Birth Control - It's Prevention!

Access to birth control for millions of women is under attack.In its final days the Bush administration is drafting a new regulation that deliberately confuses the definitions of contraception and abortion and could seriously jeopardize women's access to birth control. The new rule would allow doctors and health-care companies to deny women birth control. NARAL Pro-Choice America helped break this story in the media and, with your help, we can stop this attack on birth control in its tracks. Purchase your “Birth Control - It’s Prevention!” pack of pills for $10 and help us show the administration just how ridiculous this regulation would be! When you contribute, we will send your symbolic “Birth Control - It’s Prevention!” pill pack to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) -- which is where this egregious rule has surfaced. It’s outrageous that the Bush administration wants to block access to birth control -- which is one of the best ways to prevent unintended pregnancies. Since federal regulations don’t need approval from Congress, the administration was apparently hoping to sneak it through without you and me finding out about it. The proposed regulation is an eleventh-hour attack before Bush’s far right appointees leave office. If enacted it would:
Allow hospitals, HMOs and health plans to refuse to provide services or make referrals for birth control.
Undermine state laws that require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape survivors … ensure pharmacies stock and fill women’s prescriptions for birth control … and mandate health plans that cover prescription medications to include birth control in their plans.
Affect Medicaid and Title X family-planning programs by enabling staff at clinics to refuse contraception to women.
Buy your "Birth Control - It’s Prevention!" pack today and tell the Bush administration we will not stand for this attack on reproductive freedom. Our goal is 1,000 packs by July 31st.
Together, we will stop this assault on birth control.
Sincerely,

Nancy Keenan, PresidentNARAL Pro-Choice America

Bush attacks women's access to birth control

We found out some truly disturbing news.
Just hours ago The New York Times reported that the Bush administration is proposing a new regulation that could discourage doctors and health-care clinics from providing birth control to women who need it.
Pro-birth-control members of Congress are calling on the Bush administration to reconsider this terrible idea. Please let your members of Congress know that you strongly oppose this attack on birth control!
This proposed regulation deliberately confuses the definitions of contraception and abortion and could seriously jeopardize state laws and policies that protect women’s access to birth control. For example, state laws that require hospitals to provide sexual-assault survivors with access to emergency contraception could be jeopardized.
This issue makes it all the more clear why we must elect pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama as our next president. Sen. John McCain has repeatedly voted against allowing women to obtain birth control and there’s no doubt he will carry on Bush’s anti-choice legacy. Sen. Obama has a consistent record in strong support of women’s access to contraception and is the chief sponsor of legislation to make birth control more affordable.
Take action today. Don’t let the Bush administration’s attacks on birth control go unanswered.
Thank you for remaining vigilant against the Bush administration and taking action today.


Nancy KeenanPresident, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Birth Control: Don't Let McCain Take It Away

We must keep the momentum going as we get ever closer to the election. I am counting on you, today. Please join NARAL Pro-Choice America immediately and help us ensure that the anti-choice, anti-birth control candidate, John McCain, does not become president.

Click here to become a member of NARAL Pro-Choice America today.

Dottye, in honor of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, our goal is to recruit 73 new members each week until Election Day. Be one of this week’s 73 new members - you will be making us stronger both politically and financially, enabling us to do our work at every level to protect the right to choose.

Pro-choice Republican and Independent women - key blocs of swing voters in this year’s election - are less likely to support John McCain for president when they learn he has repeatedly voted against allowing women to obtain birth control. What concerns these voters even more about McCain’s record is that John McCain voted to ban abortion for many women, even in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman's life is in danger.

It’s critical that we contact the almost 200,000 pro-choice women we identified in 2004 and 2006 in battleground states who will be this year's swing voters and tell them about the threats to choice we can expect if John McCain picks up where George W. Bush left off.

Become a member of NARAL Pro-Choice America today to protect choice from McCain and elect pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama.

Not yet convinced to join? Look at McCain’s rigid, anti-choice track record. What hasn’t he already tried to take away from women?

• Birth control? McCain is against a woman’s access to it, and he voted more than 20 times to block it.
• Health-care coverage? McCain opposes equal access to it. He voted to eliminate Title X and deny millions of women basic health-care services ranging from birth control to breast cancer screenings.
• The right to choose? McCain won't protect it. In fact, he's voted against choice 125 times out of 130 opportunities since 1983. And he said Roe v. Wade should be overturned!

