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NARAL Pro-Choice America



Last Updated: 11/18/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Single
Age: 36
Sign: Aquarius

City: WASHINGTON
State: Washington DC
Country: US
Signup Date: 7/12/2006

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Friday, December 18, 2009 

2009 is wrapping  up, and we're looking ahead to the  congressional elections next year.  NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC has just endorsed two great pro-choice candidates: Ann McLane Kuster, for the open congressional district in New Hampshire-02 and Rep.  Kendrick Meek for the open Senate seat in Florida.

 

Ann McLane Kuster is a community activist, author, attorney, and advocate for New Hampshire. families with a distinguished record of public service. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan described her as “an outstanding advocate for New Hampshire's commonsense pro-choice values.” Kuster commented that,  “In Congress, I will always fight to ensure that a woman's private health-care decisions remain between her and her medical providers, without the interference of politicians." To find out more about her and the race, you can read our full press release.

 

Keenan says that Rep. Meek “will be a senator who stands up for the values of freedom and privacy” and that the race is “a great opportunity for a pro-choice pickup in the Senate.” Rep. Meek, who has worked for choice in the House, is “honored to accept NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC's endorsement today and look [s] forward to working together in this campaign for Florida's future." You can find out more and see some press coverage.

 

We are very excited to mobilize our activists in New Hampshire and Florida to elect   these great candidates, and for more pro-choice  endorsements to come in 2010!

We have also endorsed Rep. John Adler in New Jersey's 3rd District, Rep. Tim Bishop in New York's 1st District, and Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in Ohio's 15th District for reelection. They have been doing a great job in Congress working for the pro-choice cause!

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Friday, December 11, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
Happy Friday, friends of NARAL Pro-Choice America!

Welcome to this edition of The Liberty Lowdown: Choice News Weekly, a fresh and fast way to review the week's choice-related events, actions, and anything in between.
Today marks the beginning of Hanukkah, so we send greetings to all of our members who are marking the start of this holiday.

With all that's happened and will happen on health care, we're giving you the latest, must-know information. Also, you will see another reason we L-O-V-E Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

The Cheer Heard 'Round the Country: Nope, that wasn't the sound of millions of
Susan Boyle fans rushing out to buy her new CD… that was the sound of a profound, pro-choice victory! On Tuesday, pro-choice Americans praised the Senate for beating back the abortion-coverage ban amendment in the Senate!

We asked for your help (about a million times!), and you stepped up big time. In just the last few weeks, you helped us:
    -Deliver a petition with 97,128 signatures to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
    Send 45,816 emails and phone calls to lobby and educate every pro-choice and mixed-choice senator.

    -Rally in person and online with our pro-choice coalition partners and several of our affiliates in a grassroots lobby day on Capitol Hill.
     
    -Run our ad TV 48 times in Richmond, 48 times in Raleigh, 168 times in Maine, and even 180 times in Rep. Bart Stupak's district in Michigan.
     
    -In fact, nine of the 10 senators in states where the TV ad ran voted against the ban. See how your senators voted today, and write them a follow-up message.
What TV ad, you ask? If you've got 30 seconds to spare, take a look:



(You can also watch it here.)
Anti-choice senators are not going to be deterred by this defeat. In fact, we're still making calls and meeting with senators right now to stop myriad anti-choice attacks. Stay tuned for what's next.

Can You Handle the Oh Snap! of the Health-Care Debate?: Said pro-choice Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) (link is a PDF) of anti-choice Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-Neb.) anti-choice amendment on the Senate floor: "Why don't we have men buy an abortion rider for the women they get pregnant?"

Yes, she did. And yes, we're thankful.

"The very idea of a rider defies the whole premise of insurance. "You buy health insurance as a package," says NARAL's policy director, Donna Crane. "The whole system breaks down if you make people start anticipating their health circumstances in the following year."

