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Press Releases

May 23 2019
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Anti-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Language Fails to Pass in the House

By | International, News and Events, Press Releases, Support for Israel | No Comments

This afternoon an attempt to add anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) language to H.R. 1994, a retirement enhancement act, was narrowly defeated in the U.S. House with a vote of 200 to 222. Though bipartisan, the vote was largely along party lines with only 12 Democrats joining the Republicans in support. Anti-BDS language within this legislation would end foreign tax breaks for companies who boycott Israel. Shea Garrison, Concerned Women for America’s Vice President of International Affairs had this to say:

“At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise all around the world, it is a travesty that the U.S. House is unable to unite to support Israel, our most critical ally in the Middle East. Make no mistake, BDS is anti-Semitic. The founders of the BDS Movement have been explicitly clear: The BDS Movement opposes the very existence of Israel, or any Jewish state.

Although H.R. 1994 passed without the anti-BDS language, 12 Democrats and the majority of Republicans chose to stand with Israel, voting to send H.R. 1994 back to committee to ensure American’s don’t pay for foreign tax breaks of companies who engage in anti-Israel activity. However, those same 12 Democrats have yet to sign the petition to release the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East (SASME) Act of 2019, which contains the Combatting BDS Bill of 2019, to the House floor for a vote. An identical bill passed in the Senate with strong, bi-partisan support; yet Speaker Pelosi has blocked this legislation from getting a vote on the House floor.

Concerned Women for America calls on those same members who supported the anti-BDS motion today to immediately sign the discharge petition and get SASME to the House floor for a vote.

It is in America’s national interest to stand strong against anti-Semitic BDS. Support for Israel should be a non-partisan issue with complete bi-partisan cooperation. We ask the House to come together and condemn anti-Semitism in all forms.”

May 17 2019
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House Vote Betrays Women

By | Media Relations, Press Releases | No Comments

 

Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, the So-Called “Equality Act.”

Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, released the following statement:

“Today the U.S. House of Representatives tragically failed to protect women and girls. Speaker Pelosi’s deceptively-named “Equality Act” gives any man civil rights protections to claim he is a woman, at any time and for any reason. It erases Title IX fairness in sports and female safety and privacy rights in bathrooms, locker rooms, and women’s shelters. Today’s vote betrays women.

Mr. President, we urge you to stand against policies that abandon protections for women. The so-called “Equality Act” is a deeply flawed bill and an assault on women and girls in America.”

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May 16 2019
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The Deceptively Named “Equality Act” is a Threat to Women

By | Media Relations, News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) joined with Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-Missouri), Jody Hice (R-Georgia), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Carol Miller (R-West Virginia) to speak out about the Equality Act’s harmful effects on women and girls. Alongside the lawmakers, representatives from CWALAC, Women’s Liberation Front, Alliance Defending Freedom, Susan B. Anthony List and Family Research Council, were clear – the “Equality Act” will do away with women’s sports, safe spaces for women, and jeopardize parents’ jurisdiction over their child’s health care. It is dangerous for our country.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America LAC, issued the following statement:

“We are united in sending a clear message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in opposing the deceptively-named “Equality Act.” The Speaker has shut off debate and with it, any hope of addressing the serious issues in the so-called “Equality Act.”  This bill would enshrine “gender identity” in civil rights law as a new protected class of sex with no rules or standards for claiming the opposite sex.

This bill is extreme and dangerous. It is not about equality; it is about imposing a new form of discrimination against women and people of faith in our country. Our rights to safety, privacy, and conscience are abandoned under this bill, and women and girls put at greater risk.

Women will lose female protected status in bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms, and women’s shelters. Women will lose opportunities for scholarships and contracts. Female athletes will lose in unfair competition.

Congress should pass laws to protect women, not abandon us.”

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May 14 2019
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Women Across America Unite to Oppose Pelosi’s Threatening Equality Act

By | News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

WASHINGTON, DC – Concerned Women for America LAC, Women’s Liberation Front, Independent Women’s Voice, Save Women’s Sports, Hands Across the Aisle Coalition for Women, and many more united in sending a clear message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in opposition of the so-called “Equality Act,” which threatens protections and opportunities for women across America.

