MiddlesexCountyNOW
Page 1
November, 2017
November is Native American Heritage Month
Be sure to vote this coming Tuesday, November 7
MiddlesexCountyNOW
Page 1
Officers
President – Skip Drumm
Vice President – Mary Pranzatelli
Secretary – Alan Gross
Treasurer – Ronnie Traktman
State Board Rep – Mary Pranzatelli
Newsletter Editor – Skip Drumm
Newsletter Asst Editor – Alan Gross
Local ChapterInformation:
Our Next Meeting
Our next chapter meeting will be Tuesday, November 14th, at 7 pm at the home of Skip and Alan. Dinner will be served, courtesy of our hosts. Let us know if you're planning to attend, so we can plan food. The 2017 schedule of meetings is posted on our web site, Middlesex.nownj.org. The proposed 2018 schedule of meetings is also posted on our web site and will discussed and voted on at the next meeting.
Working in the November elections
We have been discussing in our chapter meetings what we can do to further NOW’s goals. Many of us have been attending rallies and marches organized by like-minded groups such as NJ Citizen Action, Planned Parenthood, and various Indivisible groups. Given we’re already participating in these grassroots activities, we concluded that working to elect like-minded candidates was something we could do as individuals to support NOW’s goals. Pending word of NOW-NJ PAC’s endorsements, we can suggest working for candidates that Planned Parenthood has endorsed.
From the National office:
National NOW Press Releases:
"Donald Trump’s Denial of Contra-ceptive Coverage Harms Women"Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 6, 2017. Donald Trump’s hypocrisy and cruelty knows no bounds. The Administration of our Playboy-in-Chief, who famously said that avoiding STDs while he was dating models was his “personal Vietnam,” has issued a ruling that takes affordable contraceptive care away from scores of women. Women’s health will suffer as a result, and lives could even be lost. More
"NOW calls on the Academy to Revoke Harvey Weinstein’s Membership"Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 10, 2017. NOW is calling for sexual predator Harvey Weinstein to be removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After decades of abusing his power to prey on women, the last place he should be is in Hollywood’s most powerful club. More
"Scouts Honor—It’s Wrong To Discrim-inate Against Girls"Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 12, 2017. That old glass ceiling continues to break, but the cracks don’t run deep enough. NOW welcomes the news that the Boy Scouts of America have once again admitted to their long history of discrimination, this time against girls, and are taking steps to correct it. For more than a century, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts have been an integral part of our society. But girls have been left to wonder, why were they left on the sidelines when boys got to earn badges, participate in scouting activities and be Eagle Scouts? But there’s an even bigger question that remains unanswered. Why are Girl Scouts not afforded the same level of financial support on the federal, state and local levels and recognition for their fine work in supporting and providing opportunity? More
"NOW Challenges the NRA at Monthly Vigil for Victims of Gun Violence" “You Will Not Silence Us,” says NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 14, 2017. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is making support for the monthly vigil at the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday, October 14 part of NOW’s board meeting, which is taking place this weekend in Virginia. The vigil is held on the 14th of every month in remembrance of the Sandy Hook massacre that occurred in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012 that took the lives of 26 innocents, mostly children. More
"Hollywood Doesn’t Have a Harvey Weinstein Problem: It Has A Male Power And Privilege Problem"Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 14, 2017. The Motion Picture Academy did the right thing by revoking Harvey Weinstein’s membership. The National Organization for Women was one of the first to call for the Academy to remove Harvey Weinstein from their membership roster, and we are gratified they faced their responsibility today. But Hollywood still has a pervasive problem with the systematic abuse of women by powerful men who believe their power and privilege will always protect them. More
"Tom Price’s Revenge: HHS Makes Discriminating Against Reproductive Rights Central To Its Mission"Statement of NOW President Toni Van Pelt, October 16, 2017. Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made turning back the clock on women’s reproductive rights central to its new mission. A draft of its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan states unequivocally that the goals of HHS are contingent upon “serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception.” This alarming and unproven definition of when life begins directly undermines the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade that affirms the constitutional right to safe and legal abortion. More
From the Feminist News Digest (feminist.org):
NASA Dedicates New Facility to Katherine Johnson, Heroine Mathematician In September NASA dedicated its newest building, the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, to the now 99-year-old mathematician behind some of NASA’s biggest accomplishments.
