FCLNY UPDATE, AUGUST 2018
Feminists Choosing Life of NY
& Margaret Colin
NYC Luncheon Fund Raiser
FCLNY is hosting its first NYC luncheon fund raiser, on September 20, 2018 . Please join us as we celebrate pro-life feminism and the consistent life ethic, with stage and screen actor Margaret Colin !

FCLNY depends on broad public support. Please consider attending this event or donating to the work of FCLNY.
August 25 2018 Health Fair and Rally
RCBI Community Health Fair
Women’s Equality Day Rally
Feminists Choosing Life of New York, 
Rochester Community Betterment, &
Grace Community Fellowship
Together, We’re Addressing Women’s Issues.

Please come join us as we help meet the needs of women and raise awareness of pro-life feminism in addition to the impact of abortion on women and minority populations. 
FEMINISTS CHOOSING LIFE OF NEW YORK & GLOBAL CENTURION
 SEX TRAFFICKING, FEMALE POVERTY AND FEMINISM
 
The executive directors of FCLNY and Global Centurion (GC) are conducting a lecture series at colleges and universities throughout New York in 2018-2019, titled,  S ex Trafficking, Female Poverty and Feminism: The Quest for Equality .  Laura Lederer, JD, executive director and founder of GC is one of the world’s premier experts in human trafficking. She currently serves as a Subject Matter Expert on Human Trafficking for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Trafficking in their Office of Trafficking in Persons and the Family Youth Services Bureau. For more information on our executive director, Michele Sterlace-Accorsi, JD, LLM, please see her biography on our website.
 
The lecture, which includes a Q & A, provides a general outline of the nature and scope of the problem of human trafficking in the U.S.  It briefly addresses federal and New York State laws that apply to sex trafficking, the health consequences of sex trafficking on females,  including coerced abortion,  and how federal, state and private sector policy and practices can better address human trafficking.  In addition, the symposium explores the phenomenon of sex trafficking within the contours of modern feminism and human rights.
 
The lecture’s design provides empirical information and unique analysis. It is crafted to inspire students to comprehensively and critically think about several of the most pressing matters of our time.
 
Please see our Web Calendar for Locations and Dates.
FEMINISTS CHOOSING LIFE OF NEW YORK AND THE CENTER FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS
EUGENIC ABORTION & THE PUSH TO DEHUMANIZE THE DISABLED 
FCLNY's executive director Michele Sterlace-Accorsi and Stephanie Woodward , JD, the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights are conducting a panel discussion on eugenic abortion. The conversation will focus on and discuss the medical community's practice of referring pregnant women for abortions, where pre-natal screening tests indicate the unborn child is disabled or will be born with 'birth defects.' The public discussion will also explore ways in which communities, including the medical establishment can become better educated about the lives of people with disabilities, particularly to help dispel myths and negative conventional beliefs regarding the disabled. In addition, the panel will highlight current medical protocols and potential amendments for addressing pregnancy and abortion referrals, where test results indicate the unborn child may be disabled. 

Ms. Woodward attended Syracuse University College of Law where she earned her J.D. with a certificate in Disability Law and Policy and her M.S.Ed. in Disability Studies. Ms. Woodward has also worked as a litigator in Miami, Florida focusing on Disability Rights law. Stephanie is a proud disabled person and member of ADAPT, a national grass-roots community that organizes to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom. 

The panel will include other participates, including pregnant women who have felt pressured to abort because of pre-natal screening results, indicating birth defects. On a date prior to the panel presentation, a focus group discussion and resulting position paper will be completed. The paper will inform the substance of the panel, the content of which is thus subject to adjustment. 

Exact Location and Date TBA. 
FEMINISTS CHOOSING LIFE OF NEW YORK AND LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY 
 THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT, S.2796  
We did it! Along with the voices of other coalitions, your voices made a difference! 
The RHA failed to pass during the NYS 2018 Legislative Session, but the Governor is calling upon the Senate to reconvene.  
 
Supporters of the RHA unsuccessfully pushed for its passage four (4) times during the 2018 NYS Legislative Session. But for the courage and conviction of EVERY Republican Senator (except for Senator Croci, on leave) and Democrat Simcha Felder this bill would have become law. 
 
As you know, the RHA allows for abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy, empowers non-doctors to perform abortions and precludes enactment of reasonable standards surrounding abortion, such as parental notification, informed consent and 24 hour wait periods. This bill also potentially re-victimizes victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence by removing any reference to abortion from NYS’s criminal codes.
 
Since the defeat of the RHA and the close of the legislative session Governor Cuomo has been calling on the Senate to reconvene and pass the RHA. He claims enacting the RHA is urgent because of the potential overturning of Roe vs. Wade. NYS, however, legalized 1st and 2nd trimester abortions for  any reason ,  years before Roe was decided. 
 
It is imperative we keep the pressure ON!

Please reach out to REPUBLICAN SENATORS, by phone, email or a FB post to say:
 
Thank you for your dedication to human rights and for opposing the Reproductive Health Act during the 2018 legislative session. This bill hurts and exploits women. Even if Roe is overturned, abortion would still be legal in NY for  any reason  up until the 24th week of pregnancy.  
 
Contact information for all NYS Senators can be simply located at  www.nysenate.gov
Feminists Choosing Life of New York
AN UNSAFE SPACE: EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM
FCLNY is currently organizing a 2019 academic symposium that will explore what it means to be a feminist in the 21st century. The symposium will usher in and jump start the national celebration of the Centennial of Woman’s Suffrage, 2020. 
 
The symposium’s purpose is to provide a cutting edge forum for discussing the historical and evolving definition of feminism, the nuanced and discrete theories contemporary feminism contains, and how these definitions and theories apply to systemic violence currently faced by women, including abortion. It aims to produce a modern version of the ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ first created by our feminist foremothers.
 
The symposium’s format will consist of three to four separate panel discussions, with each panel consisting of a widely recognized pro-choice feminist and pro-life feminist scholar. The panels will address one particular sub-topic aligned with the symposium’s purpose.
 
FCLNY wants the symposium’s audience to experience smart and robust discussion, while learning about the diverse facets of feminism and areas of commonality. FCLNY’s executor director is the moderator of the symposium. She will use her advanced degree in conflict resolution from the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution to ensure the productive and peaceful exchange of ideas.  
 
Summer, 2019. Exact Location and Date TBA.