Family Planning Advocacy Conference, January 1999
Deborah Zipf

With the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian and the rising political influence of the “religious right,” this year’s Family Planning Advocacy conference in Albany took on new urgency. Westchester NOW members Luba Fineson, Jon Wegienek, Sioux Taylor, Leslye Smith and Deborah Zipf attended, covering workshops and lobbying Westchester legislators.

Priority issue this year is safe access to clinics. It was gratifying to be announced to the Assembly as Audrey Hochberg’s guests, to hear the debate after Assemblywoman Susan John introduced the bill, and to cheer its passage. It would have been more gratifying to have had the same experience in the Senate, where despite pressure, Senator Bruno has refused to allow the bill to come to the floor. Other issues: insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives, so that women need no longer spend 68% more than men the same age for out-of-pocket health costs (90% of HMO’s and insurance companies cover Viagra); mergers between religious and secular hospitals which may result in the loss of reproductive health care services to the community; comprehensive sexuality education in every New York school district, and the very fundamental principle that women and their doctors be trusted to make decisions about abortion.

Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, speaking to over a thousand listeners, said, “When I was in Washington . . . I heard a lot of politicians, but I never met a single one who was good enough and knew enough to make the decision for a woman.”  Political satire from The Capitol Steps lightened the mood, and Barry Lynn, Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, saying plainly that “They seek a theocracy – theirs,” sent attendees home with a heightened awareness of the power and intent of the right wing agenda.

Legislators were cordial, workshops were productive, meals were great and it was a pleasure to talk with colleagues from across the state. It’s a pity, though, that NOW must still lobby for rights which should have been granted and issues which should have been settled long since.