Speech delivered by Gloria Feldt
Democratic National Convention, July 26, 2004, Boston, MA
Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome Gloria Feldt, the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Good evening. I'm here today not only as president of Planned Parenthood's political arm. I'm here as a mother and grandmother.
When I was a young wife and mother of three, the then-new birth control pill saved my life.
My life experience taught me the value of choice to a woman's health, her hopes, and her dreams. No doubt, each of you has a personal story to tell, too.
In April, over one million Americans came together in Washington to March for Women's Lives. [crowd cheered]
We marched for freedom, for justice, and for the human right to make our own childbearing decisions. We marched with the determination that one day soon we will have an administration whose policies respect our hard-won rights.
Now we must all march together to the polls on November 2nd.
Right now, we are fighting a war abroad. But we also have a war here at home - a war on women's choice.
We must win this war, and we must win it now! [crowd cheered]
John Kerry and John Edwards are running a very positive campaign, so I'm just going to give you some clear views of what the current administration has done and how they contrast.
John Kerry won't prevent you from getting the reproductive health care you need. John Kerry won't corrupt science with ideology. [crowd cheered]
John Kerry won't appoint an attorney general who will violate the privacy of your medical records. [crowd cheered]
John Kerry won't put a man on the court who has worked to criminalize abortion and who says, and I quote, "Women must submit themselves to their husbands." [crowd boos]
We are going to put John Kerry in the White House because he trusts women, he respects women, and cares about women. The difference is that simple.
Now the Planned Parenthood Action Fund is non-partisan. We have never before endorsed a presidential candidate. But we have a moral obligation now to the women of America to stand up for your health, your rights, and your very lives.
And that is why we endorse John Kerry. John Kerry's plan for America will make women's health a priority.
John Kerry will make sure that you have access to family planning and that sexual assault survivors can get emergency contraception.
He will lift the global gag rule and stand up for women around the world.
If you have never made choice a voting issue, I want to tell you, now is the time!
It is time to vote like the majority that we are!
It is time to stand up for choice!
Stand up for America!
Stand up for John Kerry and John Edwards!
Thank you.
