OPINION . . .

You're entitled to disagree with me, and I hope you do so we can talk about it, and I promise I won't gloat if Shrub is booted in November. But whether you agree or disagree, or can't decide -- which is fine, too, as long as you're thinking about it -- read on ...

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"WARNING: BUSH IS HAZARDOUS TO WOMEN'S HEALTH
By Beth Quinn
Times Herald-Record
bquinn@th-record.com

OK, girls, start your engines. After taking a three-year beating from Bush, the counterattack begins.

It starts April 25 in Washington, D.C., as hundreds of thousands of women (and the men who love them) converge on the capital to participate in the March for Women's Lives.

This march is many things. It's a pro-choice rally at a time when reproductive rights are under attack. It's a peace march at a time when our children are dying in a war being fought for the Big WMD Lie. It's a grass-roots effort to take a stand against everything this administration is for.

What it's not, though, is an end in itself. April 25 marks the beginning of a fight that will culminate in November when we vote Bush out of the White House.

Bush declared this war on Jan. 22, 2001, when his very first public act was to impose a gag rule on international family planning agencies. Two months later, on March 29, 2001, he thumbed his nose at the women of America by closing the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach. Since then, he has systematically attacked women's rights. He has stripped contraceptive coverage from federal employees; appointed anti-choice zealots to the federal courts; signed into law the first ban on an abortion procedure since 1973. And he, along with his fellow right-wing ideologues in Congress, keeps chipping away. Just two weeks ago, the House passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which would treat attacks on a pregnant woman as separate crimes against both the mother and fetus. That has an emotional appeal, but it would give a fetus legal status and put women in the back seat. It should be more accurately named the Adult Female Victims of the Bush Administration Act.

To see the long list of his attacks on women, go to www.ppfa.org and click search for "War on Women." It should be required reading for anyone who menstruates.

But you know what? Bush is scared of us. He knows how powerful we can be. After all, women outnumber men and a greater proportion of us turn out to vote.

That's why he trotted out his wife, Laura, last week to kick off a campaign to fight heart disease in women. The White House e-mailed 2 million women to let them know that the first lady was launching a "campaign to fight women and heart disease."

It was an unintended miswording on their part, I'm sure. No doubt they meant to say "a campaign to fight heart disease in women," but the slip contained more than an element of truth.

Healthy hearts are good, no question about that. But it's our uteruses that are in graver danger right now.

The April 25 march also signifies a passing of the torch to a younger generation of women who now have to take up the fight for reproductive freedom. Those who've been fighting to hold on for the past 30 years are getting tired. They need to pass on the leadership.

And it's happening. Colleges all over the country are sending demonstrators. Locally, buses are going from SUNY New Paltz, Vassar, Bard and Marist. They've hooked up with women's groups from throughout the region to get everyone to Washington who wants to go.

I'm going. And you're invited.

Here's who to contact for information about bus reservations and other details. It's first come, first served.

Planned Parenthood of the Mid Hudson Valley: Has 10 buses leaving from Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and New Paltz. $25. Register at www.ppmhv.org or call Willa Freiband at 471-1530, Ext. 14 or Ext. 16.

Orange County NOW: Has one bus leaving from Middletown. $25. Call Marianne Woodward at 343-6559.

SUNY New Paltz: Has one bus leaving from campus. $15, students; $25, non-students. E-mail Wazina Zondon at voxnewpaltz@hotmail.com.

Women in Black, Ulster County: Has one bus leaving from Kingston with a stop in New Paltz. $40. Will be marching under a peace banner. Call Jane VanDeBogart at 679-7502.

Women of Reformed Judaism at the Monroe Temple: No bus but is organizing people to march under their banner. Call Elora Kalish at 928-9235.

Spread the word. I'll see you there."