Planned Parenthood, VOX fight for ‘women’s right to choose’ at General Assembly

A wave of pink is scheduled
to flood the General Assembly
today.

The Virginia League for
Planned Parenthood is holding
its 2008 Pro-Choice Lobby Day in
support of women’s reproductive
rights. Each year, pro-choice
advocates stand out against the
monotone colors of Downtown
Richmond with their neon-pink
shirts, stickers and signs.

Some VCU students are joining
the rally via VCU’s VOX: Voices
for Planned Parenthood chapter,
which has worked closely with
the Planned Parenthood office
in Richmond to organize lobby
day events.

“Pro-Choice Lobby Day is
our chance to show Virginia
Lawmakers that the pro-choice
community is the majority,”
said Leah Fremouw, VCU’s VOX
president. “We’ll have hundreds
of pro-choice supporters there
to talk to and lobby their legislators.”

In 2006 and 2007, the lobby
day drew 500 and 400 supporters,
Fremouw said.

“(Group members) kind of
swarm the General Assembly
building,” Fremouw said.

Courtney Jones is the grassroots
organizer of the Virginia
League for Planned Parenthood.
She works with VOX and other
groups to organize rallies, such as
the Pro-Choice Lobby Day.

“Ultimately, our goal is to make moderate legislators feel comfortable
about voting with us and uncomfortable about pursuing restrictions on
reproductive health and education . especially attempts to restrict access to
prevention-birth control, EC (emergency contraception), medically-accurate
and comprehensive sex education, and Medicaid,” Jones said.

The lobby day is structured with formal appointments set up to lobby
various legislators. Fremouw said VOX and Planned Parenthood also work
to provide constituents with the chance to talk one on one with their
representatives. Jones said the lobby day group will target “mixed-choice”
legislators.

“This means that they have taken one or two good votes on prevention
legislation . but also vote anti-choice at times,” Jones said. “Our goal is
to sway them by lobbying them, having constituents meet with them and
continuing to educate them on our issues.”

This year, the Planned Parenthood group will give recognition to “specialconstituency
groups.” Jones said those groups include parents, educators,
health care professionals and pro-choice people of faith.
The group encounters very little counter protest from pro-life groups,
because those groups hold their own General Assembly lobby day. Pro-life
group Life and Liberty Ministries held its Pro-Life Lobby Day at the Virginia
State Capitol yesterday.

When it comes to who – pro-choice or pro-life – is winning the attention
of the General Assembly, Jones and Fremouw see things a little
differently.

“While Virginia is still a fairly conservative state in terms of choice,”
Jones said, “I believe we are winning. During each legislative session, we
are able to kill all of the anti-choice legislation.”

Fremouw said the fight for legislators’ attention is an uphill struggle.

“I think that there’s a lot of opposition and a lot of dangerous bills that
could take rights away,” she said. ” I think we have to stay on our toes to
ensure that that doesn’t happen.”