“A brisk Sacramento welcome”
Legislators fall over themselves to speak at Planned Parenthood rally, Catholic counterparts get less enthusiastic welcome in competing ‘lobby days’
“All three Lobby Day bills (AB 1057, AB 1048, and SB 399) have won approval from their respective policy committees and have now moved to the ‘money’ committee – Appropriations,” reports the Catholic Legislative Network of the California Catholic Conference in a May 1 email.
The “Lobby Day” to which the email refers was the annual Catholic Lobby Day in Sacramento, held this year on April 28. The bills were those selected by the Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s 12 bishops, for which Catholics were asked to go to Sacramento and provide support through direct contact with legislators. AB 1057, sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would extend the amount of time food-stamp recipients have to re-qualify for benefits from once a quarter to once every six months; AB 1048 by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, would extend from 72 hours to 30 days the amount of time a newborn can be surrendered by a parent without criminal consequences; SB 399 by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would permit the reevaluation of juveniles sentenced to life in prison without parole after 10 years imprisonment. “Catholics asked legislators and their staff to support newborn life by extending the safe surrender time limit, reform youth sentencing, simplify food stamp certification and protect the poor in the complex California budget,” said the California Catholic Conference web site, summarizing the 11th annual Lobby Day.
“An estimated 650 people from around the state took part in the annual Catholic Lobby Day on April 28,” said a brief article posted on the Catholic Conference web site. “Delegations from every arch/diocese in the state were present. After the morning briefings and a celebration of the Eucharist, the 650 people marched to the Capitol behind banners carried by high school students learning about advocacy. Despite a brisk Sacramento welcome, they took part in a noontime rally before visiting their state lawmakers.”
On April 22, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the political action arm of the state’s nine Planned Parenthood affiliates, held their own lobby day – called Planned Parenthood Capitol Day. The more than 800 Planned Parenthood supporters who attended that event received an apparently warmer welcome than did their Catholic counterparts a week later.
“Planned Parenthood Capitol Day 2009, with the theme of ‘Yes We Plan! Taking action for a healthy future,’ featured a morning rally on the North Steps of the Capitol that included speeches by members of the California Legislature including State Senator Mark Leno, State Assembly members Wes Chesbro, Noreen Evans, Mary Salas, Tom Ammiano, Dave Jones, Paul Krekorian, Ted Lieu, Fiona Ma, Bill Monning, John Perez, Pedro Nava and Bonnie Lowenthal,” said a PPAC news release issued the same day as the event.
Those who attended, said the Planned Parenthood news release, “cheered a host of legislative speakers at a morning rally before meeting with their local legislators and staff to educate them on the importance of fully funding cost-effective preventive health care like those services provided by Planned Parenthood.”
According to the Planned Parenthood news release, 97 percent of the services the organization provides “are dedicated to family planning and other preventive health care services.” Among those “family planning” services is abortion, though the word was not mentioned in the PPAC release.
Abortion was not mentioned in the reported lobbying activities of the California Catholic Conference either.
