FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2013
Contact
[email protected]
Washington, D.C.—Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, was joined by Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), and Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) for a press conference call in support of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) birth-control benefit.
NARAL Pro-Choice America worked with a coalition of women’s health and advocacy groups including PPFA, NWLC, CREDO, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to deliver more than 338,000 public comments in support of the ACA’s contraceptive-coverage policy.
During today’s conference call, Hogue delivered the following remarks:
“We’re thrilled to have participated with the groups on this call in a drive to make these voices heard in support of the HHS rule and the delivery this morning was a small symbol of the commitment we’re seeing among our members.
“We know that access to birth control is good public policy and good health-care policy, so you can imagine how women everywhere cheered when the Affordable Care Act included this much-overdue health benefit.
“The fact that we are still here today talking about this shows that our opponents are driven to keep women in the role of second class citizens.
“But women aren’t going to stand for it and you know what? Neither are the men who want their sisters, their daughters, their wives, and their girlfriends to have public policy that reflects modern reality.
“Our job is to expand the number of women who have access to the full range of reproductive choices that allow us to be in control of our lives and our health.
“The decision of when, how, and with whom we have a family is central to us being able to write the stories of our own lives and contribute to society and our country.”
The ACA ensures that millions of Americans will have access to health-care benefits that include affordable family-planning services and maternity care. The law also promotes healthy families and includes long-overdue insurance reforms that end unfair discrimination against women.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
###