Victory! Attack on birth control defeated in Congress

07/25/2007

Dear Editor,

We may have pro-choice leadership in Congress, but that doesn't stop anti-choice politicians from taking their shots at women's freedom and privacy.

Last week, pro-family-planning lawmakers defeated a direct attack on birth control by a vote of 231 - 189.

The surprise, last-minute amendment, offered by anti-choice Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), would have blocked Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds for family-planning services through Title X.

Please take a moment to thank your lawmaker, Rep. Walz, for voting in support of family-planning services.

Each year approximately three million low-income women receive basic health care through 4,600 Title X clinics nationwide, including 575 Planned Parenthood clinics. For many women, particularly those who do not qualify for Medicaid and those who have no health insurance, Title X clinics provide the only basic health care that they receive. Disqualifying these clinics from Title X would have put hundreds of thousands of couples immediately at risk of losing family-planning services.

Please take a moment to thank your lawmaker for standing up for women's access to contraception.

Thank you for your activism!

My best,

Nancy Keenan
President
NARAL Pro-Choice America