"Would they make men buy insurance riders to cover Viagra for when they get impotent? Or, better yet, as Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, suggested, "Why don't we have men buy an abortion rider for the women they get pregnant?"

"Someone should put that in the Stupak Amendment and see how fast it goes down."

Indeed. You can watch Sen. Mikulski here:



NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland Responsible for New CPC Law in Baltimore!:  Good Morning, Baltimore! So, Maryland is totally making the pro-choice Dean's list this semester. In addition to the leadership of Sens. Cardin and Mikulski, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland is on fire! The Baltimore City Council has passed, and the mayor signed into law, a bill that seeks to inform women about the limited services of crisis pregnancy centers. We believe this is the first legislation of its kind in the U.S., and it's a huge win for women in the Baltimore area. Congratulations on all your hard work!

We also give huge Lowdown props to Sens. Baucus, Boxer, Cardin, Dodd, Durbin, Feinstein, Franken, Gillibrand, Lautenberg, Menendez, Murray, Shaheen, Stabenow, and any other pro-choice senators we left out. They were outstanding this week.

 
…And Finally, a Blast From the I'm-So-Obsessed-With-Health-Care-I-Forgot-There-Was-Other-News File: On December 3, the New York Times did a story on Doctor LeRoy Carhart which was incredibly poignant and described how anti-choice groups have shifted their harassment to Dr. Carhart's Nebraska clinic in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder. It's a must-read and another excellent reminder of why we all do the work we do.
That's all for this week! You're all caught up and can run off to watch your favorite holiday movie or do some holiday shopping… So be safe, have fun, and feel free to forward the Lowdown to friends and family.
 
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009 
We were overwhelmed by the response to our petition asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid not to include the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts language in the Senate health-care bill. Yesterday, we delivered the petition with 97,218 signatures to his office. Thank you all for making that possible, and watch our video to see how it happened: http://bit.ly/2pAn7g
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Friday, October 30, 2009 
Happy Halloween Eve, friends of NARAL Pro-Choice America!

Welcome to this edition of The Liberty Lowdown: Choice News Weekly, a fresh and fast way to review the week's choice-related events, actions, and anything in between.
Okay, this week's edition is short and sweet. As most of us prepare for a weekend of costume parties and other Halloween fare, voters in New Jersey and Virginia are gearing up for elections on Tuesday.

We'll get to those key races, but, first, let's talk about how some anti-choice groups are going to new depths of deplorable behavior—and don't forget to catch a must-read blog post about our health-care strategy.

What? Was Sotheby's Not Available?: The week started off with news of anti-choice activists announcing their intention to use eBay to raise money for the defense of Scott Roeder, the man who is charged with the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas.

Let's take a look at some of the items on the auction block:
      An "Army of God" manual - which advises people on ways to close clinics, including by bombing.
      An autographed copy of "A Time to Kill" - a memoir of a man who served time for firebombing abortion clinics,
      A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons.
      Two drawings done by another inmate at Roeder's direction, but Roeder autographed all of them. One is a sketch of David and Goliath.
Basic Decency Goes Up in Flames: Just when you think the folks behind the "eBay auction" have no competition for the Worst Person in the World award (hat tip to Keith Olbermann), along comes Randall Terry. The Associated Press provided this summary of Terry's latest plea for attention, a contest on how to burn images of the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader:

"A YouTube video of the contest instructions shows how to print a poster of Reid and Pelosi and construct a stand for it. The clip shows a person dousing the Democratic leaders' images with flammable liquid. The next scene shows their picture going up in flames. People are then encouraged to take pictures, record and submit online the footage of their Oct. 31 protests."

The contradiction of a so-called "pro-life" group advocating the burning of images of elected leaders is disgustingly obvious.

Focus on the Funding: So, we all know that the anti-choice group Focus on the Family wants to ban abortion in the new health-care system, right?
Well, that's why we had to chuckle when reading this post from Time magazine that focuses (yeah, the pun's intentional) on an interesting example of hypocrisy: Focus on the Family's insurance company covers abortion services (as do more than 85 percent of private insurance plans).

