[Imc-radio] headlines

[Sarah Lazare]

Hi all, here are two headlines.  The other two will be in the next email.  
Would you like me to call them in on Sunday?  Sarah

Headline 1
By Brooke Anderson via ucimc.org
The U.S. Department of Justice has just released their first and only 
protocol on the treatment of sexual assault survivors in hospitals. The 
protocol is designed to be a step forward in providing more uniform and 
higher quality health care for sexual assault survivors in our nation's 
emergency rooms (some of whom live in states where only 6% of hospitals in 
their state give information about EC to
sexual assault survivors). However, not once in its 141 pages does the 
protocol mention Emergency Contraception (EC), a highly effective pregnancy 
prevention option for sexual assault survivors.

Since EC is most effective the sooner it is taken, failure to provide EC to 
sexual assault survivors in the emergency room greatly increases their 
chance of becoming pregnant as a result of being raped. Many local citizens 
and activists emphasize that the Department of Justice should not be allowed 
to let politics trump the needs and basic health care rights of sexual 
assault survivors.

So far, 17 C-U organizations and dozens of national organizations have 
signed onto a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to include EC 
in the protocol.

To find out how you can help, visit ucimc.org or 
http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/EC.

headline 2:
from us.indymedia.org
Dozens of members of a faith-based community of activists breached security 
at the White House
and Pentagon, two of the most heavily guarded buildings in the country, 
during nonviolent anti-war protests. Several protestors, including Virginian 
participants, were arrested and given spring court dates. At both sites, 
passers-by, including Pentagon soldiers, thanked the protesters for
being there.

On December 28th, about 75 people gathered outside the metro entrance to the 
Pentagon at 7am, to protest the continuing slaughter of innocents in Iraq. 
While 17 activists blocked the entrance, a banner appeared over the side of 
the Pentagon roof: "BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW". As supporters who'd been 
pushed behind metal barricades encouraged employees to recognize that "there 
is blood on our hands", guards debated how the banner had
arrived. Those blocking the doors were arrested and have court dates of 
April 1st and 14th.

The next day, close to 100 people filed across LaFayette park, past the 
newly constructed inaugural viewing standes and formed a semi-circle in 
front of the dignitaries' entrance to the White House. Eight people held a 
long banner in front of the entrance. In front of the banner lay a black 
coffin labeled "US and Iraqi war dead". For an hour they read the names of 
dead US soldiers and Iraqi civilians, each name followerd by a solemn gong 
and a refrain of "their blood is on our hands."