Join NARAL Pro-Choice America for $10 or more today to be one of the 73 who will help protect the liberties and access to basic health care that McCain would deny to women.

Please act on this opportunity to join today as part of our Membership Drive for Choice and be one of this week’s 73 for choice. The future of women’s reproductive freedom is hanging in the balance!

Sincerely,

Nancy Keenan, President
NARAL Pro-Choice America

P.S. Every dollar we can bring in at this point is critical to defeating John McCain’s bid for the presidency. Help NARAL Pro-Choice America recruit 73 new members each week until Election Day! Please forward this message to your friends and family members to urge them to join today! If you are already a member, I ask that you please consider making an additional gift to help our fight for choice.

Bad News for McCain

We had a strong hunch, and our latest poll confirms that pro-choice Republican and Independent women - key blocs of swing voters in this year’s election - will not support John McCain for president when they learn he thinks "abortion is a human tragedy," and he believes that we must end abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade.

Here’s what you can do to help. Donate today so that NARAL Pro-Choice America can contact the almost 200,000 pro-choice women we identified in 2004 and 2006 in battleground states who will be this year's swing voters. We must get this message out, so please support our Membership Drive by being one of 73 who will stand up for choice today.

Can you imagine the fallout if McCain is elected? He will likely nominate one or more anti-choice Supreme Court Justices! We must do everything we can to ensure John McCain does not become president. What can you do? Easy. Step up today as a leader to defeat McCain and donate $10 or more to NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Membership Drive for Choice!

Click here to become a member of NARAL Pro-Choice America today.

Our goal is to recruit 73 new members each week until the election in honor of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Dottye, we need you to be one of the 73. Every member makes us stronger politically and financially, and allows us to do our work at every level to protect a woman’s right to choose. All it takes is $10 from every person like you for us to have the resources to defeat John McCain and elect Barack Obama. Please become a member today.

We simply cannot succeed without supporters like you becoming active, financial supporters of our electoral and advocacy work nationwide.

Not convinced to join? Look at McCain’s rigid, anti-choice track record. What hasn’t he tried to take away from women?

• Birth control? McCain is against women’s access to it, and voted more than 20 times to block it.
• Reproductive health care services? McCain doesn’t seem to believe in equal access to them. He voted to eliminate Title X and deny millions of women health-care services ranging from birth control to breast cancer screenings.
• The right to choose? McCain won’t protect it. In fact, he’s voted against choice 125 times out of 130 opportunities since 1983. And he said Roe v. Wade should be overturned!

If Sen. McCain wins the White House, he won’t just continue the same anti-choice Bush legacy, he will be an even greater threat to a woman’s right to choose than President Bush. McCain’s voting record demonstrates he will take every opportunity to deny your mother, your sister, your daughter, or you these basic freedoms.

Join NARAL Pro-Choice America for $10 or more today to be one of the 73 who will help protect the liberties and access to basic health care that McCain would deny women.

With your help, our Membership Drive for Choice will succeed. Please be one of 73 … I’m sure a woman you know will thank you for it.

Sincerely,

Nancy Keenan, President
NARAL Pro-Choice America

P.S. Already a member? Please consider making an additional gift to help our fight for choice.

Granholm: McCain not good for women

Gordon Trowbridge / The Detroit News

Seeking to block an effort by John McCain to draw support from Hillary Clinton supporters, Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Saturday called for women to unify behind Barack Obama and attacked McCain's record on women's issues and the economy.

McCain's outreach to Clinton-backing women "is an effort to mask his effort on the issues important to the women who supported (Clinton)", said Granholm, who supported Clinton during her primary campaign against Obama.

Granholm spoke to reporters on a conference call organized by the Obama campaign.

McCain on Saturday was holding a "virtual town hall" teleconference with former Clinton supporters, other Democrats and independents, seeking to capitalize on divisions created by Democrats' long and at times bitter primary campaign. The McCain campaign released a list of more than two dozen Democrats and independents it said were supporting McCain.

Granholm singled out McCain's record on abortion, calling him "in lockstep with the Bush administration with respect to appointments to the Supreme Court, with the anti-choice crowd on committing to overturn Roe versus Wade." That's the Supreme Court decision upholding the legality of abortion, a decision anti-abortion activists have long sought to overturn.

