MAY BE LOST

a new warning

Dear Friend:

A woman's right to safe legal abortion is in danger.

A high-powered campaign is being directed at members of Congress and political candidates to undo the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the right to abortion. It aims to win adoption of a Constitutional amendment to outlaw all abortions. If approved, the amendment would return millions of women, especially the poor and minority women, to the dangers and degradation of back-alley butchery or the mutilation of self-induced abortion. Pressure has already forced a Senate subcommittee to hold public hearings on amendments introduced by Senators Buckley, Helms and others. Witnesses favoring the abortion ban included four Catholic cardinals. Their testimony was backed up by a massive mail campaign and personal visits of bishops, priests and so-called right-to-lifers to members of Congress. Their lobby had a visible impact.

I was one of only five members of the House to testify against these amendments. No Sen. ator has testified before the committee for the right to abortion, although privately many favor it. Members of Congress are too scared of political reprisals to take a stand on this issue. In the House, 30 members have co-sponsored the proposed abortion ban and 90 have signed a discharge petition to force an amendment to a vote. Four times the House has voted overwhelmingly to attach anti-abortion riders to legislation. Two have become law.

乘

Congress is caving in on this issue, because it has not been hearing from supporters of legal abortion, especially women. All the pressure is coming from the other side. It is absolutely urgent that Congress hear from all those who want to help save the right to legal, safe abortion for American women. Here is how you can help:

1Write immediately to your two Senators (U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510) and

from

insist they support the Supreme Court decision without change. Write your Representative (House of Representatives, Washington, D.G. 20515) demanding support of le gal abortion and no signing of discharge petitions. If signed (list enclosed), request name be removed. Ask them not to support any anti-abortion legislation. Get your friends to write, too.

2Support NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, which is dedicated to preserving the US Supreme Court abor tion decision. NARAL will keep you informed and suggest ways to help. If you wish to join with others in your area, so indicate on your envelope and we will put you in touch.

The more you give, the more NARAL can alert Americans to the present danger. Act

now.

Sincerely,

Bella S. Abzug Member of Congress

Bella Abzug

reprinted from her-self, Vol.3 No.6 11/74

A Cromwell, Massachusetts, woman has filed suit against a paint manufacturer. Why? She is claiming that the paint fumes poisoned her unborn child. Now, clinical studies show that she may have been right.

Indoor wall paints contain a small amount of phenylmercury (0.2% by weight in a gallon of paint). Dr. Saul Lerner, a Massachusetts obstetrician, contends that this small amount may indeed be harmful to an unborn child. Dr. Lerner stated that mercury is toxic whether it is inhaled or ingested. And, if methylmercury enters a mother's bloodstream, it's likely to affect the fetus, since fetal hemoglobin has a 30% greater affinity for mercury than does maternal hemoglobin. "Perhaps the phenylmercury passes into the mother's intestine," said Dr. Lerner in a recent interview with Medical World News. "There it may be converted to methylmercury by bacteria, and then it's absorbed into the mother's bloodstream.' Right now Lerner has conducted some informal studies in which pregnant women have painted with Latex paint. The urine samples

"

BEWARE

showed no detectable levels of mercury. However, Lerner pointed out that we know close to nothing about the effects on the fetus. "More studies won't be done," he stated, "until the public pressures the government to do them."

Dr. Lerner noted that in animal studies, phenylmercury has been known to cause birth defects in hamsters. But perhaps the most con. troversial use of phenylmercury has been as an ingredient in contraceptive jellies such as Koromex, Officials of the FDA are now thinking of studying the effects of contracep tives which contain phenylmercury on the pregnant woman. A spokesperson from Norwich Pharmaceuticals (manufacturer of Lorophyn contraceptive cream) denied any danger to women because of the cream's phenylmercury content. He stated that "if PMA were a potent danger to the fetus it would have been discovered by now."

The FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency have already banned the use of phenylmercury in some consumer products. However, it seems that when it comes to women's health, the two agencies are slow to act.

Latex Wall Paint May Be Harmful To Fetus

page 7 What She Wants/ January 1975