Thirty-nine years ago the highest court in the land recognized that women and families, not politicians, should have the right to make their own medical decisions without government interference. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution protects the right of a woman to choose whether to continue a pregnancy to term or to have a safe and legal abortion. A majority of Americans support and respect the decision each woman must make about her own pregnancy and oppose efforts to overturn a womans right to a safe and legal abortion.
Illustrating just how out of touch politicians are with women and families, elected officials in 2011 launched an unprecedented attack on women's health care and rights since the Roe decision. Elected on a promise of focusing on jobs and the economy, the new crop of politicians has instead spent their time introducing and passing bills that cut basic health services, like funding family planning, or restrict access to lifesaving health care, including breast exams, cancer screenings, birth control, and safe and legal abortion.
With grassroots supporters in every state, Planned Parenthood is working aggressively to defeat legislation that threatens to take away womens health coverage and care. Which is why in 2012, we are drawing a line in the sand, using every tool at our disposal to motivate supporters to action against the overreach of anti-women health legislators.
