egg rights bean chipped away

Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: This is Personal

Some members of Congress are working overtime trying to place restrictions on women's reproductive health care.

This January, a new Congress, including many newly elected members, will get to work. Lawmakers either can set a new, positive agenda on women's health, or they can spend another two years trying to limit your ability to make decisions about your own reproductive health.

If women speak up now -- loudly and in one voice -- we can send the message that decisions about our reproductive health are not up for debate.

Will you sign our petition?

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/601/313/097/?z00m=20432522

Over 40K e-signatures in 5 weeks so far, though some are from outside US. (Well-meaning, but won't sway Congress at all.)

The last bit in the short blurb on the sign-up page strikes me as unnecessarily limiting:

If women speak up now -- loudly and in one voice -- we can send the message that decisions about our reproductive health are not up for debate.

It'd be nice to see something like this say instead "if people speak up now..." or, more pointedly, "if voters speak up now...". Why should this be an issue that only women care about, or speak up about?

Any idea whether it's more effective to sign something like this, or contact your elected representative? (Not that there's anything preventing a US resident from doing both.)

I would suspect contacting your representative might make more of a difference; a bit more personal, and that person knows you could very well be a vote for or against him or her in the next election.

It'd be nice to see something like this say instead "if people speak up now..." or, more pointedly, "if voters speak up now...". Why should this be an issue that only women care about, or speak up about?

yeah.

Any idea whether it's more effective to sign something like this, or contact your elected representative? (Not that there's anything preventing a US resident from doing both.)

I'm not American but I'd have thought contacting your rep, if enough do it to get their attention, is more effective. Petitions are good at getting big numbers tho.

I occasionally email my MP about these sort of campaigns. I get an acknowledgement from his assistant, and if it's something he's interested in (or feels he needs to show an interest in) I'll get a reply from him.