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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2019)
Page 10 May 1, 2019 C LASSIFIED /B IDS O PINION Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Advertise with diversity in The Portland Observer Call 503-288-0033 email ads@portlandobserver.com Metro runs the Oregon Zoo, Lead Security Agent, full-time, Oregon Convention Center, $20.33 - $21.16 hourly. Deadline date: May 9, 2019 These opportunities are open to First Opportunity Target Area (FOTA) residents: This area includes the following zip codes located primarily in N, NE and a small portion of SE Portland: 97024, 97030, 97203, 97211, 97212, 97213, 97216, 97217, 97218, 97220, 97227, 97230, 97233, 97236, and 97266, whose total annual income was less than $47,000 for a household of up to two individuals or less than $65,000 for a household of three or more. Oregon Convention Center, Portland Expo Center and Portland’5 Centers for the Arts and provides services that cross city limits and county lines including land use and transportation planning, parks Visit oregonmetro.gov/FOTA for and nature programs, and the complete job announcement garbage and recycling systems. and a link to our online hiring Visit oregonmetro.gov/jobs for center or visit our lobby kiosk current openings and a link to at Metro, 600 NE Grand Ave, Portland. our online hiring center. Metro is an Affirmative Action / Metro is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer Equal Opportunity Employer REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL RFP 3664 Drupal platform and website redesign for Metro, Oregon Zoo, Expo Center, Portland’5 and Oregon Convention Center Metro, a metropolitan service district organized under the laws of the State of Oregon and the Metro Charter, located at 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232-2736, is requesting proposals for Drupal platform and Website Redesign for a three-year contract to update Metro’s public website platform and redesign its family of five websites listed above. A voluntary pre-proposal conference will be held at 600 NE Grand Avenue, 97232 on May 14 2019 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Room 370A. Interested vendors and subcontractors are encouraged to attend the conference in order to gain information about the RFP requirements. Sealed submissions are due no later than 2:00 PM, May 30, 2019 in Metro’s business offices at 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232-2736, Attention: Riko Tannenbaum, Procurement Analyst, RFP 3664. Solicitation documents can be viewed and downloaded from the Oregon Procurement Information Network (ORPIN) at http://orpin. oregon.gov/open.dll/ Metro may accept or reject any or all proposals, in whole or in part, or waive irregularities not affecting substantial rights if such action is deemed in the public interest. Metro extends equal opportunity to all persons and specifically encourages minority, women-owned and emerging small businesses to access and participate in this and all Metro projects, programs and services. Metro and its contractors will not discriminate against any person(s), employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, political affiliation or marital status. Metro fully complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related statutes and regulations in all programs and activities. For more information, or to obtain a Title VI Complaint Form, see www.oregonmetro.gov. Advertise with diversity in The Portland Observer Call 503-288-0033 or email ads@portlandobserver.com Dangerous Time for Women’s Rights Banning abortion not enough for some on right m artha b urk We’re living in the most perilous time for abortion rights and reproduc- tive freedom since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. While some erosion of abor- tion rights has occurred over the decades — parental consent laws, waiting periods, procedure curtail- ment — the fundamental right has largely been by ruled by the courts, and viewed by the public, as guar- anteed under Roe. Around 60 per- cent of Americans support a legal right to the procedure. Now state legislatures are esca- lating their assault on that right — and on the women who attempt to exercise it. Since President Trump succeed- ed in elevating Brett Kavanaugh — an abortion foe, alleged sexual assailant, and mean drunk to boot — to the Supreme Court, his right- wing lynch mob has launched a la- ser-focused attack on reproductive freedom. They’ve been flooding the states with anti-abortion legis- lation in hopes of getting a case to the Supreme Court that will over- turn Roe. Republicans paved the way for Trump’s conservative hijack of the judiciary during Obama’s tenure. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc- Connell held the Supreme Court seat created by Justice Scalia’s death vacant for more than a year by until the next election, along with 108 other federal judgeships that re- quire only Senate approval. Trump is wasting no time filling the vacan- cies. To grease the wheels, the Judi- ciary Committee has ended the decades-old practice of seeking advice from the American Bar Association on nominee qual- ifications and started holding hearings during congressional recesses. Recently the Senate voted to shortcut the process even more by reducing the time be- tween final confirmation votes on district court judges from 30 hours to just two. Currently, 85 percent of Trump’s circuit court nominees are mem- bers of the Federalist Society, an ultra-conservative legal network strongly connected to anti-abortion organizations. Many of Trump’s nominees for lower courts are outspoken foes of abortion rights themselves. Case in point: In a ruling upholding the constitutionality of a Kentucky law requiring abortion providers to per- form an ultrasound and make the fetal heartbeat audible to the patient, Judge John K. Bush referred to “un- born life” rather than “fetus.” Packing the courts with an- ti-choice judges is a necessary pre- cursor of the larger strategy taking aim squarely at Roe. Judges can’t decide until they have something to decide on — and arch-conservative zealots are serving up plenty of po- tential cases. More than 250 bills restricting abortions have been filed in 41 states this year. At least a third have successfully passed 20-week abor- tion bans, based on the unfounded assertion that a fetus can feel pain 20 weeks after fertilization. An even more frightening new trend has developed since the con- firmation of Kavanaugh. “Fetal heartbeat bans,” which outlaw abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, have passed in at least six states and are being pushed in sev- eral more. Some of these laws, like Ohio’s, offer no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors say such bans could out- law abortions as early as five weeks into pregnancy, before many wom- en know they are pregnant. Though laws have been blocked from taking effect pending court challenges, abortion opponents are banking on at least one of these attempts being upheld by Trump’s anti-abortion Supreme Court majority, overturn- ing Roe. Merely banning abortion isn’t enough for some on the rabid right — they want to criminalize it al- together. One Alabama lawmaker proposed a bill that would make abortion a felony at any point during pregnancy, including in cases of rape and incest. But the most horrific bill of all was recently debated in the Tex- as state legislature. It defines all abortions as murder, punishable by death in Texas These extreme bills aren’t pass- ing — yet. But the numbers are frightening: 446 people testified in favor the Texas measure, with only 54 standing against it. Will burning at the stake be next? Be very afraid. Martha Burk is the director of the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Wom- en’s Organizations (NCWO) and the author of the book Your Voice, Your Vote.
