Hello Everyone!

This past Tuesday, April 28th was the Missouri Pro-Choice Lobby day in Jefferson City MO. Faith Aloud had a great time along with Planned Parenthood, Naral Pro-Choice MO, Promo and many others. We had two bills to focus on while at Lobby Day. One was SB 264 (aka The Abortion Restriction Bill of 2009) and the Other was The Prevention First Act which is in the House as HB999 and in the Senate as SB329.

Here's little info on both:

The Abortion Restriction Bill of 2009 contains a lot of extreme measures that hurt women and providers while doing nothing to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. It places unnecessary requirements on women who want to terminate their pregnancies by adding extra steps prior to their procedures that may take days to complete. It also add extra work for doctors and their staff for no reason. THIS IS A BAD BILL FOR ALL WOMEN AND DOCTORS!

The Prevention First Act is all about preventing unintended pregnancies, and improving access to preventive health care measures. This bill would repeal the restrictions around medically accurate comprehensive Sexual Education for all sexualities. It would ensure vicitms of sexual assault were given access and information about Plan B. Finally it would ensure that women of all backgrounds were able to access affordable birth control and yearly well woman exams.

To conclude Lobby Day Faith Aloud put together a Interfaith Service. The Speakers included: Rev. Krista Taves, Minister at Emerson Unitarian Universalist Chapel, Kate Lovelady, Leader of The Ethical Society St. Louis, Lucy Smith, Member of PPSLR's TASH and My Faith Aloud, Rev. Rebecca Turner, Disciple of Christ minister and Executive Director of Faith Aloud, Kelli Whitman, Eden Seminary Student and Outreach Coordinator of Faith Aloud, and Rev. Teresa Mithen, Priest at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Here is a snippet of that service:

Family Planning is embraced by religions across the spectrum as a moral good, a responsible choice, and a basic human right. The world’s religions recognize that family planning helps build strong families, protect the health of women and children, reduce child and spousal abuse, and prevent unwanted pregnancies