2016 IMYM minutes
Nuclear Weapons - Minute 2016.12: IMYM approved the Minute on Nuclear Weapons: Intermountain Yearly Meeting, including the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico and the southwestern part of Texas, (Quakers), Calls upon our elected representatives in the Congress of the United States to endorse United Nations Resolution 70/48,“Humanitarian pledge for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons,” adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 7, 2105. (http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/N1541140.pdf).
In addition to documenting the unacceptability of nuclear weapons today, the Humanitarian Pledge, endorsed
by 123 nations (none of them nuclear), calls for these actions by endorsers: “4. Requests all States possessing
nuclear weapons, pending the total elimination of their nuclear weapon arsenals, to take concrete interim
measures to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons detonations, including by reducing the operational status of
nuclear weapons and moving nuclear weapons away from deployment and into storage, diminishing the role of
nuclear weapons in military doctrines and rapidly reducing all types of nuclear weapons.”
For the United States, compliance with the Humanitarian Pledge would at least include: * Senate ratification of
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty * Termination of U.S. plutonium pit production * Acceleration of
U.S. nuclear warhead dismantling * Cessation of the B61 tactical nuclear bomb refurbishing and upgrading *
Cessation of the new nuclear cruise missile (Long-range Standoff Weapon — LRSO) * Reinvigorated negotiations with other nations to further the goals of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Planned Parenthood - Minute 2016.13: IMYM Approves the Minute in Support of Planned Parenthood: Planned Parenthood has recently come under extreme criticism from politicians because of allegations that have now been proven false. The current political move to defund Planned Parenthood would be disastrous. It would make it impossible for millions of Americans to obtain preventive services such as cancer screening and family planning. Reproductive health care is a lawful human right that allows individuals to choose how to control their fertility and improve their health. Family planning is the most effective way to avoid unplanned pregnancies. Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends recognizes the importance of Planned Parenthood clinics to millions of men and women in the country. We support these clinics throughout the U.S. and recognize the staff members for the important services they provide. In addition to voicing our support of Planned Parenthood, we ask ourselves as members and attenders to consider taking the following actions: * Write Letters to the Editor and OpEds supporting reproductive health in general and specifically supporting Planned Parenthood. * Write to your legislators supporting reproductive health in general and specifically supporting Planned Parenthood * Volunteer to escort patients or to help in other needed ways at a Planned Parenthood clinic * Donate financial support to local Planned Parenthood clinics.
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