Dear New Yorker,
New York City should be safe for all of us, and that includes being able to walk the streets and ride the subway without being subject to harassment and assault.
That's why we've partnered with Brooklyn-based Hollaback! to create a mobile app to allow residents to report incidents of street harassment and the City to track and study these reports so that we can better target our response to this issue.
Old-fashioned girl power together with 21st century technology can be a powerful weapon against this type of harassment. We'll be sure to keep you updated on the development and launch of this project.
In the meantime, you can read more about this new app here .
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In other important news, on April 25th, the City Council's Women's Issues Committee heard testimony on a resolution calling on Village Voice Media (VVM) to stop accepting adult services advertisements on its online classified site, Backpage.com . This site has served as a platform for trafficking minors and adult victims for sex.
The hearing got heated at times, as emotions ran high upon hearing testimony from both a victim of trafficking on Backpage.com and from the attorney representing Village Voice Media.
Change.org has a petition that citizens can sign on to asking VVM to shut down their Adult Services section. If you'd like to weigh in on this issue, click here .
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You may recall us mentioning that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is up for reauthorization in Congress.
The City Council passed a resolution in support of reauthorization in March and despite an attempt to exclude such protections, the Senate passed a reauthorization bill this past week that includes expanded protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and immigrant and Native American women.
Next month the House will vote on it as well, and it's important for us to continue telling our U.S. Representatives that reauthorization is vital to New Yorkers. You can find your Representative at House.gov . Let them know that you support the reauthorization of VAWA including the important provisions to expand protections.
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Lastly, we were proud to join with other local elected officials to show our unwavering support for the Reproductive Health Act that is pending in the State Legislature.
Right now, if something goes wrong in a woman's pregnancy, she's not able to get the safe legal abortion care she may need right here in New York City simply because the abortion law was left on the criminal code when the state legalized it back in 1970. Not only does this deter providers from offering the best reproductive health care due to fear of criminal prosecution, but it forces women, whose lives may already be in danger because of complications in their pregnancy, to go outside the city and state to seek this care.
No one should be allowed to prevent a woman from making her own personal and private health care decisions about her body along with the advice of a doctor - not the City Council, the mayor, the governor, the president, or Congress. A woman's body is her own, and she should be able to get the best medical people to advise her on it. Period.
You can learn more about the Reproductive Health Act here .
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Thanks for allowing us to share this important news with you. If you have any questions or comments about the initiatives above, please don't hesitate to contact Danielle Castaldi-Micca in the City Council Community Outreach Unit. She can be reached by phone at (212) 788-7276 or by email at dcastaldi@council.nyc.gov .
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council
Julissa Ferreras
Chair, Women's Issues Committee
NYC Council