Election Countdown

Election Countdown!

With the presidential election quickly approaching, we thought we’d give you a run down on Bush's dismal record on women's rights, GLBT rights, comprehensive sex education, funding for AIDS programs, and reproductive rights. We hope this will galvanize you to register to vote, or to make your voice heard, so we’ve provided some useful links at the end of this list.

• As one of his first acts in office, Bush renewed the Global Abortion Gag Order, which prevents federal funding of international family planning organizations that provide abortion services or counseling with their own funds.
• Bush blocked funding to crucial international family planning organizations like UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
• While publicly promising billions of dollars for programs like his Emergency AIDS Initiative and the Global Fund for AIDS, Bush consistently falls short on his funding proposals by millions—and sometimes billions.
• Bush does not stand up for women's rights. His administration has refused to sign treaties like CEDAW, the Treaty for Women's Rights, which has already been ratified by 177 UN countries.
• Bush signed into law the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which banned late-term abortions regardless of the mother’s health or danger to her life.
• Bush backs the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to forbid same-sex marriage.
• Under a Bush appointee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have prepared new guidelines that would require AIDS education programs that receive federal funding to push abstinence-only education and to emphasize the "lack of effectiveness of condom use" in their published materials.
  

What can you do to help turn the tide of this election?

Register and Resist.

Throughout September, you can drop into any of our Toys in Babeland stores and register to vote. (You’ll be eligible to enter the Voter Raffle! The prize is a gift basket of Toys in Babeland goodies.) You can also find out how to register online. The good folks at www.justvote.org will show you the way no matter where you live.

The Personal is Political.

Make sure your friends, family, and neighbors are registered to vote and that they can make it to the polls on November 2. If they need a lift to get there, help 'em out. If they need you to babysit, hook 'em up. Leave voter registration forms on community notice boards. Send out an e-mail reminding people to vote. Plan a party for November 2 to watch the results come in.

Go Team!

Support kick-ass organizations like MoveOn and MoveOn PAC, No Vote Left Behind, Election Protection, and Driving Votes. They are already registering people to vote,educating voters, putting together television ads, training volunteer election monitors, and sending people door-to-door in swing states.   Here's some web sites to help you support such groups.

MoveOn
MoveOn PAC
No Vote Left Behind
Electrion Protection
Driving Votes
Global Women's Issues Scorecard

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