The National Council of Jewish Women Launches Website for BenchMark: NCJW's Campaign to Save Roe BENCHMARKCAMPAIGN.ORG Defends Democracy on the Anniversary of the First Woman's Rights Convention July 19, 2002, New York, NY - Coinciding with the 154th anniversary of the First Woman's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has launched benchmarkcampaign.org. This website defends the most basic of all women's rights: the right to reproductive choice. BENCHMARKCAMPAIGN.ORG is part of BenchMark: NCJW's Campaign to Save Roe - a campaign to educate and mobilize communities and allies everywhere to promote a pro-choice federal bench. And like the pioneers who attended the historic Convention in Seneca Falls, site visitors can take a stand to preserve fundamental freedoms for women everywhere. "We are thrilled to launch benchmarkcampaign.org, a comprehensive resource for anyone who wants to learn about and fight for one of our nation's most cherished freedoms - a woman's right to choose," said NCJW National President Marsha Atkind. "Just as the Convention in Seneca Falls inspired strong women to fight for freedoms, benchmarkcampaign.org will motivate and make it easy for all Americans to urge US Senators to safeguard women's rights by only supporting judicial nominees who will uphold the landmark Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right to abortion for American women - Roe v. Wade." BENCHMARKCAMPAIGN.ORG's thorough yet easy-to-use format allows visitors to learn about reproductive rights and the federal judiciary, and take action on the issue. In addition to providing up-to-the-minute information about federal judicial nominations, this website offers a timeline of major Supreme Court abortion decisions, an interactive map of the circuit courts that provides news and nationwide event updates, and an e-mail function to speak out to the decision makers in the US Senate. In its historic 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed women's constitutional right to abortion. In the decades since, the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts have chipped away at that right. Over the next few years, more than 30 percent of federal appeals court seats and, very likely, some Supreme Court seats will become available to lifetime appointees. Through its BenchMark campaign, NCJW is committed to ensuring that the judges who fill these positions hold firm to the constitutional principles so essential to our democratic way of life. NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms through advocacy, research, education and community service programs initiated by its network of 90,000 volunteers, supporters and members nationwide. It has launched BenchMark: NCJW's Campaign to Save Roe, a national effort to educate and mobilize NCJW members, the Jewish community, and friends and allies everywhere to promote a federal bench with judges that support fundamental freedoms, including a woman's right to choose.