May 17, 2019
WEEK IN REVIEW
Alabama just passed the most extreme abortion ban since Roe v. Wade. Twenty-five white male legislators just voted to take away women's health and rights. This bill would jail doctors for life just for doing their jobs. There is no exception for rape or incest.

It's not just Alabama. We have now seen fifteen state bans on abortion pass in the first five months of 2019. Last week, Georgia enacted a ban on abortion before many people know they are pregnant. Ohio, Kentucky, and Mississippi have also passed six-week bans this year. Missouri is sending an abortion ban bill to the governor to sign as well.

These states understand that these bills will face legal challenges, which is also their intention. The goal is to push these cases up the Supreme Court where Roe could be overturned.

Currently we have a pro-choice House, which is a stopgap to extreme, anti-choice legislation the GOP will try to push through. This is our only means, at this time, to try and slow down the erosion of women's reproductive freedom.

Now is the time to take action. There are several bills in Congress addressing women's reproductive freedom. (See below.) Call Congress at 202-224-3121 and make sure your Senators and Representative support these important bills.
  • Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights Act (HR 1055 and S 368) Reverses and permanently prohibits the global gag rule. The HER Act would also prevent future anti-abortion administrations from easily re-imposing the global gag rule through executive order.
  • EACH Woman Act (HR 1692 and S 758) Requires the federal government to cover abortion care in public health insurance programs.
You can do more. Donate to JAC-supported candidates who are solidly pro-choice. Their voice and vote is needed in Congress. We must ensure that these members are re-elected.  Here is what some of our canddiates are saying about choice. For a complete selection, visit our website.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
"I believe that women should make their own personal decisions about their reproductive health, and that politicians should not tell women what to do with their bodies."

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ)
"A woman's health decisions should be between her and her doctor. The federal government should have no say on when, how, or with whom women decide to start or grow a family."

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA)
"Equality means that every woman has the autonomy to make their own healthcare choices and has access to quality reproductive healthcare."

A country without safe and legal abortion is happening before our eyes. We each must do something before it is too late.

Elections matter. JAC needs your support. 

DONATE NOW.

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Do you know a high school or college student who would like to intern at JAC during the school year or next summer? Call the JAC office at 847.433.5999 about opportunities.

JAC AROUND TOWN
Over 50 JAC members attended Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-IL) Ultimate Women's Power Lunch with special guest Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in Chicago.
Meeting with Teresa Tomlinson, candidate for U.S. Senate from Georgia.
Meeting with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)
ISRAEL
Israel Needs Bipartisan Support         
 
The Middle East grows more and more volatile each day. Israel emerged from a contentious election, Hamas launched rockets against Israel and the Israeli army responded with lethal force, President Trump ordered a carrier group to the Persian Gulf, and Iran announced it would not comply with the nuclear agreement that contained its capacity to make bombs. All of these events happened in May, and the month is only half over.  
Continued Reading

New Palestinian Party Has Ties to Israel, Seeks PLO Reform

Iran's Gulf Aggression Can Be Stopped Without War
ANTI-SEMITISM & BDS
Reps. Omar and Schakowsky: We Must Confront Threat of White Nationalism -- Together
 
As a Muslim American and a Jewish American elected to the United States Congress, we can no longer sit silently as terror strikes our communities. We cannot allow those who seek to divide and intimidate us to succeed. Whatever our differences, our two communities, Muslim and Jewish, must come together to confront the twin evils of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence.  
Continued Reading

Germany Denounces BDS as 'Anti-Semitic,' Reminiscent of Nazi-Era Boycotts
CHOICE
Post-Roe America Won't Be like Pre-Roe America. It Will Be Worse.

Feminists sometimes say, of threats to legal abortion, "We won't go back." But it's important to understand that we're not necessarily facing a return to the past. The new wave of anti-abortion laws suggests that a post-Roe America won't look like the country did before 1973, when the court case was decided. It will probably be worse. [A] lesson of fundamentalist regimes worldwide is that when reactionaries try to enforce their ideas about gender traditionalism, they can be more tyrannical than real tradition ever was. Granting personhood to fetuses has already enabled some states to subject women to new types of social control. 
Continued Reading



SEPARATION
Family Research Council: The Extreme Anti-Choice Group Molding Trump's Reproductive Rights Policy
  
Since its establishment in the 1980s, the Family Research Council (FRC) has actively worked to build support for its conservative and extreme positions. The Trump administration has welcomed it with open arms-and the results have been disastrous for reproductive rights.
Continued Reading


BEYOND THE CORE
Five Big Supreme Court Decisions to Watch

The Supreme Court is set to go back into session on Monday to begin issuing some of its biggest decisions of the year.  From high-stakes rulings for the Trump administration to revisiting battles over the separation of church and state, here are five big decisions to watch for.
Continued Reading



POLITICAL BYTE
How the Republicans Built a Presidency Above the Law for Donald Trump  
 
Trump's official position is that Congress has no business looking into whether the president has broken the law. When you combine this position with the long-standing Department of Justice policy that it cannot indict a sitting president, and Attorney General William Barr's position that the president is entitled to shut down any investigation he considers unfair, you have built a wall of legal impunity for the president. 
FYI
Kennedy Center Names Winner of Israeli Lounge Redesign Competition
 
Often overlooked by visitors, the lounge was Israel's gift to Washington D.C.'s signature performing art space when it opened in 1971. Mikhail Fridman, a Russian-Israeli philanthropist, is paying $1.25 million  through his investment shop, LetterOne, to renovate the lounge, whose 1970s vibe had grown outdated.
JAC II
Introducing JACII, a JAC group for young professionals, advocates, and those young at heart who are looking to get involved. Groups have started in Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Events will feature elected officials and speakers in lively settings. JACII is by and for young people. Now is the perfect time to get involved.

Know someone who would be interested in joining or hosting a meeting? Let us know at [email protected]. We will be happy to help organize a JACII in your city.
LAST WORD
"I don't think this country could survive another four years of a president like this who gets up every day trying to find new and inventive ways to divide us ... He has to be defeated because I don't know how much more our democratic institutions can take."
 
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)  
    
    
JAC 2019 Power of Women Luncheon 
   
with key note speaker
Sarah Hurwitz
and special guest
Dr. Jill Biden 
Monday, June 3
Lincolnwood, IL
 
 
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Tuesday, May 28
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
12:00 noon
Chicago, IL
Call the JAC office for details
___________________________________  
 
Thursday, May 30
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
Chicago, IL
Call the JAC office for details
___________________________________
 
Friday, May 31
Coffee with Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA)
Los Angeles, CA
Call the JAC office for details
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Want to host a JAC event? Contact the office and we will help organize it. 
847.433.5999 or [email protected]
Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs (JACPAC) is a pro-Israel PAC with a domestic agenda. We support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and advocate for reproductive health and the separation of religion and state and incorporate other issues of importance to the Jewish community, including gun violence prevention and climate change. In addition to providing financial support for U.S. Senate and House campaigns, JACPAC educates our membership with outreach events designed to inform and activate their participation in the political process.
Federal law requires political committees to report the name, mailing address, occupation and employer for each individual who contributes over $200 in a calendar year. Maximum contribution per person may not exceed $5,000 per calendar year. According to law, JACPAC cannot accept corporate contributions. Membership, gifts, or other payments to JACPAC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.