Equal Justice Under Law.

Equal Justice Under Law is the phrase engraved into the top of the US Supreme Court building in Washington D.C.  I know this because I spent the last several days in DC at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference.  One of your other favorite bloggers, Alex LaChapelle, and I, along with 1,000 other people, or so I was told, spent the weekend learning from a variety of organizations about the issues affecting our nation and world.

Did you know that the 40 states still keep pregnant, incarcerated women shackled to the bed while giving birth?  I heard from a woman who gave birth to a 9lb 7oz baby in Arkansas while incarcerated; she was given two Tylenol for the entire process.  Thank you, National Religious Campaign Against Torture for this information.

Did you know that people picking tomatoes in Florida get paid 45 cents for picking a 32 pound bucket?  This price hasn't gone up in 30 years.  Thanks, Coalition of Immokalee Workers for this info.

The theme of the conference was "Development, Security and Economic Justice: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?"  A lot of the sessions were focused on women and families.  After hearing from a variety of speakers, we spent Monday on Capitol Hill, meeting with our state senators and representatives.  We asked them to re-sign the domestic Violence Against Women Act and to co-sponsor the new International Violence Against Women Act.  We pushed our representatives to create the laws that provide for the equal justice we, as Americans, pride ourselves as having.

It was a phenomenal weekend and I encourage you all to check it out.  This year, there were 70 young adults who received scholarships for the registration fee and the ELCA is always willing to help you find money to attend.