US Marine Corps Adds First Female Infantry Officer to Ranks In early October a women lieutenant became the first woman to complete the Infantry Officer Course for the United States Marine Corps.
Wins for Abortion Access in Indiana and Kentucky The first week of October two laws that made it more difficult to obtain an abortion in the states of Indiana and Kentucky were struck down in a win for abortion access in the United States.
Temple University Feminists Protest Board of Trustees Chairman In September, the Temple University group Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) announced their campaign to try to remove the name of Patrick O’Connor, lawyer for Bill Cosby, from one of the university plazas, as well as oust him from his role as chairman of the Board of Trustees. FMLA is affiliated with the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Feminist Campus program.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month Each year, 10 million people are victims of domestic violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will become victims of physical domestic violence in their lifetime.
House Passes 20 Week Abortion Ban On Tuesday, October 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy in all 50 states. Senator Lindsey Graham, with the support of 45 other GOP Senators, has now introduced the bill in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to pass.
Young Women Outraged Over New Misogynistic Trump Birth Control Rule The Trump administration announced today two new interim rules that would exempt, for religious beliefs and moral convictions, all employers and insurance companies—whether profit making or non-profit making—from the mandate in the Affordable Care Act to cover contraception without co-pays or deductibles.
Feminist Majority Foundation Condemns Department of Education Over New Title IX Guidance The first week of October the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and other women’s rights advocates commandeered a hearing held by the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) in order to express grievance over the Department’s rescinding of Title IX guidance documents that served to protect victims of sexual assault on college campuses.
March for Black Women Draws Attention to Intersectional Injustices Organized by Farah Tanis, the executive director of Black Women’s Blueprint, the March for Black Women was organized to draw national attention to the widespread incarceration of Black women, the wage gap for women of color, and the sexual violence and murders of Black cis and transgender women.
Thousands of Wisconsin Voters Blocked by Voter ID Laws in 2016 Election A recent study shows that as many as 23,000 eligible voters in Wisconsin were discouraged from casting a ballot in the 2016 presidential election due to the state’s voter ID laws.
ACLU Sues FDA Over Mifepristone Restrictions A Hawaiian doctor, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, has launched a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for placing unnecessary restrictions on Mifepristone, also known as Mifeprex, a pill used for medical abortions.
The Growing Movement for Indigenous Peoples Day October 12 is a day of remembrance referred to by two different names that are fundamentally paradoxical in nature—the widely recognized national holiday that is Columbus Day and the growing movement to reclaim it as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Feminist Jobs
The Feminist Majority Foundation has a jobs listing service which can be accessed from their web site or directly at jobs.feminist.org.
General Information
“Like” Us on Facebook
Our chapter has a Facebook page, which you can see here. If you have not already “liked” us, please do so!
Do you receive National NOW’s emails and action alerts? If you enjoy this newsletter and don’t already receive e-mail from National NOW, consider going to their web site, To the right, below the banner picture, is a section labeled “Email Sign-Up” and a box where you enter your e-mail address. Then press the “Sign-up” button. It’s as easy as that! The box below that says “Join NOW”. If you’re not already a member, click there and be sure to sign up for our chapter, NJ0225, at no extra cost.
Guest Contributors to our Newsletter are welcome!
Send articles, poetry, and other items of interest to the chapter at .
What issues would you like to see our chapter address?
Please reply to .
How to Contact your State and National Legislators:
Find your New Jersey Assembly and Senate representatives at
For the U.S. House and Senate, go to and enter your zip code to find your legislators and their contact information.
Our friends in the Gay Activist Alliance of Morris County (GAAMC) publish a monthly newsletter with interesting articles, opinions, and event announcements. You can read it here: