeal. In Washington, after months of debate over health care reform, we find ourselves wondering whether the leadership in Congress and the president we worked so hard to elect in 2008 will ultimately stand up to the Catholic Bishops and other extremists bent on dismantling Roe and reject their demands for sweeping anti-abortion provisions in the reform bill. More than ever, we must fight for women's fundamental human right to have access to safe and legal abortion."

On Friday, Jan. 22, the National Organization for Women (NOW) will hold its annual rally and vigil at the U.S. Supreme Court, commemorating and celebrating the 37th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision affirming women's constitutional right to abortion.

"One year ago today we were celebrating a new president who said he was pro-choice, a Congress promising to defend reproductive rights, and hopes for stronger policy to protect women's fundamental right to abortion care," says NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Since then, our reproductive rights have come under severe attack, with unprecedented restrictions threatening abortion care coverage in the name of 'health care reform.' In May, our dear friend Dr. George Tiller -- a man who for 33 years defended women's constitutional right to access safe abortion care -- was murdered in his own church," said O'Neill.

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NOW President Terry O'Neill calls the ruling a dangerous and potentially deadly precedent. "Judge Wilbert's ruling allows Roeder, in effect, to make out a claim of justifiable terrorism -- that is, that Roeder was justified because of his religious ideology," said O'Neill. "Murder driven by ideological zealotry is a form of terrorism. What's really disturbing about Judge Wilbert's irresponsible ruling is that it could easily encourage other religious extremists to attack health care providers as a justifiable means of stopping women from obtaining abortions."

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The National Organization for Women congratulates former NOW president Kim Gandy on her new position as vice president and general counsel at the Feminist Majority and the Feminist Majority Foundation. Gandy served in national NOW office for 22 years, including two terms as the organization's president, ending in July 2009. She recently completed a resident fellowship at the Harvard Institute of Politics, where she taught a series of seminars on "Winning Across Progressive Movements."

"The Feminist Majority would be hard-pressed to find a more experienced and committed feminist leader than Kim Gandy," said NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Her passion for social justice, combined with her political insight and legal background, make her a perfect choice for this post."

Statement of Terry O'Neill, NOW President, "The U.S. Senate sent a last-minute holiday "gift" which half the country will find difficult to accept. In a disappointing move that sets women's reproductive rights back, the U.S. Senate voted on final passage of its version of health care reform. Last weekend Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sealed the 60th vote by caving into Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-Neb.) demands with a "compromise" that would eventually do away with private as well as public insurance coverage for abortion care. This dangerous provision not only further stigmatizes abortion care but it makes it nearly impossible for any health plans to offer comprehensive coverage."

Statement of Terry O'Neill, NOW President:

The so-called health care reform bill now before the Senate, with the addition of Majority Leader Harry Reid's Manager's Amendment, amounts to a health insurance bill for half the population and a sweeping anti-abortion law for the rest of us. And by the way, it's the rest of us who voted the current leadership into both houses of Congress.

The National Organization for Women is outraged that Senate leadership would cave in to Sen. Ben Nelson, offering a compromise that amounts to a Stupak-like ban on insurance coverage for abortion care. Right-wing ideologues like Nelson and the Catholic Bishops may not understand this, but abortion is health care. And health care reform is not true reform if it denies women coverage for the full range of reproductive health services.

We call on all senators who consider themselves friends of women's rights to reject the Manager's Amendment, and if it remains, to defeat this cruelly over-compromised legislation.

NOW President Terry O'Neill calls on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to refuse to make any deals to appease Ben Nelson or the Catholic Bishops or anyone else seeking to turn the health care bill into an anti-abortion vehicle.

Same-sex couples may soon be able to wed in the District of Columbia thanks to today's 11-2 vote by the D.C. Council.

"NOW commends the D.C. Council for acknowledging that the LGBT people of this city have a fundamental right to marry," said NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Same-sex couples should not be denied the protections and benefits that opposite-sex couples have always enjoyed."

The National Organization for Women congratulates Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley for her overwhelming victory in the Democratic primary in the special election to fill the late Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat. If Coakley prevails as expected in the Jan. 19 general election, she will be the first woman senator from the state of Massachusetts, and she will double to two the number of women in the state's current 12-member congressional delegation. The NOW Political Action Committee proudly endorsed Coakley in her run.

"As the first woman attorney general in Massachusetts, Martha Coakley has demonstrated commitment and leadership on a wide range of feminist issues," said NOW President and NOW/PAC Chair Terry O'Neill. "Most recently, her vocal opposition to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and its assault on health insurance coverage for abortion care proved that Martha is a force to be reckoned with when women's rights are at stake."

The National Organization for Women applauds the Senate for voting to table and effectively defeat the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to the health care reform bill. This victory is just one small step, however, toward enacting health care reform that recognizes health care as a human right, abortion as health care and women as deserving of coverage that meets all of their medical needs.

The Nelson-Hatch Amendment would have instituted a ban on abortion care coverage in the proposed health insurance exchanges, which are expected to serve tens of millions of people. It would have far extended the Hyde Amendment's already shameful restrictions on abortion funding. It would have betrayed the promise that no one would lose health care coverage they currently have due to reform. And, in all likelihood, this prohibition on abortion coverage would have spread industry-wide in little time.

The National Organization for Women thanks Senator Barbara Mikulski for introducing the Women's Health Amendment, which would require all health plans to cover women's preventive care including mammograms and cervical cancer screenings.

The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee is proud to announce our endorsement of Lois Herr for Congress in Pennsylvania's 16th District. Lois is taking on the all-important challenge of unseating Rep. Joe Pitts, co-author of the outrageous Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Lois rightly called this amendment "a direct attack on the freedom and privacy of American women."

