Blog Center: Meera's Blog

January 22, 1973
Roe v. Wade. United States Supreme Court holds that every woman has the constitutional right to choose to continue or abort a pregnancy. [1]

August 16, 1984
The U.S. delegation at the International Conference on Population in Mexico City decides that population growth is not necessarily an impediment to poverty reduction in Third World nations and announces its revoking of all foreign aid to non-governmental organizations that provide or inform about abortion choices for women. [2] This policy later becomes known as the Global Gag Rule. Reproductive health clinics throughout the Third World are forced to severely cut staff or close down, even clinics that merely provide information about abortion.

January 22, 1993
The 20th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and President Bill Clinton's first business day in the White House. Clinton repeals the Global Gag policy on the grounds that it unnecessarily removes funding from organizations that would otherwise provide good reproductive health services. [3]

January 22, 2001
The 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and President George W. Bush's first business day in the White House. Bush reinstates the Global Gag policy. [4] Several development projects focused on reproductive health are seriously delayed because their partners advocated abortion legalization under certain circumstances in several nations.

January 22, 2004
The 31st anniversary of Roe V. Wade. During his call to thank the participants of March for Life, Bush states: "The right to life does not come from government, it comes from the Creator of life." [5]

January 22, 2005
I can't wait. Bring it.

[1] Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
[2] Policy Statement of the United States of America
[3] AID Family Planning Grants/Mexico City Policy Memorandum
[4] Restoration of the Mexico City Policy Memorandum
[5] March for Life Press Release

See the Trip Blog: http://www.drivingvotes.org/trips/1427/

Nevada is going to Kerry. Fo sho.

Saturday was the most awesome canvassing I've ever done. Awesome because these people are stoked to vote early. Based on the past two trips I've taken to Reno, I can safely say that Kerry can win Nevada. The last trip, October 1st, I had a girl who I had just registered to vote offer me a raincoat when it started raining randomly in the afternoon, a woman offer me a cup of chai in her house, and a chance to explain the electoral college to a young man who voted Green in the last election. This trip, October 16th, I had people say "yup, I'm going to polls on Monday morning to vote Kerry!" with enthusiasm. I heard from people who had just voted that the Registrar's office in Reno was packed with early voters. If they weren't voting early, they were voting absentee. And these are supposedly the "lazy" voters... after four years of Bush there is no way that a liberal mind could be a lazy voter; they will vote on November 2nd and they will vote Bush out.

When I went home to drop my dad's car off, I heard my mom call out from across the house: "Meeeeeraaaaaa come see what IIIIIII foouuuunndd!" I have absolutely no recollection of drawing it, and it's probably from 1992, when I was 7. I guess I really liked Clinton, and thought fish had antennae...

I just got back from the first of many Cal Bears Beat Bush trips, where Berkeley students teamed up with Bay Area activists to register voters and do voter outreach in Reno. Out of the five trips to Nevada that I've been on, this past trip was certainly the most rewarding for me. I explained the electoral college to a registered non-partisan voter and how his Green vote each election is unfortunately undermined by the current electoral process, which surprised him greatly. It's these sort of conversations with swing voters that will get Bush out of office this November; people need to be aware of the heavy weight a swing-state vote carries. Once people realize that in a swing state, their vote *can* and *will* make a difference, they will make the right decision and vote on Election Day.

Before we left on Friday, I was amazed by the responses to this question I asked of the Cal Bears Beat Bush trip: "What is your motivation to join the trip?" Their answers show that the youth of America really is politically active, really is attentive, and are willing to do whatever it takes to make the voice of the people heard.
-- Reno is a place where I feel I can make a difference in the political life of Americans. The only way for the country to run efficiently is if all those elligable to make decisions have thier voice heard. Driving votes is an organization that makes it easy to be politically active in a way that I think makes a positive difference.
-- I went the trip to Reno Aug. 20-21... I was really shocked by the number of people who feel so removed from sources of power, and so alienated from the poltiical system. I want to present issues and ways to take action (ie, voting) to people in a really accessible way. I also think that taking the time to listen to someone is the best way to convince them of their own potential to effect change.
-- Our current President has lost more jobs than any President since the depression. He has lost over one thousand lives in Iraq. He's lost our budge surplus. He's lost the ability to fund his own No Child Left Behind Act. As you can see, our President loves to lose things, I guess it's his hobby. I'm a nice person. If somebody has a hobby or a past time I like to encourage them. So, since his past time is losing things, I'm going to help him lose the election.
-- Get people to vote- we can't force other countries to work democratically if we refuse to do it ourselves.
-- Interest in being part of this historical moment and the real fight to defeat George Bush (as opposed to the discussion which occurs on campus which is irrelevent--- not just to beating Bush, but to winning anything else).

The Cal Crew's night out in Reno before the 8AM wake up to register voters

Check out more photos that the Cal Bears took on the trip: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/avyasa/album?.dir=/dc5e&.src=ph&.tok=phy7LxBBK0Tpt40P