NCCW Meets in Jacksonville, Elects New Officers

November 5, 2003
Contact: Andrea Schellman
703-224-0990, ext. 104
aschellman.nccw@algxmail.com

Washington, D.C. – The National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) applauded President Bush for signing into law S. 3, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and praised the members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for sending the bill to the President’s desk.

Maggie Gray, President of the NCCW, said "We commend the President and House and Senate members for their leadership in producing a bill that recognizes the inherent dignity of the most vulnerable and innocent of human beings — babies in the process of being born — by banning partial-birth abortions. By passing this bill, the U.S. Congress has moved beyond politics so that American law and medical practice can work together to protect rather than endanger partially-born babies. In signing this bill, President Bush honors the moral values of Americans, most of whom recognize that partial-birth abortion is a form of medical assault on partially-born babies that has no place in a just and moral society."

The U.S. Senate gave final approval of the ban on October 21 by a vote of 64-34. The U.S. House of Representatives had earlier approved the ban on October 2 by a vote of 281-142. The President’s signing the bill into law is the culmination of eight years of work by the U.S. Congress and grassroots citizens, since the initial introduction of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban on June 14, 1995.

NCCW President Maggie Gray, Executive Director Susan Muskett, Province Director Regina Gary, and Louise Hartz of the Richmond Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, were pleased to be present when the President signed the bill into law.

The National Council of Catholic Women has over 5,000 affiliated Catholic women’s organizations in parishes, dioceses, and throughout the U.S., representing hundreds of thousands of Catholic women.