FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2013
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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 Pro-Choice America 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.”
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.”
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