"The depth of Sen. McCain's deceit when it comes to issues important to women can't be overstated," said another former Clinton supporter, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., who also was on the call.

Wasserman-Schultz pointed to McCain's opposition to a minimum-wage increase, which she said especially benefited women, and his opposition to expansion of a federal children's health insurance program.

McCain aides have said the campaign believes it can attract the votes of independents and conservative Democrats in Michigan, particularly in areas such as Macomb County and in Northern Michigan. McCain strategists believe those voters could be won over by McCain's moderate reputation and high personal approval ratings, as well as distrust of Obama and displeasure with the Michigan primary controversy.

"No matter what Sen. McCain says when he comes here, the question is, what has he done for struggling families?" Granholm said.

"Has he stood for working people, and has he stood apart from the Bush administration, which has offered no help whatsoever to the manufacturing industry in this country?"

Choking off family planning $

Title X provides basic health care to millions of low-income women.

Sen. John McCain and his anti-choice allies want to cut off funding.

Take a strong stand for reproductive-health care. Write to Congress today.

No woman should have to go without basic health care.

In 1970, this fundamental belief spurred a bipartisan coalition in Congress to set up a new program for low-income Americans, called the Title X ("ten") family-planning program.

Title X provides vital services, including pap smears, mammograms, and birth control to five million women and men every year. Family-planning services prevent unintended pregnancies and thus reduce the need for abortion. By investing in preventive health care, Title X saves taxpayers money in the long run.

Now, as our country faces a health-care crisis, anti-choice ideologues in Congress are trying to deny women access to this successful and proven program.

Click here to tell your member of Congress to fight back and fully fund Title X.

Right now, pro-family-plannning lawmakers outnumber our opponents in Congress, but by the very slimmest of margins. Last year, with new pro-choice leadership in Congress, we secured the first significant increase in Title X funding since President Bush took office, but anti-choice politicians aren't giving up.

Just last year, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and other anti-choice senators tried to deny federal funding to health centers, including Title X clinics, that use their own privately raised dollars for abortion care (they lost). And McCain has voted to terminate the program altogether!

Help us launch the counterattack, Dottye. Title X needs your help in the face of an onslaught by McCain and his far-right allies.

Programs like Title X should remind us all why it's so important to elect pro-choice leaders this November to beat back these attacks on family planning and invest in programs like Title X that so many women rely on.

Title X has been the cornerstone of our nation's family-planning services for nearly 40 years. By providing vital care, such as cancer screenings and STD treatment, it has undoubtedly saved lives. Let's return the favor by saving Title X. Click here to send a letter to your member of Congress today.

Thank you so much for all you do.

My best,

Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Big news - NARAL endorses Obama

'm excited to announce that today, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president!

We have been so fortunate to have two fully pro-choice candidates running for the Democratic nomination, and we praised both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama for their leadership in standing up for women's reproductive rights. But only one candidate can advance to the general election.

NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC is making our endorsement now because every day that passes, Sen. McCain gets a free ride on the issue of choice. That free ride ends today.

Too many voters think that McCain is a moderate. Can someone who's voted anti-choice 125 times out of 130 opportunities on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues be a moderate?

It's time to put that myth to rest. To win in November, NARAL Pro-Choice America will educate swing voters who can tip this election: Republican and Indepdendent women. And we cannot let one more day go by without comparing Sen. Obama's fully pro-choice record to Sen. McCain's anti-choice record.

On one hand, we have Sen. Obama—who has been a fully pro-choice ally from day one and whom women can trust.

And on the other hand, we have Sen. John McCain—who has gone even further than George W. Bush in his anti-choice rhetoric by directly calling for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

I believe that Sen. Obama is the leader who can unify our country behind commonsense ways to prevent unintended pregnancy.

We need you to be a part of our work to defeat Sen. McCain and elect Sen. Obama.

• Send an ecard to your friends to educate them about Sen. Obama's record on choice.
• Make a donation to our work to elect Sen. Obama, other pro-choice candidates, and protect choice at all levels.
• Share your thoughts by visting Blog for Choice and posting a comment.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to working with you for a pro-choice White House in 2008!



Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.