Are Your Members of Congress Pro-Choice?

Check out our 2009 Congressional Record on Choice, our annual report on how members of the U.S. House and Senate voted on choice-related bills in the past year.

Personally, the Congressional Record is a bit of a mixed bag this year. I'm from Virginia (don't even get me started about the recent shenanigans there). My hometown representative, Rep. Frank Wolf from the 10th District, got an unsurprising 0 percent pro-choice rating. I was pleased to see that Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb both scored 100 percent ratings. And, of course, my current representative in Congress, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton from Washington, D.C. doesn't get a rating because she doesn't get to vote. (She is pro-choice!)

But, there are a number of new bright spots in the record.

Remember those elections way back in November 2008? While we still don't have a pro-choice majority in Congress, our gains in that election did make a big difference!

Let's look at the Senate. Five former senators who earned 0 percent ratings in 2008 were replaced by new senators who earned 100 percent pro-choice ratings in 2009.

• In Alaska, pro-choice Sen. Mark Begich replaced former Sen. Ted Stevens.
• In Colorado, pro-choice Sen. Mark Udall replaced anti-choice former Sen. Wayne Allard.
• In New Hampshire, pro-choice Sen. Jeanne Shaheen replaced anti-choice former Sen. John Sununu.
• In Oregon, pro-choice Sen. Jeff Merkley replaced anti-choice former Sen. Gordon Smith.
• In New Mexico, pro-choice Sen. Tom Udall replaced anti-choice Sen. Pete Domenici.

And, of course, pro-choice Sen. Al Franken from Minnesota replaced anti-choice Sen. Norm Coleman. You'll recall that there was a long recount in that race, so Sen. Franken wasn't seated for the first six votes, but he did case three pro-choice votes.

So what does the change of these six seats from the anti-choice column to the pro-choice column mean? Elections matter.

How did your senators and representatives vote in 2009? Check out our Congressional Record on Choice. Let us know in the comments if you were surprised by what you found.