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For Immediate Release
January, 19 2010, 07:45pm EDT
Contact:
Ted Miller, 202.973.3032
As Congress Debates Abortion Coverage in Health-Care Reform, New Report Shows 2009 a Mix of Highs and Lows for Pro-Choice Americans in the States
NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation today released the 19th edition of Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, the
nation's most comprehensive report on choice-related legislation and
court decisions. This report, which comes as Congress continues to
debate abortion coverage in health-care reform, shows a mix of progress
and setbacks for choice across the country.
On the federal level, President Obama reversed anti-choice policies
enacted by the previous administration and nominated individuals with
pro-choice records to key federal positions.
WASHINGTON
NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation today released the 19th edition of Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, the
nation's most comprehensive report on choice-related legislation and
court decisions. This report, which comes as Congress continues to
debate abortion coverage in health-care reform, shows a mix of progress
and setbacks for choice across the country.
On the federal level, President Obama reversed anti-choice policies
enacted by the previous administration and nominated individuals with
pro-choice records to key federal positions. NARAL Pro-Choice America
also successfully worked with allies in Congress to lift a ban on
Washington, D.C.'s ability to use locally raised funds to provide
abortion services for low-income women, eliminate two discredited
"abstinence-only" programs, and increase funding for domestic and
international family-planning programs.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, said
that House and Senate passage of health-reform bills that include
provisions making it more difficult or virtually impossible for women
to buy insurance with abortion coverage in the new system overshadowed
the progress.
"For pro-choice Americans, 2009 was a roller-coaster ride," Keenan
said. "On one hand, we saw positive changes in policies that will make
a difference in the lives of women and their families. On the other
hand, anti-choice politicians used health reform to advance destructive
and divisive attacks on women's access to abortion coverage. The
challenges we face on health reform are a reminder that, despite our
success in changing the choice-related composition of Congress and a
pro-choice White House, anti-choice lawmakers still outnumber our
pro-choice allies. Every time we take a step forward we will face
unrelenting resistance from anti-choice politicians who will sink to
new lows to undermine women's freedom and privacy."
Keenan said the report outlined a similar combination of progress
and setbacks at the state level, including the following highlights:
Pro-Choice Progress:
- In 2009, 14 states and Washington, D.C. enacted 21 pro-choice measures.
- Wisconsin enacted a law that requires health-insurance plans that
provide prescription-medication benefits to cover contraceptives and
required pharmacists to fill valid birth-control prescriptions. - Hawaii, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington enacted laws that improve sex education in schools.
- Utah and D.C. enacted laws to ensure that sexual-assault survivors
receive information about and access to emergency contraception in
emergency rooms.
Anti-Choice Attacks:
- Utah and D.C. enacted laws to ensure that sexual-assault survivors
receive information about and access to emergency contraception in
emergency rooms. - In 2009, 14 states enacted 29 anti-choice measures, increasing the
number of anti-choice measures enacted in states since 1995 to 610. - Virginia enacted a law that establishes "Choose Life" license
plates. A portion of the proceeds from these plates funds anti-choice
organizations known as "crisis pregnancy centers" that target women
considering abortion and often mislead, coerce, and intimidate them.
Arizona enacted a far-reaching law that includes a litany of
anti-choice provisions that, among other things, subject women to
state-mandated lectures and waiting periods that delay access to
abortion care. The law also allows certain individuals or entities to
refuse to provide abortion services and to refuse to provide or
dispense contraceptives.
Keenan cited Arizona as a prime example of how a change in a state's
political landscape can have real consequences for a woman's right to
choose. Even though a court intervened and stopped some of that state's
new anti-choice provisions from taking effect, the 2009 law caused
Arizona's grade on reproductive rights to drop from a B- to a D+.
"The departure of pro-choice champion Janet Napolitano from the
governor's mansion in Arizona illustrates the importance of having
elected leaders who stand up for a woman's right to choose," Keenan
said. "Arizona's new anti-choice governor is a willing participant in
attacks on women's privacy - a complete reversal of former Gov.
Napolitano's legacy as a defender of pro-choice values. That means
women are worse off today in Arizona than they were at this time last
year."
Keenan also said that NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation dedicated this edition of the Who Decides?
report to the late Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who was
murdered inside his church in May, and his family, to all abortion-care
providers, and to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The report, which includes a summary of federal and state laws as well as a ranking and grades of states, is available online.
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
202.973.3000LATEST NEWS
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A wave of US-Israeli airstrikes on Monday hit and extensively damaged Sharif University of Technology, a leading Iranian educational institution that is widely known as "the MIT of Iran" and seen as one of the world's top engineering schools.
The attack on the Tehran university—one of dozens of education sites bombed by the US and Israel since they launched their war on Iran in late February—sparked outrage inside Iran and around the world. Mohammad Reza Aref, an engineer currently serving as Iran's first vice president, said the attack on Sharif University "is a symbol of [US President Donald] Trump's madness and ignorance."
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US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the lone Iranian American in Congress, noted that Sharif University has "produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies."
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Another outrageous, criminal act in an illegal war: U.S.-Israeli strikes have bombed one of the world’s most prestigious universities in Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. This was a center of learning, not a military target. The increasing use of the Gaza playbook in… pic.twitter.com/GE6J8WhgMC
— NIAC (@NIACouncil) April 6, 2026
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Vira Ameli, an Iranian global health researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford, decried the US-Israeli strike on Sharif University, where she spent time as a postdoctoral fellow.
"To wake to the news of this war crime, at a distance and unable to return, is difficult to articulate," Ameli wrote. "And yet history has made one thing clear: Iran is not a country undone by bombardment."
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Absolute bombshell. Iran's Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei accuses the Trump administration of a criminal mindset and public incitement for genocide. Threatening a nation's critical infrastructure puts the entire population at risk. The White House has completely abandoned morality. pic.twitter.com/HcBZGZho5p
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 5, 2026
The US and Israel have already done significant damage to Iran's civilian infrastructure. The country's deputy health minister said Monday that more than 360 healthcare, education, and research centers have been hit by US-Israeli strikes, and dozens of medics have been killed since the bombing began on February 28.
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