November, 13 2013, 05:22pm EDT
NARAL Pro-Choice America Welcomes Women's Health Protection Act, Celebrates "Going on Offense" for Women's Rights
Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue joins members of Congress and coalition leaders to deliver remarks celebrating the introduction of the Women's Health Protection Act. Hogue issued the following statement:
WASHINGTON
Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue joins members of Congress and coalition leaders to deliver remarks celebrating the introduction of the Women's Health Protection Act. Hogue issued the following statement:
"Each year since Roe v. Wade was decided, anti-choice politicians in states across the country have enacted new restrictions on abortion rights, targeting a woman's ability to make the best health care decisions for herself and her family. While the protections in the Roe decision were intended to apply to every woman in the country, the reality on the ground has been very different.
"Depending on a woman's state or zip code, she may have no ability to choose what is best for her family or her very health, because anti-choice lawmakers have done everything in their power to limit access to abortion care. That's why I'm so excited about the Women's Health Protection Act. It's an important first step to guaranteeing the protections that Roe intended over 40 years ago.
"Around the country, women are subjected to onerous waiting periods and forced to listen to medically-inaccurate claims about their choices. Abortion clinics are targeted for unnecessary and burdensome requirements designed to shut them down for good. In some states, outright bans challenge the very foundation of the Roe decision and force the will of politicians into women's private decisions.
"The Women's Health Protection Act puts federal protections in place against these state restrictions and keeps politicians out of a woman's personal decision-making. This bill could have prevented Texas from pushing through the dangerous measure earlier this year that is right now closing clinics and leaving women and families there with nowhere to turn.
"More importantly, the introduction of this bill means we are going on offense. We're not merely fighting against bad policy and proposing good new legislation that takes a stand for the protection and expansion of women's freedom. We have more work to do, but NARAL is proud to be part of this moment.
"NARAL Pro-Choice America commends Sens. Blumenthal and Baldwin and Rep. Chu for introducing this important bill that puts women's personal choices and medical decisions back into their own hands, and curbs the ideological roadblocks that are rampant in the states."
To speak to a NARAL Pro-Choice America spokesperson, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.716.1953 or christina@fitzgibbonmedia.com.
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.
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