May 14, 2019

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC, 20515

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

Women are uniting in opposition to the so-called “Equality Act” because Congress should only pass laws that protect women, not threaten, silence or abandon us.  The Equality Act seeks to enshrine in civil rights law a new protected class of sex based on “gender identity” that claims no objective standard, medical diagnosis, or permanent intent.  Under this bill, gender identity is nothing more than a person’s perception of self that can be changed at any time, for any reason, and cannot be challenged.

The danger to women when biological men seek to claim female identity should seem obvious but is being ignored by proponents of this bill.  In the course of congressional debate, our voices have been shut out by members who deny these concerns and dismiss them as fearmongering.  Tragically, they are the ones willing to put women at risk by promoting a federal law that would overrule any restriction on gender identity claims and abolish the protections of biological sex-specific practices and spaces.

This is an affront to women, putting everything that women have worked to gain, our opportunities and protections, at risk.

As organizations representing hundreds of thousands of women across America, we call on Congress to reject the Equality Act.  We stand together against the threats to women proposed by this bill.

We refuse the demand, for ourselves and our daughters, to undress in front of female-identifying men in public accommodations or tolerate them undressing in front of us. Concerns seem obvious for women of faith who follow strict guidelines about interaction with the opposite sex, for victims of sexual assault, or for young girls in public restrooms and dressing rooms.  In our society, laws should seek to protect the safety and privacy of every woman and girl, not compromise them in the name of “equality”.  The weight of refusal should not be placed on our shoulders with the threat of legal jeopardy silencing us as would be the case in the Equality Act.

We refuse to accept that women in emergency shelters, in jail or in prison — women in desperate and vulnerable circumstances whose public voice is barely a whisper— will be forced to shower and share intimate quarters with biological men because others were too afraid to speak up for them.

We refuse to give up our rights to women-only sports. There are thousands of men and boys alive today who run faster than the fastest female runner who ever lived.  Puberty, testosterone, and innate biological differences give physical advantages to males that cannot be mitigated, disqualifying any female athlete from fair competition. To deny this is denying science. Title IX’s purpose and benefit will be negated for females under the so-called Equality Act.  The tragedy of this is already being seen in women’s sports and will only intensify.

We refuse to give up the few women-only scholarships and small business programs available. These programs are a necessary and proportional response to women’s historical exclusion from public life and commerce, as well as the different life and career paths women often take.

We refuse to allow security checkpoints at our nation’s airports, or other sensitive locations, from becoming sites of sexual harassment. Security officers should not be required to conduct body searches of people of the opposite sex, nor should members of the public be required to submit to intimate security checks by officers of the opposite sex.

We refuse to give up our right to accept only intimate medical care from female providers or to at least have a female chaperone during such care, if necessary. This is of particular concern for elderly women, or women and girls with profound disabilities, who might lack the capacity to report abuse by male caretakers.

We refuse to believe children innately require sterilization as minors, by chemical or surgical means, in order to affirm fluid gender perceptions, social stereotypes, or personal expressions. Society should seek to protect the health of children’s bodies and their natural course of maturation through the turbulent, often distressing years of growth and development.   The Equality Act would normalize the practice of gender transitioning of minors, which is dangerously on the rise, especially among adolescent girls.

Denying the dangers of the so-called Equality Act for women and girls is a disservice to honest debate.  We urge Congress to pass laws that protect and defend the rights and dignity of women and the gains we have made, not laws that risk our safety and our opportunities.  The Equality Act is a threat to women, and Congress should reject it.

Sincerely,

Beverly LaHaye
Chairman of the Board
Concerned Women for America LAC

Penny Nance
CEO & President
Concerned Women for America LAC

Natasha Chart
Chairman of the Board
Women’s Liberation Front

Heather R. Higgins
CEO
Independent Women’s Voice

Carrie Lukas
Vice President
Independent Women’s Voice

Meg Kilgannon, FCP
Hands Across the Aisle Coalition for Women

Kara Dansky
Chair – DMV Chapter
Women’s Liberation Front

Beth Stelzer, MLT, ACEHC
Member, US Powerlifting
Founder
Save Women’s Sports

Michelle Cretella, M.D.
Executive Director
American College of Pediatricians

Donna J. Harrison, M.D.
Executive Director
American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Elizabeth Kantor
Senior Editor at Regnery Publishing
Author of The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After

Mary Rice Hasson, JD
Director, Catholic Women’s Forum

Kate O’Beirne Fellow,
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Michelle Lentz
President
Child Protection League

