Choice under attack in the Senate

Even though we're just a week into President Obama's administration, we can already see what a world of difference pro-choice leadership makes: one of his very first acts was to repeal the global gag rule! We sent more than 25,000 thank-you messages to the White House within days—thank you!

Unfortunately, we're not out of the woods. As we expected, our opponents in Congress are using women's freedom and privacy as a political football, and are attacking choice on several fronts right now.

We won't stand by while anti-choice leaders at the national and local levels block women's access to abortion and even birth control. Help us fight these attacks today.

My best,
Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Anti-choice members of Congress on the attackYou may have heard the news: anti-choice House Minority Leader John Boehner derailed a family-planning proposal in the economic-rescue package that would have saved taxpayer dollars and helped make birth control more affordable for women hurt by the economic crisis.

The attacks don't end there. This week our opponents in the Senate are using a bill that would fund children's health insurance as an opportunity to launch no fewer than three separate attacks on reproductive freedom!

Urge your senators to oppose these anti-choice amendments!



Anti-choice movement's "guerilla warfare" While anti-choice House Minority Leader John Boehner and his allies in Congress are attacking choice on the federal level, we expect our opponents to take the fight to local clinics, pharmacies, and school boards.

Jill Stanek, a prominent anti-choice blogger, said this to Newsweek.com: "[President Obama]'s got the House, he's got the Senate, so I think we may go more guerilla warfare, or go back to working harder on your own turf, protesting at your abortion clinic in your town."

We won't stand by while Stanek and others block access to abortion and even birth control. Help us fight these attacks today.

HALL OF FAME AND HALL OF SHAME

FAME: President Barack Obama Just days into his presidency, pro-choice President Barack Obama took swift and decisive action to end one of George Bush's worst policies: the global gag rule. Better yet, the U.S. Senate stood behind Obama yesterday by rejecting by a vote of 60-37 an amendment to restore the global gag rule. By repealing this policy, health clinics in developing countries will once again be able to offer the world's poorest women access to the reproductive-health services that every woman deserves. Learn more >> SHAME: Gov. Sarah PalinA new report shows Alaska had the nation's biggest increase in the teen birth rate from 2005 to 2006. Gov. Sarah Palin's response? She's declared her support for anti-choice parental-consent legislation that would do nothing to prevent teen pregnancy in her state, but instead could actually endanger the lives of young women. She's ignoring a public-health crisis and playing politics with Alaskan teens' health. Learn more >>

CHOICE IN THE NEWS

Ashley Judd helps celebrate 36 years of Roe v. Wade and the overturn of the global gag rule Another troubling study on "abstinence-only" programs and decreased contraceptive use Nancy Keenan in Politico: As politics change, so does debate The introduction of the Prevention First Act in Congress More News >>