Add $105,000 to the Brattleboro Reproductive Justice Resolution

Brattleboro Selectboard member Jessica Gelter has introduced a “A Resolution to Protect Pregnant People’s Access to Abortion”, to be considered at Tuesday’s Selectboard Meeting.

Brattleboro Common Sense has proposed an amendment to the resolution, allocating $105,000 for Planned Parenthood Brattleboro, the national activism of Pro-Choice America, and grants for local activism. We will also propose an amendment for a legal defense fund for victims of abortion vigilante laws.

If Brattleboro is going to take action for reproductive justice, we have to move beyond symbolism and take action that has concrete, immediate, and lasting impact. SHOW UP to support the resolution and BCS’s amendments!

You can and must speak up wherever you are.

August 2nd, 2022, 6:15PM. — 230 Main Street or
Zoom  (Selectboard meetings code 12261753 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86067892659):

Vermont Digger Article from July 20th:
https://vtdigger.org/2022/07/20/should-brattleboro-town-government-support-abortion-rights-and-spend-tax-money-to-do-so/

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BACKLASH?

We’re concerned and very disappointed that the Roe V Wade debacle seems to have been forgotten lately by everyone. Where are our activists ?

The last selectboard meeting had five people who attended and spoke, all in favor of the abortion resolution. (Crickets.) No excuse.

Get there: show your opinion or the Selectboard will go with their own. The Fourteenth Amendment is being eroded. We need to speak up about abortion and civil rights, which are under attack now. For the first time ever our rights have been taken away that have never been abridged before.

The Texas Abortion Vigilante law is ugly and clever, reaching outside the jurisdiction of the state. Now we need forceful action to defend womens’ rights. By funding national abortion rights advocacy and legal defense Brattleboro can take effective action beyond our borders in response.

The religious Right has gained influence in the Supreme Court. Pro-life activism is innovative and aggressive. Few people on the Left will deny that the political situation is urgent. But civilians and officials fail to really believe in any emergency, it seems, whether the emergency is about climate or housing or womens’ rights.

In the July 19 Brattleboro selectboard meeting about the reproductive justice resolution, board members Elizabeth McLoughlin and Dan Quipp worried about resolutions being ineffective. But both of them had voted for the ineffective energy committee letter in November 2020 which supported the Paris accords. Ms. McLoughlin herself pointed out that the board had already made a resolution for that in 2017, also ineffectual and outside their jurisdiction. The board complained that the committee’s letter was “unsubstantial”. So, their hesitation seemed inconsistent.

The board wants a substantial commitment on abortion. Here it is:

BCS has proposed an amendment to the resolution, allocating $105,000 for Planned Parenthood and the national activism of Pro-Choice America and local activism. We will also propose an amendment for a legal defense fund for victims of abortion vigilante laws.

Selectboard member Jessica Gelter, who proposed the resolution, supports the funding amendment. Chairman Ian Goodnow at least favors the resolution.

But some members of the board worried about excluding RTM from voting on the funds. If an RTM vote is desired, RTM can assemble on a month’s notice.

They said that the Human Services Committee should handle the funding. (The committee funding is capped and completely spent every year. Even if there were more money available through the committee, it would take effect next June. Is waiting eleven months the way to address a crisis ?)

Getting the money is no problem if the will is there. Emergency funding did the repairs after Hurricane Irene, and RTM was not consulted. It was an emergency. Funds can come from the unassigned fund balance. There is no policy about requirements for using the unassigned fund balance. Town government writes the checks and can decide later by legislation to take the funds from the balance or raise taxes to defray the cost. The real problem is something else: the urgency of the situation is not important enough for some board members to put their personal concerns aside.

Daniel Quipp said he doesn’t want people thinking he promised legal protections and care here in Brattleboro. Piffle !! No one thinks the resolution would be a personal commitment from him. And Ms. McLoughlin said, “I feel the Selectboard is a nonpartisan body. don’t think it’s appropriate for us to be influencing that decision or even share what our beliefs and wishes are.” She has said that supporting Democrats is the one and only strategy for all progress, and she has been consistent in this respect. Anyone can hold those opinions, but this is representative government. In case of an emergency resolution like this the board’s wisdom would come not in advancing its own opinion, but in their knowing the opinions of the people. But their main point shows some integrity. This is a mild isolationist attitude.

But the board must not misunderstand its place in the process. This is not about THEIR opinions, and not everything presses on their shoulders. Three examples: in 2018 BCS filed a petition for a resolution to create an energy/sustainability coordinator, and it was funded by RTM. Then the board followed with the details and the hiring. Second, in 2017 RTM approved a resolution to ban plastic bags. The board followed up by drafting the plastic bag ordinance. In 2009 selectboard blocked petitions that they personally opposed, and BCS took them to court. The court decision now protects the petitions of individuals and organizations in Brattleboro from censorship by town government.

The people decide for themselves what they think is important. This principle must prevail now. The amendmended abortion resolution will not complete the process. If the selectboard approves the resolution with the funding amendment, they must then follow through to specify the funding and legalities. If they are in doubt about what the people feel, then they should arrange a vote of the people. But they should have no doubt about their duty or what the people feel.

Two members of the board were reluctant to help Brattleboro express its opinion. If this matter were only about sharing an opinion that everyone expects, BCS would agree that it is not so important. But it is more than that. BCS believes in the power of ideas and in the voice of Brattleboro. Our mission is to amplify the voice of Brattleboro. In this matter it is urgent to put the financial power of the town behind our voice.

The resolution with funding protects women inside and outside Brattleboro by funding Planned Parenthood and the national activism of Pro-Choice America (and local activism). It defends people who are victimized by the Texas abortion bounty law and similar laws. These actions are urgently needed, and if they start in Brattleboro and reach outside, then good ! We must grow and try. The other way is like giving up.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

The resolution before the Selectboard: Pages 99-100 of Tuesday’s agenda:
https://www.brattleboro.org/vertical/sites/%7BFABA8FB3-EBD9-4E2C-91F9-C74DE6CECDFD%7D/uploads/Agenda_07-05-22_Linked.pdf

BCS’s Amendments:

Already discussed at Selectboard’s July 19 meeting:

Let it be further resolved that:

5. The Town of Brattleboro immediately donate:

a) $50,000 to Planned Parenthood’s Brattleboro office to support reproductive care for all of Brattleboro’s residents and guests, especially including people of color and LGBTQ+ people.

b) $50,000 to Pro-choice America, to support their advocacy of reproductive rights throughout the U.S.

c) $5,000 for a grant for advocacy of reproductive rights by a Brattleboro resident or group.

Not yet discussed at selectboard: A motion to to create a legal defense fund of $50,000 and direct the town attorney to assist in the defense of victims (defendants) of the Texas Abortion Vigilante law (SB8 and similar laws)

VIDEO OF JULY 19 SELECTBOARD HEARING:

The resolution is discussed from 7:20 to 1:05:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3VpoOXa8_8