Oppose the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011 (H.R. 3541)
Advocacy Letter - 02/06/12
Source: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Recipient: House Committee on the Judiciary
Dear Members of the House Committee
on the Judiciary:
On behalf of The Leadership
Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of over 200 organizations
dedicated to ending discrimination in all aspects of American life, we urge you
to oppose H.R. 3541, the “Susan B. Anthony
and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011” (PRENDA).
We oppose this bill because it does not in any way address discrimination on
the basis of sex or race. Rather, it is a veiled attempt to restrict health care
for women of color under the guise of civil rights.
Rep. Trent Franks, who has a
dismal record on civil rights, introduced PRENDA in the House of
Representatives. Rep. Franks has consistently voted against important bills
that would, unlike this bill, actually alleviate discrimination on the basis of
sex or race, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was signed into
law by President Obama, as well as the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Federal
Employees Paid Parental Leave Act. Since the 108th Congress, Rep.
Franks’ civil rights vote score in The Leadership Conference’s Voting Record
has not been higher than 7 percent. Thus, we believe that Rep. Franks’
intention regarding this bill is not to address discrimination, but rather to
attack women’s access to health care.
Women and their families
continue to bear the negative consequences of persistent sex and race
discrimination. Yet, despite its lofty title, H.R. 3541 does nothing to address
the causes or pernicious effects of such discrimination. As the nation’s
largest civil and human rights coalition, we have worked for decades to address
the longstanding problems of racial and sex discrimination in the United
States. While we would welcome the opportunity to work with members of the
subcommittee to advance meaningful civil rights legislation, we must oppose
H.R. 3541, which does nothing to address ongoing discrimination.
Thank you for your
consideration. If you have any questions, please contact June Zeitlin at (202)
263-2852 or Nancy Zirkin at (202) 263-2880.
Sincerely,
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President