Patricia Garibay
Founder and Executive Director
American Heritage Girls

Michelle Easton
President
Clare Booth Luce Center for Conservative Women

Nancy Schulze
Founder
Republican Congressional Wives Speakers

Cathy Ruse, JD
Senior Fellow and Director of Human Dignity
Family Research Council

Republican Women of Clifton

Kristen Waggoner
SVP of U.S. Legal Division & Communications
Alliance Defending Freedom

Sandy Rios
Director of Government Affairs
American Family Association

Stella Morabito
Author

Sheryl Kaufman
Member, Board of Directors
Americans for Limited Government

Marlo Tucker
State Director
Concerned Women for America of California

Ruth Smith
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of California

Terri Johannessen
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Florida

Tanya Ditty
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Georgia

Barbara Ferraro
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Hawaii

Deborah Leininger
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Illinois

Tamara Scott
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Iow

Barbara Saldivar
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Kansas

Sancha Haysbert-Smith
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Louisiana

Penny Morrell
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Maine

Bev Ehlen
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Missouri

Jill Noble
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Missouri

Haven Howard
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Missouri

Jill Siceloff Coward
State Director
Concerned Women for America of North Carolina

Linda Thorson
State Director
Concerned Women for America of North Dakota

Linda Schauer
State Director
Concerned Women for America of South Dakota

Rose Herman
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas

Ann Hettinger
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas

Kori Peterson
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas

Mary Smith
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas

Beverly Roberts
Area Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas

Toni DeLancey
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Virginia

Maureen Richardson
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Washington

Kelsey Good
Young Women for America National Coordinator
Concerned Women for America

Sarah Perry, JD
Director of Partnerships
Family Research Council

Rebecca Teti
Operations Director
Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship

(association for ID purposes only) 

—
Click here for a printer-friendly (.pdf) version of the letter.

May 10 2019
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CWA Joins “Pro-Life Rally Against Bullying” and Addresses Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims’ Behavior

By | News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

Washington, D.C. – Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims (D) shared videos of himself ranting and berating praying women and girls outside of a Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia. In his videos, he intimidated and harassed the women and offered to pay his viewers to identify them by name, find out where they live, and then to harass and endanger them.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issues the following statement in response:

“Watching these videos of an elected official in the state of Pennsylvania harass and berate peaceful, praying women and girls should infuriate women all over this nation. Regardless of ideology, faith, or political party, this type of bullying behavior is unacceptable in this country. People of faith have every right to pray in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic. The faith-based community has come together over this incredibly offensive behavior and wants bullies like Brian Sims to know that when you attack one of our own, you will have to answer to all of us. This behavior is not OK.”

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May 02 2019
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Victory for Religious Liberty

By | News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

Victory for All Americans

Washington, D.C. –  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a final rule to protect the “conscience” rights of our nation’s health care professionals. This new rule will allow health care workers to follow their moral and religious convictions about the services they provide without discrimination. President Trump made the announcement at a National Day of Prayer event Thursday.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America (CWA) applauded the administration’s move and made the following statement:

“Religious liberty lies at the foundations of American values. President Donald J. Trump’s Administration honors and respects the very essence of liberty by ensuring these principles are protected. The hundreds of thousands of Concerned Women for America supporters around the country stand with him in this endeavor and applaud his unwavering commitment to the protection of liberties for all Americans and not just a privileged few.

“We count this as another promise kept by President Trump who is simply living up to the vision he unveiled on the campaign trail. These regulations fully implement longstanding protections that had been shamefully neglected under previous administrations. We are grateful for these much-needed developments.”

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May 01 2019
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The “Equality Act’s” Transactivist Agenda is a Direct Assault on Women

By | News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

 

The American People Deserve Better

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee rejected conservative attempts to address unfairness and extremism in the “Equality Act”.  Liberals proved they no longer stand for women. Women have fought long and hard to gain status.  Now, males self-identifying as women are celebrated in sports competitions; they steal women-owned business grants, and they invade female privacy in locker rooms and shelters.

This total assault on the 14th Amendment overturns decades of gains, including Title IX, that recognizes the importance of equal opportunities for women.  This is extreme and absurd. The American people deserve better.  Reach out to your U.S. House Representative and make your voice heard.

