ALERT! The US Supreme Court has just delivered another blow to women’s reproductive rights. Earlier today, the court upheld the federal abortion ban that will prevent seriously ill women from terminating pregancies that threaten their health. This is a VERY FRIGHTENING DEVELOPMENT which throws women’s rights into complete limbo.

However, our local friends at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties are NOT taking this lying down. They’re planning their next actions… AND THEY NEED OUR HELP! If you’re a progressive activist in Southern California, and if you care about women’s reproductive rights, then you need to follow me after the flip to find out how you can take action.

Here’s the email that I just got from my friend Serena at OC Planned Parenthood:

Dear Activists & Volunteers,

This morning the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban and let women’s health take a back seat to right-wing politics. At Planned Parenthood, we’re working hard to ensure that we can keep providing our patients with the best and safest health care possible under this dangerous law.

But we need your help…

Tomorrow, April 19th, from 10am 1pm, we’ll be assembling a HUGE mailing to alert our supports of this legal set-back and how we’re planning to respond. Please join us at our Administrative Offices in Orange for as long as you are able. In addition to assembling this mailing, I’ll give you an update on what this decision means, how it will affect our patients, and what we plan to do about it. We’ll also order lunch for those of you that are able to join us.

Please reply to this email ASAP to let me know if you’ll be available.
Thanks for all your support–and the website will be updated soon, so check www.pposbc.org for more info throughout the week.

To RSVP to join this emergency improptu action, please reply to Serena at [email protected]. We’ll need as many people as possible. If you can join me and other pro-choice activists tomorrow, I’m sure our friends at OC Planned Parenthood will definitely appreciate it.

(Now cross-posted at MyDD for your reading pleasure. : ) – promoted by atdleft)

“A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere,” Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion. “EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change.”

Apparently, Justice Stevens was not the only Supreme who thinks that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. There were four others who agreed with him.

(Follow me after the flip for more…)

From the AP Wire via Huffington Post:

The Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration Monday for its inaction on global warming in a decision that could encourage faster action in Congress on climate change and lead to more fuel-efficient cars as early as next year.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling in its first case on climate change, declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate those emissions from new cars and trucks under the landmark environment law, and the “laundry list” of reasons it has given for declining to do so are insufficient, the court said.

So what does this mean? Well, Bush will not be able to get away with inaction any longer. Also, I’m sure that this will assist the efforts in Congress to combat the coming climate catastrophe. Now that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, why not allow Congress to decide how exactly to do this?

And oh yes, this is a huge boost for California, as well as ten other states who also want to regulate tailpipe emissions. Now that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, they might want to take another look at approving these state programs to hold the automakers accountable for producing cars that don’t completely annihilate our planet sooner.

So will this ruling give Democratic Congressional leaders a new opportunity to get Congress to take action on climate change? Will this ruling force Bush to act on the coming climate catastrophe? Will this give a legal boost to California’s trail-blazing law to regulate tailpipe emissions? Well, I guess all we know now is that the only place left in this nation that continues to deny reality on climate change is the White House.