Berkeley Mails Coat Hangers to Congress

by Alex DiBranco · 2009-12-10 04:54:00 -0800
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Oh, Berkeley. You've still got it.

I admit, I doubted. Sure, you're a revolutionary in delicious crunchy food and the wearing of comfortable Birkenstocks. And there have been some choice anti-war protests. But where was the spark of your radical 60s heyday? In eight years of George Bush, I expected more of you.

Then this, and my faith is restored: "The city of Berkeley mailed coat hangers to 20 members of Congress on Wednesday."

Yes, the city of Berkeley. Berkeley's City Council sat down, debated, and voted (7-1) to protest the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts amendment by dropping the symbol of desperate back-alley abortions off at the post office. Intended as a stark reminder of the danger in infringing on women's reproductive rights, the hangers were sent to members of the House who, despite a previous pro-choice record, supported the dastardly amendment. (The council figured it would be a waste of perfectly good coat hangers to target hardliner anti-abortion representatives.)

Councilmember Susan Wengraf, who co-sponsored the measure, remarks, "My initial take was this is too extreme. But ... I don't want my granddaughter to go through what my grandmothers had to." Hurray for grandmothers for choice: Serving protection of our reproductive rights with fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies.

"It's great to send a letter, but I think it's more effective to send a coat hanger," Councilmember Kriss Worthington argued before the vote. So the care package included both, the letter reading: "The City of Berkeley is sending you this coat hanger as a symbol of the horrible pain and suffering endured by women as a result of years of anti-choice policies imposed by our government. ... We strongly support health care reform but it is unconscionable that this should come at the expense of a woman’s reproductive rights."

You tell 'em, Berkeley!

You can tell Congress what you think of anti-choice language in health care reform too: sign the petition and demand that Stupak language disappear from the final bill!

Photo courtesy of Demion's Flickr photostream.

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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