Comments by Patricia Nugent, chair, Women's Rights Awareness Campaign, LWVSC 

Remember that song: We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here? I always thought it was a kids’ song, but it was originally a WWI British soldiers’ lament. 

It’s our theme today: We’re here because we’re here!! And we’re not going away! 

We’re here because the League of Women Voters has been marching for “liberty and justice for all” for more than 100 years. And we’re still not done. 

We’re here to challenge the caste system that treats women and minorities like second-class citizens. 

We’re here because “Human rights are women’s rights. And women’s rights are human rights.” 

We’re here because all Americans are NOT equally protected under our state or federal Constitutions. 

We’re here because we live in the only country in the Western Hemisphere – in fact, the only industrialized nation in the world - without gender equality in our constitution!

We’re here because SCOTUS deemed it legal to discriminate against women. 

We’re here because all citizens deserve to be treated equally by our government.

We’re here because of creeping (and creepy) misogyny, oppression and discrimination, and a corresponding rise in hate crimes. 

We’re here because there is public policy talk of redefining women’s right to vote: 

• advocating for head-of-household voting only; 

• awarding votes to women based on how many children they have 

• exalting stay-at-home mothers above all others 

• repealing the 19th amendment granting women’s suffrage

We’re here because contraceptives are under threat. 

We’re here because abortion bans are for controlling women, not for protecting fetuses. 

We’re here because bans don’t stop abortions; they only stop SAFE abortions. 

We’re here because laws are being proposed to execute women who have abortions.

We’re here because maternal death rates are 62% higher in abortion-restricted states. 

We’re here because 65,000 pregnancies resulted from rape in just two years in 14 states with abortion bans. 

We’re here because women are being denied emergency care in life-threatening situations, and because of increasing pre-term births and infant mortality rates.

Yes, we’re here because our sisters are dying.

We’re here because The Handmaid’s Tale no longer seems like a work of fiction.  

We’re here because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us! 

We’re here because our foremothers came to America to give us a better life. 

We’re here because immigrants who bring their children here to escape grave danger deserve a safe haven. 

We’re here because Rev Martin Luther King Jr told us “What affects one directly affects all of us indirectly.”

We’re here because our state Constitution doesn’t protect women, LGBTQ, disabled, or elderly people from discrimination.

We’re here because existing protections could be reversed through legislation. 

We’re here because we are protecting reproductive rights and the rights of all marginalized groups in NYS by voting YES on Prop 1 on the back of our ballots this year.

We’re here to counter the lies, disinformation, and fear-mongering funded by out-of-state billionaires trying desperately to preserve their patriarchy.

We're here because we’re fed up with that patriarchy and more committed than ever to realize justice in our lifetimes. 

We’re here because we vote our truth… and it’s pissing them off! 

We’re here because “Women are shaping the future of our democracy.”

We’re here because the League will continue the fight for a democracy where all voices are heard. Join us! We’re 250 members strong in this county alone! 

We’re here because we stand on the shoulders of women much braver than we who are gracing us today with their presence.

We’re here because we’re here. And we’re not going away. 

                                                                                                   -Nugent/ LWVSC/November 2024