Marching for women’s lives and a sustainable future
by Cynthia Mathews
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Local marchers carry
the Sierra Club banner in Washington, D.C. Photo
- Cynthia Mathews
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An estimated one million people gathered in Washington DC on April
25 for the historic March For Women's Lives. The Sierra Club was
represented as both a national sponsor and by participants from
the Monterey Bay Area.
The March, said to be the largest such event ever held in the nation's
capitol, was designed to focus public attention on current threats
to reproductive choice, and to inspire a new generation of activists
to defend reproductive rights and services.
The March represented an unusually diverse coalition, with other
major sponsors including Planned Parenthood, NOW, ACLU, NAACP, and
Feminist Majority. Local Sierra Club members Linda Brodman, Carol
Fuller, and Santa Cruz City Councilmember Cynthia Mathews were among
the estimated 100 local residents who participated in the March.
The local delegation carried Sierra Club placards as well as a large
pro-choice banner representing the Reproductive Rights Network,
a community coalition of over 50 local organizations, including
the Sierra Club.
Scholarships totaling nearly $3,000 helped approximately 15 local
students and health care workers attend the historic event. Organizers
estimated that one third of the participants were under the age
of 25.
The Sierra Club has long recognized that promoting access to family
planning and reproductive choice is an essential component for improving
the status of women and stabilizing world population for a sustainable
future.
Our planet is now home to more than 6 billion people, with a projected
50% increase in the next fifty years. With almost one-half of the
global population under the age of 25, the choices families make
today will have a tremendous impact on the future.
One of the most comprehensive ways to address rapid population growth
is through voluntary family planning programs. The Sierra Club supports
the highest levels of funding without restrictions for domestic
and international family planning programs.
Meeting the basic needs for family planning and reproductive health
services now is a necessary investment for an improved environmental
future.
For more information contact: Cynthia Mathews, 425-1551 x29 or mathews@cruzio.com.
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