Results tagged “Diana DeGette” from Blog for Choice

On Sunday, hundreds of pro-choice bloggers and activists took to the Internet to share the ways in which they planned to help elect pro-choice champions this year.

This morning, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC took one key step toward making 2012 a year of pro-choice victories at the polls.

NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC is proud to endorse 20 of the greatest champions of choice in the U.S. House of Representatives.

From California:

Rep. Lois Capps 

Rep. Judy Chu 

Rep. Barbara Lee 

Rep. Nancy Pelosi 

Rep. Jackie Speier 

Rep. Henry Waxman

From Colorado:

Rep. Diana DeGette

From Connecticut:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro

From Florida:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

From Illinois:

Rep. Mike Quigley 

Rep. Jan Schakowsky

From Maryland:

Rep. Donna Edwards 

Rep. Steny Hoyer

From my home state of New York:

Rep. Joe Crowley 

Rep. Steve Israel 

Rep. Nita Lowey 

Rep. Carolyn Maloney 

Rep. Jerry Nadler 

Rep. Louise Slaughter

From Wisconsin:

Rep. Gwen Moore

These 20 pro-choice heroes have consistently stood up against the anti-choice House leadership's War on Women.

In addition, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC proudly endorses two other pro-choice champions from the House who will take their support of women's freedom and privacy to the U.S. Senate:

Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada

Here's what Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said at a breakfast honoring these pro-choice leaders:

Our priority is to elect pro-choice champions and defeat opponents of women's freedom and privacy. We are prepared for campaign battle in 2012 and will mobilize our one million member activists in support of candidates who will stand with our allies in countering legislative attacks on a woman's right to choose.

Twenty-two pro-choice champions, and 22 more ways we'll stop the War on Women in 2012.

Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, www.ProChoiceAmerica.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Thank you to the hundreds of pro-choice bloggers and activists who blogged, Facebooked, tweeted, re-tweeted, and tweeted some more yesterday!

I'm reluctant to rank Blog for Choice Days--they all have so many powerful stories!--but I think I might have to declare Blog for Choice Day 2012 the best one ever!

If yesterday is any indication, America's pro-choice majority is fired up and ready to make sure the War on Women ends at the ballot box in 2012.

Here's Misha from Laugh.Rant.Snort:

First:

I'm going to vote.

Second:

I'm going to make sure Mr. Misha, my mom and anyone else I know who is pro-choice votes. I'll drive them to the polls. I'll pick up voter registration forms for them. I'll take them to the post office to mail their absentee ballot. I'll watch their kids while they go to the polls. I'll get informed on all the local candidates and make sure everyone I know is aware who the pro-choice candidates are.

Third: I'm going to make calls, write letters and use social media to get the word out. I'll call voters. I'll call politicians. I'll call/write/tweet/blog/Facebook to make sure that the Republican Party's war on women is stopped and rights taken away will be reinstated. I will continue to be a voice that shows how reproductive rights are being taken away, how access to reproductive care is being restricted and how it hurts families.

Feminism! What? Yeah. highlights some of the outrageous statements made by anti-choice presidential candidates:

The best way to protect our reproductive freedom is by VOTING. Reproductive FREEDOM is crucial. We need the freedom to choose to have children. Or to not have children. Whatever YOUR personal choice is. Don't let a politician decide your fate, your future. That is up to you and no one else. Your body, your choice. Please register to vote. Be passionate about what can change your life so drastically. We have the right to have safe, affordable, and accessible contraception. Don't forget that.

Angry Black Bitch:

So, what am I going to do to elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?

Well... I'm going to work as if my rights are on the line.

That means I knock on one more door, I make that extra phone call, I nag my friends and family members to make sure their asses are registered and know where their polling place is...I volunteer, even though I'm tired...I stuff envelopes, even though I'd rather be [insert any of the many things I set aside during an election year].

I'm going to teach...

...and educate my community about reproductive justice and that there are people who appropriate the language and tactics of the Civil Rights movement so that they can erect anti-choice versions of the White Citizens Council and bar black women from the full range of reproductive health care.

Another thing that made Blog for Choice Day 2012 the best one ever was the outpouring of support from pro-choice elected officials and candidates.

Here's Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), the co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus:

In the first year of the 112th Congress the U.S. House did not once consider comprehensive jobs legislation, but we still managed to vote seven different times to restrict a woman's access to a full range of reproductive health care. We voted to defund family planning services and raise taxes on women who purchase comprehensive insurance coverage. We voted to restrict federal funding from going to comprehensive medical training programs. We even voted to allow hospitals to deny life-saving care to women if it involved performing an abortion.

These votes threaten the health of women all across America and I will continue to stand up against these attacks. I fight to protect a woman's right to choose largely grounded in my Western values of personal freedom and common sense. But as today's anniversary approached, I wanted to hear from others about why defending that right was important to them. So on Friday I turned to Facebook and asked my followers for their stories, and the answers were astounding.

You can find more awesome posts from Blog for Choice Day 2012 on our blog roll.

This bill will force anti-choice lawmakers to go on the record as to whether they believe that women who put their lives on the line for their country should face more obstacles than women stateside when it comes to making personal, private decisions.

If anyone had any doubt that America's pro-choice majority is fired up and ready to STOP the War on Women, then they should have seen what I just saw on the National Mall.

Thousands of citizen activists in purple and pink t-shirts gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol, and rallied against the extreme, anti-woman agenda brewing in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, gave a boisterous speech. She fired up a crowd that had traveled from all over the country to be here, and sent John Boehner and his anti-choice cohorts a strong message. We, the people, have had enough of the bait-and-switch that puts attacks on women's freedom and privacy ahead of creating jobs and growing the economy.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, spoke out against the attacks on community-health clinics that many American women rely on as their sole provider of health care.

Top pro-choice members of Congress rallied the troops. Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Barbara Boxer of California, Patty Murray of Washington, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey promised that the pro-choice leadership in the U.S. Senate would STOP the War on Women.

Sen. Schumer said the Senate would never, never, never accept eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood and the Title X program. Then, he said it again, just to make sure folks far and wide could hear him.

Some of our strongest pro-choice champions in the House spoke. Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, and Louise Slaughter of New York promised that they would never stop fighting attacks on women's health.

Pro-choice activists from the entertainment community spoke out too. Amy Madigan and Ed Harris stood up with their teenage daughter, Lily, and made it clear that they were fighting for her rights.

David Eigenberg (Steve from "Sex and the City") and Connie Britton (of "Friday Night Lights" fame) said the attacks on women's health care were attacks on us, and our sisters, daughters, wives, mothers and partners.

Leading coalition partners voiced their support. Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Humans Rights, made it clear that an attack on a woman's right to choose is an attack on human rights. Period.

Bravo to them, and to all the pro-choice Americans who came out to show their strength. They're back in the congressional office buildings now, making sure their representatives get the message: STOP the War on Women.