Dear Friends,

Conservatives in Congress claim to support limited government and stand for the rights of individual citizens to make their own decisions without federal intervention.  But as you know, they often propose hypocritical policies that conflict with those claims.  And they’re at it again!

Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) has recently found a new way to combine two of conservatives’ favorite hypocrisies: interfering with women’s reproductive health decisions AND exerting federal control over people living in the District of Columbia.  Rep. Franks introduced H.R. 3803, a bill that would make nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy illegal -- but only for women in Washington, D.C.  This legislation would deny D.C. women access to the abortion care they need against the will of the democratically elected policymakers who represent the people of D.C.

Reproductive justice and D.C. voting rights activists joined forces last week for a demonstration against this extreme anti-choice legislation in front of Rep. Franks' district office in Arizona.  This week, we’re asking you to add power to this message by calling his Washington, D.C. office and urging him to withdraw H.R. 3803.

D.C. residents have a local government but no vote in Congress.  They are subject to the whims of politicians in the Congress and have almost no power to hold these hypocrites accountable.  But you can help the women of Washington, D.C. by speaking up for their rights!  Rep. Franks is using Washington, D.C. as his own personal laboratory to test his extreme, unconstitutional anti-choice legislation.  You can stop him.

Tell Rep. Franks to focus on Arizona and the needs of his constituents -- not on the reproductive lives of the 620,000 D.C. citizens he does not represent.  Tell him you won’t sit by silently while he abuses his authority and imposes his personal political agenda on people whose democratic rights he is violating.

Please act today and call Rep. Franks' office at (202) 225-4576, send him an email with the language provided below, or both! Urge him to:

• focus on Arizona and stay out of D.C.'s business; and
• withdraw the extreme, unconstitutional anti-choice bill, H.R. 3803
  

Email text you can send to Representative Trent Franks:

Dear Rep. Franks:

You claim that you support limited government, but you’re trying to use the power of the federal government to control the reproductive lives of women living in Washington, D.C.  H.R. 3803 is an extreme, unconstitutional bill that would deny women needed medical care.

Please focus on Arizona, and stay out of D.C.’s business.  Withdraw H.R. 3803 today!

Thank you for standing up for reproductive and democratic rights!


Cindy Pearson
Executive Director