[WaPo] Exclusive: NARAL President Nancy Keenan to step down

Posted by The Farm Team on May 11, 2012 in National | 0 comments

At the end of this year, Nancy Keenan will step down from her post as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the country’s oldest abortion-rights advocacy group.

The 60-year-old Keenan said she is leaving out of concern for the future of the pro-choice movement — and thinks she could be holding it back.

Nancy Keenan will retire as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America at the end of the year. (Sarah L. Voisin – WASHINGTON POST) In recent years, Keenan has worried about an “intensity gap” on abortion rights among millennials, which the group considers to be the generation of Americans born between 1980 and 1991. While most young, antiabortion voters see abortion as a crucial political issue, NARAL’s own internal research does not find similar passion among abortion-rights supporters. If the pro-choice movement is to successfully defend abortion rights, Keenan contends, it needs more young people in leadership roles, including hers.

“There’s an opportunity for a new and younger leader,” Keenan said during a Wednesday interview in her downtown Washington office. “Roe v. Wade is 40 in January. It’s time for a new leader to come in and, basically, be the person for for the next 40 years of protecting reproductive choice.”

NARAL, which was founded in 1969, is in the middle of a multi-year effort to engage millennials on abortion rights. For three years, the group has used surveys and focus groups to try to better understand young voters. When the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade reaches its 40th anniversary next year, NARAL hopes to roll out a more extensive campaign…

Read the rest of this exclusive article by Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post.

Del Jennifer McClellan Speaks To The Central Virginia Farm Team

Posted by The Farm Team on May 10, 2012 in Lynchburg, Statewide | 0 comments

About 50 enthusiastic people showed up Wednesday to hear a Democratic delegate from Richmond describe her fight against socially conservative legislation, including a bill requiring ultrasounds for abortions that created a furor in the General Assembly this year.

Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, spoke as a member of a women’s group called The Farm Team, which sponsored an event called “a conversation for women and the men who support women’s rights.”

The Farm Team tries to recruit and support women to run for office.

Former Del. Shannon Valentine introduced McClellan to the crowd, which included about a dozen men, in the Mangia restaurant on Rivermont Avenue.

Both Valentine and McClellan said they’re not planning to run for statewide office, at least not anytime soon. “I’m not planning to, right now,” McClellan said in a brief interview.

Read the rest of this article by Ray Reed at The News & Advance

Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn Invites You To Her 3rd Annual Ladies Lunch Sunday, May 20th

Posted by The Farm Team on May 8, 2012 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

You are cordially invited by

Dorothy McAuliffe, Jane Barker, Burma Bochner, Gretchen Bulova, Chairman Sharon Bulova, Barbara Caputo, Teresa Champion, Smitty Connolly, Jan Hedetniemi, Delegate Charniele Herring, Senator Janet Howell, Mary Ann Hovis, Delegate Kaye Kory, Suzann Matthews, Julia Marsden, Susan Diliddo Michels, Honorable Emilie Miller, Lynn Miller, Janet Muldoon, Susan Platt, Nancy Rice, Senator Toddy Puller, Eleanor Saslaw, Barbara Shearer, Honorable Patsy Ticer, Honorable Margi Vanderhye, Jody Wagner, Delegate Vivian Watts and Honorable Mary Margaret Whipple

(Committee in Formation)

To join them for the
3rd Annual Ladies Luncheon

with special guest
The Honorable Paula Miller
Former Delegate, 87th District

In support of
Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn
Virginia House of Delegates, 41st District
Sunday, May 20th
11am-2pm

At the home of Lynn Miller: 4551 Forest Drive Fairfax, VA 22030
** Welcome and Introductions at 12:30pm**

$1000 Host
$500 Sponsor
$250 Benefactor
$100 Friend
$50 Guest

After brunch, stay around for some shopping! Vendors will be selling jewelry, home goods, and more. The vendors will be generously donating a percentage of their proceeds to the Virginia Autism Project.

To RSVP please contact Missy at 571-249-3453 or Missy@EileenFillerCorn.com.

Donate online at www.EileenFillerCorn.com/campaign
or make checks payable to: Eileen Filler-Corn for Delegate P.O. Box 523082 Springfield, VA 22152