This is important because anti-choice folks (that's you, Mr. Bart Stupak) are claiming that the new health-care system wouldn't be able to separate private funds that cover abortion services from public funds (although there are multiple existing examples of such an arrangement). This blog highlights a key point:

"Even if the specific plan Focus uses for its employees doesn't include abortion coverage--and I'm assuming it doesn't--the organization and its employees still pay premiums to a company that funds abortions. If health reform proposals have a fungibility problem, then Focus does as well. And if they don't think they do have a fungibility problem, then it would be interesting to hear why they think the set-up proposed in health reform legislation is so untenable."

Oh, wait, we get it. In typical anti-choice fashion, the rules they want to impose on the rest of us don't apply to them. Tell us something we didn't know.
 
The Inside Scoop on the Health-Care Strategy: Firedoglake spoke with Policy Director Donna Crane about Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak's threats to derail the entire health-reform bill, unless the new system includes an abortion ban. This is a must-read for anyone following this debate, especially since the bill could go to the House floor as early as next week. Here's a taste of what you'll read:

"NARAL has been working an inside/outside strategy to stop Stupak's gambit. They have generated 150,000 messages to Congress from their membership in the past month, and they are lobbying "office by office" to explain the practical, radical effect of Stupak's amendment, and how it doesn't match his own rhetoric on it. This has been "painstaking and challenging" work, according to Crane, and because Stupak could be bluffing, it's hard to know whether or not to call that bluff."

"One Thing I Know for Sure": Who do you turn to when faced with tough elections and constant chatter from the political class? Why, Oprah, of course.

Our political director, Elizabeth Shipp, channeled our favorite billionaire's advice into one of her posts about the upcoming elections on Tuesday, specifically the Virginia
gubernatorial race. Here's an excerpt:

"So, here's what I'm telling myself and sharing with you: Buck up, baby! The last week of any campaign is grueling and things can change in a heartbeat. And to quote Oprah, the "one thing I know for sure" is that giving up five days before an election is the easiest way to lose the race."

"Five days is a lifetime in the world of campaigns. We have five whole days to work like hell for Creigh Deeds and prove all the "nattering naybobs of negativity" wrong come November 3. (Yes, I just gave a shout out to Bill Sapphire - hated his politics, loved his passion for the English language.)"
 
Just to review…if you live in Virginia, vote for NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia-endorsed Creigh Deeds. If you reside in New Jersey, the other state holding a gubernatorial contest on Tuesday, vote for pro-choice Gov. Jon Corzine (and you can check out our info page on why Gov. Corzine is a great pro-choice leader).

Voting pro-choice is one way, in the words of the wise talk-show queen, to "live your best life."

Is there a better way to end the Lowdown than with a shout out to Oprah?

Here's wishing you more treats than tricks this weekend. Be safe, have fun, and feel free to forward the Lowdown to friends and family.
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Friday, October 23, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
Liberty Lowdown…Friday, October 23, 2009

Happy Friday, friends of NARAL Pro-Choice America!
Welcome to this edition of The Liberty Lowdown: Choice News Weekly, a fresh and fast way to review the week's choice-related events, actions, and anything in between.

This week's edition is filled with juicy D.C. gossip (sorta), pop culture, more ridiculously lame "personhood amendment" actions in three states, and an election update straight from the mouth of our very own "Glee-" loving Political Director Beth Shipp. Intrigued? Read on…

Stupak Takes Lame Jokes to New Heights: The Associated Press reports on NARAL Pro-Choice America's efforts to stop anti-choice Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) from imposing an abortion ban in the new health-care system. In an effort to inject humor into this debate, Stupak made this comment about his meeting with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.):

"Stupak, who's on the tall side, made a joking reference to Waxman's diminutive stature when asked whether their conversation had yielded a meeting of minds. "I'm a little taller. Our minds don't meet," Stupak said."
Oh, well, Mr. Stupak will be here all week…unfortunately.

