Women Plank

General Preamble

California is proud of its pioneering women who have blazed new trails in business, entrepreneurship, culture and politics.  We support full equality for women.  Being female should never be a preexisting condition for health insurance.  Everyone has the right to accurate medical information and sex education.  We proudly and vigorously support a woman’s right to choose how to use her mind, her body and her time.

To demonstrate this respect, Ventura County Democrats will:

Statement of Principle

Healthcare and Reproductive Rights

• Endorse universally available health screening and treatment programs for all women in California, including regular gynecological screening and early breast cancer detection, treatment and supportive services;
  
• Endorse confidential, unrestricted access to affordable, high quality, culturally sensitive health care services, including the full range of reproductive services, contraception and abortion, without requiring guardian, judicial, parental, or spousal consent or notification;
  
• Endorse access to family planning services and age appropriate comprehensive sex education and oppose abstinence-only education in schools;
  
• Endorse access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal healthcare, parenting skills, and adoption services;
  
• Endorse the provision of insurance coverage for all care, treatment, and prescriptions, including access to contraception, without employer or insurer opt-out;
  

Women in the Work Place

• Support equal access for women to jobs and promotions and equal pay for equal work, capital, equity, and contracts;
  
• Promote workplace rights for women and men including flex time, pregnancy and family leave, and nursing/feeding time and space;
  

Violence against Women

• Endorse the Violence Against Women Act including educational and preventive initiatives;
  
• Oppose human trafficking and sexual exploitation domestically and internationally;
  
• Endorse the rigorous prosecution of those involved in human trafficking;
  

Opportunities for Women

• Endorse the engagement of women in our political processes to develop a pipeline for new leadership;
  
• Encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls; and
  
• Endorse efforts to promote the training and hiring of women in the building and trade crafts.