Outlook 2006: Reproductive Rights, Trafficking and Public Education at Top of This Year's Agenda

by Elenora Giddings Ivory

Once again reproductive rights for women and men will remain high on the agenda in Congress. There is disagreement about who is responsible for this: Is it the pro-life forces who desire to overturn or whittle away at the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision, or is it the pro-choice forces who are anxious about the continuation of Roe v Wade in light of changes in the Supreme Court? Either way, reproductive choice bills will be brought forward. U.S. funding for International Family Planning services will again be hotly debated, as the previous annual allocation of $34 million comes up for consideration. Under the current Administration, these funds have previously been withheld.

How to alleviate poverty for women and children will be discussed, as the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) comes up again for a vote. Throughout the first half of the 109th Congress, it was only extended for short periods of time and not reauthorized. Poor and middle-income families depend on child care funding as a way to allow all adults in the family to work.

Parents and public education officials will continue to press both Congress and their state officials to provide quality education for all children. The No Child Left Behind Act of the Bush White House is under continual evaluation as to how it does or does not meet the requirements of children with special needs.

Advocacy groups with a special interest in the well-being of children will continue to call our attention to the treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system. Will law enforcement officials place juveniles in jails and prisons with adult offenders? What is the status of authentic rehabilitation?

Sex trafficking and domestic violence will remain high on the list of concerns of many Members of Congress, along with many women's advocacy groups. Around the nation, authorities have discovered that increasing numbers of women and children are being caught up in sex/human trafficking and other forms of forced labor by those who take advantage of persons who have undocumented immigrant status. Will the Violence Against Women Act still be available as a recourse to women who live in fear of harm from spouses/boyfriends or other family members?