Welcome to the "Real World – C Street":  So Rep. Stupak won't be appearing at comedy clubs anytime soon, but you'll be able to catch up with him where he lives in D.C. at the C Street House. You remember the C Street house, right? As the Politico reports  Stupak's list of roomies reads like a Who's Who of Anti-Choice Zealots. Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina are residents and the house's "distinguished alumni" includes South Carolina Gov. and former Rep. Mark Sanford and Sen. John Ensign of Nevada.
 
Talk about bringing down property values…

Abortion – Safe, Legal, and Rarely on TV?: Consider this a public-service announcement… The New York Times reports that Tonight's "Law and Order" will feature a "ripped from the headlines" story on the abortion debate. After you watch it, be sure to let us know what you think. And remember, this is the original Law and Order – not SVU or Criminal Intent or one of the millions of knock-offs.

"Personhood" Amendments… Coming to a State Near You?: Since when did it become cool for anti-choice groups to push so-called "personhood" amendments? These sneaky, back-door attempts to ban abortion and take away women's privacy will be defeated, whether they appear as ballot initiatives – like the ones announced in Nevada and Missouri this week – or as legislation like the one introduced in Michigan this week. Winning these fights is the only option, and we'll do it, especially with NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri on the case.

New Jersey & Virginia: Only Four Days Left... to Save the World: (The last part is a bit of exaggeration, but we're Madonna fans here, so roll with it, please.) In her signature style, NARAL Pro-Choice America Political Director Beth Shipp took to our blog and wrote about the deadlines that are fast approaching for voting absentee and/or voting by mail in New Jersey and Virginia. What's the deadline in each state? Wouldn't you rather read her eloquent prose to find out? We thought so.

That's all for this week! Be safe, have fun, and feel free to forward the Lowdown to friends and family.  
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
Last week, NARAL Pro-Choice America hosted the 18th Annual Power of Choice Luncheon in New York City. In her speech, Presidential Advisor Valerie Jarrett reaffirmed President Obama's commitment to a woman's right to choose. Other speakers included NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan, and Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Columnist Cynthia Tucker. You can check out some of their speeches on our YouTube Channel.

Here's an interesting piece from a Huffington Post writer who attended the luncheon. She reflects on the event and examines the state of the pro-choice movement. What do you think about the challenges of keeping choice relevant and engaging people in the issue? Leave us a comment with your thoughts!

Also, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC has endorsed Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)!  President Nancy Keenan says that he is "an outstanding advocate for New Mexico’s commonsense pro-choice values."
There’s also news from across the states.
 
You may have heard about an anti-choice Oklahoma law that would post information about why women chose to access abortion on a public web site.  The Center for Reproductive Rights is challenging the law, saying that "it's like undressing women in public," and thankfully, a court has temporarily blocked it from going into effect.
 
In Baltimore, the city council is trying to ensure that anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers don't mislead women, but anti-choice leaders are opposing the effort.  

In Massachusetts, one legislator wants to create an “unnecessary obstacle” to teens receiving comprehensive sex education. Andrea Miller, executive director of our Massachusetts affiliate, says the current law, "already strikes a careful, appropriate balance that respects parents' role in helping to direct their child's education."
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Tuesday, October 06, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC was excited to announce two endorsements for Senate seats last week: Sen. Chris Dodd in Connecticut, and Rep. Paul Hodes in New Hampshire! Both candidates have consistently stood up for a women’s right to choose, with Sen. Dodd protecting that right in the current health-care debate. Rep. Hodes also recently worked hard to eliminate funding for “dangerous and deceptive ‘abstinence-only’ programs.” They have always stood up for us, and we are proud to stand with them.