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May 01 2019
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Christian Conservative Women and Radical Feminists Agree: Women and Girls would be harmed by the Equality Act

By | Media Relations, News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

Washington, D.C. — Today, the House Judiciary Committee will markup the Equality Act (HR 5), which would amend the Civil Rights Act redefining the meaning of “sex” as male and female to include the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity. Concerned Women for America’s Senior Director of Government Relations, Doreen Denny, issued the following statement:

“The bill would create a world in which women and girls are no longer recognized, protected or dignified as uniquely female. In jobs, education, sports, shelters or any public space, any biological man classifying himself as a woman according to his ‘gender identity’ would have every claim to any women’s program, scholarship, sports roster, competition, boardroom, executive office, women’s shelter, bathroom, locker room, or job. Under the Equality Act, everything women have done and achieved over the last half century to improve opportunities and protections in education, sports, the workplace, and society could be overruled by any male claiming ‘womanhood’.”

Concerned Women for America sent the attached letter to House Judiciary Members and have joined hands with radical feminists (Women’s Liberation Front) and other interested groups (Hands Across the Aisle) in our mutual concerns over the Equality Act. The attached US Equality Act: Gender Identity Impact Summary delineates why we are united in purpose against this bill. Making “gender identity” a protected characteristic under federal law would erase the protected category of sex which has been a foundation for securing the rights and opportunities of women in the United States. We implore you to recognize the powerful message that our joining together from the left and the right conveys in opposing the Equality Act.

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Apr 09 2019
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It is Time for Congress to Reject the Extreme Abortion Agenda and Pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

By | News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on
S. 160, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, sponsored by Chairman Graham (R-South Carolina). Immediately following, Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC), will join a press conference with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mrs. Nance issued the following statement:

“Since Roe v. Wade, technology has changed our understanding of preborn life, and we need to face the truth on this issue: the unborn do feel pain. The United States is only one of seven countries in the world that allows abortion past 20 weeks; this includes Vietnam, China, and North Korea — not exactly the company we want to keep on human rights issues.

“In light of New York and Virginia’s radical abortion bills, support for late-term abortion nationwide has declined. A February 2019 Marist poll shows that a whopping 80% of Americans support abortion being limited to the first three months (12 weeks) of gestation — an increase of 5% since a January Marist poll on the same topic. This includes 64% of Democrats. America is waking up to the extreme abortion agenda, and it is time for Congress to listen.

“The hundreds of thousands of women I represent call on the Senate to take up and pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act without delay.”

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Mar 26 2019
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Secretary Pompeo Continues to Remove U.S. Taxpayer Funds Used for Abortion Overseas

By | Blog, International, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Press Releases, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced further implementation of the Mexico City Policy to protect “more unborn babies around the world than ever before” and enforce President Trump’s commitment to stop U.S. taxpayers from funding abortion overseas.

In January 2017, President Trump’s executive action restored and extended the original 1984 Mexico City Policy to prohibit any organization which promotes or performs abortions in other countries from receiving U.S. global health funds. Today, Sec. Pompeo announced that the U.S. will also no longer fund organizations who subcontract with or provide financial assistance to other organizations in the global abortion industry. In addition, he announced the State Department will enforce the Siljander amendment to the 1982 Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act which prohibits tax dollars from being used to lobby for or against abortion. This announcement will directly reduce funding to the Organization of American States (OAS) in proportion to its expenditures on abortion-related activities.

Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, and Dr. Shea Garrison, Vice President of International Affairs for CWA, responded to Sec. Pompeo’s announcement:

“Secretary Pompeo’s announcement confirms the proud pro-life stance of this administration and their commitment to ensuring that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to promote or subsidize the killing of unborn children around the world. Today’s announcement closes two gaping backdoor loopholes that organizations continue to use to get around the funding limitations of President Trump’s expansion of the Mexico City Policy.
“The U.S. has shown we can continue to meet the most critical health care needs for women while refusing to pay for the killing of unborn babies. This is consistent with the moral beliefs of most governments around the world and strengthens U.S.-foreign relations. In addition, women’s rights and health care can be better served through more focused assistance to alleviate the main challenges women face around the world — including in maternal health and mortality.
“We are thankful for Sec. Pompeo’s continued actions to implement the administration’s pro-life policies to the broadest extent possible. As Sec. Pompeo said: ‘This is a policy that is designed fundamentally to protect human beings … this is decent, this is right.’ We are proud to stand behind an administration that protects the most vulnerable among us.”

Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee is the legislative arm of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with members across the country, over 450 Prayer/Action Chapters and Home Teams, 600 trained leaders, and over 30 years of service to our nation. For more information visit www.concernedwomen.org