Note: The following is a unified statement and call to action issued by a coalition of women leaders at a September 24, 1998 news conference. The news conference and statement was coordinated by the Feminist Majority.

A wide array of leaders of the women's movement have joined together today to make a united statement about the possible impeachment of President Clinton by the Congress and about what is at stake for women in this country.

We are appalled by the extremely partisan cast that this process has already taken. The rush to publish the Starr Report and to broadcast secret grand jury testimony ů before even a decision is made to proceed with impeachment hearings ů is a failure of fairness and has violated the fundamental value of due process.

We are witnessing a relentless campaign to hound President Clinton out of office. This is destabilizing for our country and our democracy. And some of those who are leadingáthe charge against Mr. Clinton are among the worst foes of women's rights. We are here today to sound the alarm that if disgust with the current crisis depresses women's votes in November, we will see an anti-women's rights majority in Congress roll back the gains for women of the past 30 years.

We believe, and the women of the nation concur, that Mr. Clinton's actions are not impeachable. His misdeeds are not of the nature of high crimes and misdemeanors required by our Constitution for impeachment of the president.

Gender gaps in public opinion poll results persist, with more women than men opposing Mr. Clinton's impeachment, supporting his policies, and approving of his presidency and leadership. For example, the CNN poll immediately following the President's August 17 statement found a twenty percent gender gap with sixty-three percent of the women saying they were satisfied with the statement and only forty-three percent of the men. Today President Clinton's approval rating is so high because the gender gap is closing with men moving in the direction that women initially staked out.

As feminist leaders, we will not stand idly by while a Congress made up of nearly 90 percent men attempts to remove the first president elected by women voters. While President Clinton's record for women's rights is less than perfect, on balance women have had an ally in the White House. If this reactionary campaign succeeds, the unfinished agenda of women on equality in Social Security, pay equity, childcare, anti-poverty remedies, minimum wage, Medicare, real campaign finance reform which opens the system to women and people of color, and laws against violence against women will continue to languish in Congress.

It is more crucial now than ever that women vote in the November elections. If women's rights advocates lose three seats in the Senate, we could lose the ability to prevent the override of a presidential veto. If the presidential veto cannot be sustained after the election, it could mean open season not only on abortion and women's rights but also on affirmative action, Social Security, gun control, civil rights, and equal education opportunities.

Little has been said about the process of succession to the presidency. Many people ask us: "What does it matter if President Clinton leaves office? Wouldn't Vice President Gore simply assume the presidency?" We firmly believe that the ultra-conservatives will not stop at removing Mr. Clinton from office. Already Mr. Gore is under attack. Women should be asking the question, "Who's on 3rd?," ů who is next in the line of succession? Next in line is Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

The Gingrich Congress has been an unmitigated disaster for women. The Gingrich Congress has voted 97 times this session to restrict abortion rights and is now trying to prevent approval of RU 486, the early abortion pill. The Gingrich Congressáis tryingáto defund family planning programs, has ignored the Violence Against Women Act II, and has buried the patients' bill of rights. Pay equity and childcare have not been allowed to see the light of day.

Women must demand that candidates tell us where they stand on our issues and vote in November to turn out of office the anti-women's rights majority in Congress. We call upon Congress to end this hypocritical voyeurism and get back to work on the real issues that face this country.

SIGNED BY: Betty Friedan - Patricia Ireland, President, National Organization for Women - Eleanor Smeal, President, Feminist Majority - Dr. Dorothy Height, Chair and President Emerita, National Council of Negro Women - Susan Bianchi-Sand, Chair, National Council of Women's Organizations* - Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder and Secretary Treasurer, United Farm Workers - Sheila Coates, President, Black Women United for Action - Kathy Rodgers, Executive Director, NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund - Dr. Jane Smith, President, National Council of Negro Women - Lina Frescas Dobbs, Executive Director, Wider Opportunities for Women - Dr. Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Black Leadership Forum - Karen Narasaki, Director, National Asian Pacific Legal Consortium - Dr. Donna Allen, President, Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press - Anita Perez Ferguson, National Women's Political Caucus - Martha Burk, Center for the Advancement of Public Policy - Veteran Feminists of America

*FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES ONLY.