Great news for Illinois! The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case from an anti-choice organization trying to force the state of Illinois to issue anti-choice license plates. The decision means that anti-choice efforts to adopt these license plates has been stopped… for now.

Can we tone it down? There's still a lot of shouting at health-care town halls, including noise from anti-choicers at this one in New York. It's a good thing we have pro-choice lawmakers like Rep. Israel standing up against anti-choice attacks in the Senate.
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Thursday, October 01, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
There's a lot happening in choice-related news this week at all levels, from state laws to health-care reform to elections!

In Washington, D.C., anti-choice Democrats, such as Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, are threatening to block health-care reform unless it bans abortion, which would result in women losing coverage they already have. If you haven't taken action yet, please contact your members of Congress today at http://bit.ly/lGCOl.

Shout out to Ohio state Sen. Teresa Fedor and state Rep. Tyrone Yates, who worked with NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio  to introduce the Ohio Prevention First Act to help prevent unintended pregnancy. NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio also reminds us why prevention is so important. They report that the Buckeye State "is one of the worst states when it comes to funding, accessibility to information and availability of contraceptives," and the lack of comprehensive sex education in the state only makes things worse.

In the race for Virginia’s next governor women have become a deciding factor now that candidate Bob McDonnell's thesis has revealed his anti-choice views.

Positive news from Arizona! A judge has temporarily blocked parts of a new anti-choice law that were set to take effect today.

Could a "personhood" measure be coming to your state? The anti-choice group behind the Colorado measure says, "We have big and small efforts going on in 30 states right now."

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Friday, September 25, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
There’s a lot of choice-related news coming from all parts of the country this week.
On the Virginia election front, we were glad to hear that when young women find out about candidate Bob McDonnell’s anti-choice thesis, they are “much less likely to back” him for governor. But we have a lot of work to do, because only half the young women in Virginia know about the thesis! Help us spread the word to key voters in Virginia: make a donation today.

Attempts to fight anti-choice laws in court are going strong, too. In Arizona, courts only have until next week to ruleon a suit challenging parts of a new anti-choice law. NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona did all it could to block the law, but that state's anti-choice legislature and governor refused to listen.

Meanwhile, anti-choicers in South Dakota are appealing a court decision that struck down two out of three provisions of an anti-choice law - even though one of the provisions was struck down specifically because there's no evidence that abortion increases the risk of suicide.

Back on the national stage, Dawn Johnsen still has not been confirmed for a Justice Department position, partly because of her pro-choice position. President Obama nominated her in February - talk about stalling! Read the article and then help her and another stalled nominee, Judge David Hamilton, get confirmed.

And we can’t forget about health-care reform. Our colleagues who lobby Congress are working right now to stop at least seven expected anti-choice amendments as the Senate Finance Committee works to pass a health-reform bill. What are we up against? Check out this story and see what anti-choice senators will do to obstruct the process.  
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009 

Category: News and Politics
Great news from Virginia: pro-choice gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds is keeping the momentum going with new ads that "pull no punches" about his opponent's anti-choice votes. And thanks goes to NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and others for getting the word out - new polls show that Deeds is catching up in the Virginia governor's race! How can you help? Share Deeds' ads with your friends, or make a donation to help us in our work to elect Creigh Deeds.

Speaking of elections, the 2010 mid-term congressional elections are coming up more quickly than you realize. Anti-choice groups are already mobilizing. The conservative group The Family Research Council Action recently announced that it's targeting 16 Democrats for defeat, including many pro-choice lawmakers.

While it's easy to get wrapped up in the big picture like elections, personal stories remind us how important all our efforts are to protecting women's reproductive choices. In an interview, Dr. Susan Wicklund, an abortion provider from Montana and member of our board of directors, says that helping women through such challenging situations can be satisfying, but dealing with anti-choice protesters can be "downright frightening." If you live in Charleston, West Virginia, you can hear Dr. Wicklund speak on Thursday, September 24.
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