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Anti-choice City Coucilmen
Liza wrote about this, but I think she de-emphasized the key point by not including it on the front page. Eight NYC City Councilmen (YES, all men) voted AGAINST the Clinic Access Bill (Prop. Int. 826), which provides much needed protections for women’s access to reproductive health clinics across the city. So these 8 council members voted AGAINST helping women get easy access to reproductive health clinics in NYC/
These are the anti-choice City Councilmen in NYC:
Councilmembers Tony Avella, Simcha Felder, Vincent Ignizio, Kenneth Mitchell, Eric Ulrich, James Vacca, Peter Vallone, and James Oddo
Tony Avella is often considered a progressive, yet he voted against this bill and he voted for public religious displays, something which I consider against the separation of church and state. I will say that on many issues I agree with Avella, and I like Avella, but we HAVE to consider his anti-choice and his anti-separation of church and state stands that he has taken. This is why I support Bill Thompson over Tony Avella for mayor.
I should also note that I support a solidly progressive, pro-choice candiate Steve Behar who is running against another member of the Vallone campaign in the 19th.
As to the others, I do not off hand know of good challengers against these guys, but if you know of such, please let me know.
Re: Anti-choice City Coucilmen
Some I would expect to vote the way they did but Kenny Mitchell is a Dem just elected to replace Mike McMahon in the 49th North Shore on Staten Island and he voted against this! Just like his former boss, Mike McMahon, Mitchell is a DINO and I hope he's in a primary for this seat in September and loses. You hear me Debi Rose.
Corrections
First off, I corrected Paul vs. Peter Vallone. I had forgotten that there was another Vallone crawling out of the woodwork.
Second, NO, Avella is NOT right about mixing church and state. Try reading your Constitution and the writings of the Founding Fathers. In fact "In God We Trust" is not what the founding fathers considered our motto. "E Pluribus Unum" was preferable.
Third, your arguement regarding dates is spurious. Is our use of the names of pagan gods for the days of our week mean anything? You are honoring Tiw, Odin, Thor and Frigga every week.
Finally, this is not about freedom of speech. No one is preventing people from protesting. They are preventing people from infringing on the rights of others. This is about protecting the rights of women. You do not have the right to try and block someone from getting propre healthcare. You do not have the right to block access to any business, clinics included. People have the right to protest, but that right does not extend to infringing on the rights of others. Do I have the right to block access to a person's church? I don't think so.
A serious comment
I was sadly disappointed to see that eight City Council members voted against this bill. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't go far enough to protect people from the hypocritical acts of self-proclaimed "pro-lifers," many of whom favor the death penalty.