Choice and the 2010 Elections

I thank the millions of Americans who voted pro-choice on November 2. You were with us every step of the way helping to protect our pro-choice allies in Congress, and your partnership means so much.

Unfortunately, the newly elected Congress includes at least 92 freshman Senators and Representatives who will attack a woman's right to choose and interfere in our personal, private medical decisions.

Take a look at the following chart:

Choice Composition: the 112th Congress

Pro-Choice       Mixed-Choice       Anti-Choice

House *            154                     33                       248
Senate **           40                      14                        46

* Approximately 10 House races have not been called.
** One Senate race has not been called.

Net Change in Choice Composition

Pro-Choice        Mixed-Choice       Anti-Choice

House             -27                       -15                        +44
Senate             -1                         -5                           +6

The next two years will be daunting for all those who hold the right to privacy dear. Rep. John Boehner, who is widely expected to become the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has cast 142 anti-choice votes thus far in his career. He’s never voted pro-choice—not even once.

Boehner didn’t waste any time making attacks on a woman’s right to choose a cornerstone of his agenda. His working document is called "Pillars of a New Majority." The first “pillar” is a speech he gave last summer to the National Right to Life Committee in which he says that when women have the right to choose, "freedom is diminished." Watch our video featuring some of the worst statements.

A House under Boehner’s control is poised to attack choice in the following ways:

• Push the new “Stupak on Steroids” bill. This bill is even worse than the original Stupak ban in health reform. It would ban coverage of abortion in the new system and impose a tax on Americans with private insurance plans that include abortion coverage. (Keep in mind, 87 percent of private plans include such coverage.) Boehner is one of more than 180 current members of the House who are cosponsors of this legislation.

• Repeal the health-reform law. It’s outrageous, but our opponents have threatened to overturn the health-care law, which promises major improvements in women's access to birth control and prenatal care services.

• Revive the failed, Bush-era "abstinence-only" programs that censored discussion of birth control.

• Cut funding for family-planning programs that provide women access to basic health care, such as birth control and cancer screening.

NARAL Pro-Choice America has launched a nationwide activist alert informing Boehner that pro-choice women and men won’t stand for government intrusion in our personal, private decisions.

Our opponents will claim falsely that this new political landscape means they have the public’s support for anti-choice policies. They are wrong. Americans are focused on our nation’s economic challenges. We all know friends and family members who are struggling—but we also know these individuals do not want politicians to wage a divisive war on safe, legal abortion when so many are facing economic hardship.

Photo credit: Daniel Lobo