"Once again, women's reproductive rights are under attack in this country," said NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Anti-choice legislators are using health care reform as an opportunity to further restrict women's access to abortion. One such plunderer is Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Pitts, who co-authored an amendment to deny millions of women abortion coverage, and then when the Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed, Pitts voted against the main bill anyway."

The Associated Press reports that Scott Roeder has confessed to shooting late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in May at a Wichita church. Roeder told AP he intends to use the so-called necessity defense at his trial -- arguing he was protecting unborn children.

"The absurdity of his defense is insulting and dangerous to women, but it also reveals his terrorist methodology using murder to accomplish his political goals," says NOW President Terry O'Neill. "It is precisely this unrepentant domestic terrorism -- and those who fund it -- that must be stopped or else we will see more clinic violence and people will be killed," said O'Neill.

NOW is calling on the Obama Administration and the Justice Department to treat this as domestic terrorism, and use every aspect of anti-terrorism laws to prosecute Roeder and to find and stop his funders. We urge the administration to freeze the assets of people or organizations, domestic and international, who helped fund and supported Roeder's anti-choice activities.

Statement of NOW President Terry O'Neill:

The House of Representatives has dealt the worst blow to women's fundamental right to self-determination in order to buy a few votes for reform of the profit-driven health insurance industry. We must protect the rights we fought for in Roe v. Wade. We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips millions of women of their existing access to abortion.

Birth control and abortion are integral aspects of women's health care needs. Health care reform should not be a vehicle to obliterate a woman's fundamental right to choose.

Statement of NOW President Terry O'Neill:

Tom Cable's history of violence against women raises a question: why is he still the head coach of an NFL team? Mr. Cable admits having battered his first wife, and he stands accused of battering two other intimate partners as well.

As a survivor of domestic violence, I know that women do not make such accusations lightly. Indeed, women have much more to lose than to gain by coming forward to tell their stories. The Oakland Raiders, properly, say they are undergoing a "serious evaluation" of these recent allegations. At the very least Mr. Cable should be suspended during this process. But I don't understand why he doesn't simply step down, admit he has a problem, and get some help. A man who had admitted battering his wife has no business being a role model for all of us who would like to be able to look up to the head coach of an NFL football team.

The National Organization for Women is extremely saddened by the rejection of fairness for same-sex couples in Maine, while cheering a victory in Washington state.

Last May, Maine ended marriage discrimination for same-sex couples by allowing them to marry. Last night, voters rejected that decision by taking away that right.

"This defeat is a painful setback for loving same-sex couples and their families in Maine, but the fight is not over," says NOW President Terry O'Neill. "NOW activists will continue the struggle to eliminate discrimination and realize the promise of equality and fairness."

NOW offers condolences to the family of Richard Schroeder, who died Thursday night. The death is being investigated as very suspicious, according to local police.

A retired U.S. marshal, Schroeder had provided protection to Dr. George Tiller, a heroic abortion provider who was murdered outside of his church in May.

Schroeder risked his own life to protect Dr. Tiller, and in doing so he ensured that women could exercise their fundamental right to safe and legal abortion. NOW honors and appreciates his legacy and we will closely monitor the developments of this case.

In a campaign promise fulfilled, President Obama signed the first significant pro-lesbian, pro-woman, pro-disability rights legislation today. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act expands the 1969 federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.

"The Matthew Shepard Act is a significant victory for all of us," said NOW President Terry O'Neill, "I am thrilled that the dedication and hard work of our activists around the country have paid off."

For years now, advertisers and fashion magazines have airbrushed photos to turn models into the latest beauty ideal. Women and girls are constantly bombarded with these artificial images -- fantasies they can't possibly live up to in real life.

That's why the NOW Foundation is celebrating its 12th annual Love Your Body Day on Oct. 21. This campaign is a giant shout out to the fashion, beauty, diet and advertising industries: No more fake images! Show us real women, diverse women, strong women, bold women. And to the women and girls who are targeted by messages telling them that the key to success and happiness is manufactured beauty, we say: It's okay to "Be You" -- the true you is beautiful.

Every woman -- and every man -- deserves to work in a place where all employees are respected for their talents and skills. The National Organization for Women calls on CBS to recognize that Letterman's behavior creates a toxic environment and to take action immediately to rectify this situation. With just two women on CBS' Board of Directors, we're not holding our breath.

"Celebrity Culture Gone Haywire" Blurs Case, O'Neill Says

National Organization for Women (NOW) president Terry O'Neill said today that attempts to trivialize or dismiss criminal charges against film director Roman Polanski would undermine the message that sexual abuse is "Never OK."

"Powerful friends of Polanski and a scandal-hungry media are attempting to portray this as a 'Hollywood versus Middle America' story, to quote a headline from the L.A. Times," O'Neill said. "But this is an example of celebrity culture gone haywire. Polanki is a convicted criminal pedophile who raped a 13-year old girl, and fled the country to avoid serving his sentence. Making excuses for Roman Polanski is dangerous talk. What message does this send to victims and potential victims of sexual abuse today?"

The National Organization for Women is proud to endorse the grassroots National Equality March taking place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11, 2009. In the 21st century, it is simply outrageous not to have full equality under the law for all people, including women, lesbians and women of color -- and we have a moral obligation to change that.

Throughout history, the struggle for civil rights and social justice has changed the face of private and public institutions. Yet, discrimination remains rampant, particularly against lesbians. NOW recognizes that no woman will have full equality under the law until all women have full equality under the law.