Norton Cheers Women Arrested Wednesday Evening in Protest Against House D.C. Abortion Bill

Norton Cheers Women Arrested Wednesday Evening in Protest Against House D.C. Abortion Bill

May 4, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) expressed gratitude to D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and other women who were arrested Wednesday evening in response to House Republicans passing H.R. 3, the so-called No Taxpayers Funding for Abortion Act, which contains an unprecedented provision that would permanently ban the District of Columbia from spending its local tax dollars on providing abortion services to D.C.'s low-income women. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 251-175, marks the first time a rider was made permanent.

"H.R. 3 aimed at every woman in the District and in the United States, yet specifically singles out low-income D.C. women for special abuse by preventing them from exercising their constitutional right to an abortion, if the District decides that local funds are necessary," said Norton. "Today's arrests build on the momentum that was created by DC Vote and the arrests of ‘D.C. 41' last month. The arrest of D.C. women, on behalf of the city's low-income women, signals that the revolution is spreading and is being sustained by D.C. residents. Residents realize that undemocratic abuse from the Congress cannot end without direct action by citizens."

Norton said that the Obama Administration announcement yesterday of a veto threat of the bill, specifying the D.C. provision as one reason, should encourage residents, even when they are not arrested, "to show up so that the administration and our Senate allies understand that we are watching and depending on them to stand up for the self-government they have long professed to support."