SCHAKOWSKY CALLS PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNING OF ANTI-CHOICE LEGISLATION A DANGEROUS STEP TOWARDS TAKING AWAY A WOMANS RIGHT TO CHOOSE

APRIL 1, 2004

SCHAKOWSKY CALLS PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNING OF ANTI-CHOICE LEGISLATION
A DANGEROUS STEP TOWARDS TAKING AWAY A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued the following statement in reaction to President Bush signing into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act:

"It is shameful that President Bush is using women who are victims of violence as political pawns in his game to erode Roe v Wade.

"The undisputed aim of this new law is to move forward a calculated anti-choice agenda in which embryos and fetuses are codified into law as humans, with all the legal rights and protections afforded people in our society. This would bring us one step closer to overturning Roe v Wade and taking away a woman's Constitutional right to choose.

"This law does not even address crimes of violence committed against women - it only addresses the new crime created in this bill, which is a crime against a zygote, embryo, and fetus. This is a clear assault by President Bush on a woman's Constitutional right to choose and a thinly-veiled effort to give special status to an embryo and fetus."