Results tagged “abortion coverage” from Blog for Choice
On November 6, voters went to the polls and decidedly shut down some of the most extreme and anti-choice candidates who were outspoken in their opposition to abortion care for survivors of rape or incest.
From Rep. Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin to Richard Mourdock to John Koster, candidate after candidate who showed zero compassion for rape survivors was shown the door. Clearly, these extreme anti-choice positions are completely out of touch with American values.
While we won these important victories at the polls, we're working to achieve one more win to show that Americans don't dismiss sexual-assault survivors - we stand up for them.
Current law denies women in the military who become pregnant as a result of rape from using their military health-insurance plan to cover abortion care.
The U.S. Senate is pressing to right this wrong and is poised to adopt the Shaheen amendment that would reverse the ban. However, Speaker John Boehner and other anti-choice leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have blocked efforts to allow military women who are survivors of rape or incest to use their health-insurance plans to cover abortion services.
It's up to Boehner and the anti-choice majority in the House to stop putting politics before the health needs of servicewomen.
Stand with us and protect the rights and needs of our military women. Tell your lawmakers to support the Shaheen amendment and make sure that our servicewomen have access to the health services they need.
TagsWe're only 47 days away from the 2012 presidential election. That means we're all hands on deck encouraging pro-choice Americans to go to the polls on November 6 and vote for President Obama.
Yesterday, NARAL Pro-Choice America released its research on "Obama Defectors." These are women who voted for President Obama in 2008 but are currently not voting for him, weakly supporting him, or not voting at all in 2012.
Our election plan is all about microtargeting - using new technology to get the precise pro-choice women voters who we think will make all the difference for President Obama.
Here's what leading media organizations had to say about our plan:
"We think these 25 counties are the ones that are going to decide this election," NARAL Political Director Elizabeth Shipp said during a press briefing Wednesday.NARAL President Nancy Keenan said her organization's "new and vigorous model" identifying these female voters could very well help get Obama re-elected. "Our job is to communicate with these voters about why they need to vote for [Obama]," she said.
On NARAL's campaign, Keenan said her organization worked with Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research to identify 5.1 million women nationwide who are most likely to be Obama defectors who support abortion rights.
GQRR Vice President Drew Lieberman called the NARAL effort efficient, strategic and unique..."It puts them in a position to have a really meaningful impact on this election," he said.
NARAL Pro-Choice America plans to target pro-choice "Obama defector" women this election cycle to help secure a Barack Obama second term.Their goal: To win over pro-choice female voters who voted for Obama in 2008 but are not planning to vote for him, do not plan to turn out, or are only weakly supporting him in 2012.
NARAL policy director Beth Shipp explained that a lot of the pro-choice shift away from Obama has nothing to do with abortion but rather the economy, which "still sucks" she noted.
"Those people are still pro-choice and if you talk to them about choice and relay to them how important it is this election and why their reproductive rights are at risk they can come back to the fold," Shipp said, recalling that past NARAL polling has shown that some pro-choicers will vote for a candidate based on his abortion stance alone.
This fall, there is going to be a relatively small group of women voters who may be very, very sick of hearing from NARAL Pro-Choice America by Election Day on Nov. 6. Like most of those involved in politics this election year, the abortion rights advocacy group says that women will determine the outcome of the contest on Nov. 6 between Democratic President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.But unlike most, the group has identified, by name and address, the thousands of women across the country that it thinks might make the difference - and it plans to go after their votes, and in a big way, but in small numbers - in many cases as few as 1,000 or 2,000 in an individual county.
Echoing the findings of political scientists, Naral said its research shows that many women who favor abortion rights will change their vote to support a pro-choice candidate, even if the U.S. economy is the issue that most concerns them this election year. And to convince them to do so, it plans to send 1.2 million pieces of mail, use volunteers to make telephone calls, use social media advertising and and buy commercial spots on cable television, targeting its spots to the specific voters in the individual counties.
We're confident that our Obama Defectors Model could make a huge difference in the upcoming election. Once we show pro-choice women voters just how anti-choice the Romney-Ryan ticket is, we can have a measurable impact in making sure President Obama is re-elected to a second term in the White House.
Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, www.ProChoiceAmerica.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
As my colleague Thomas wrote recently, it's outrageous that women in the military who survive rape can't use their military health insurance to cover abortion care. That's out of step with current Medicaid law and with the federal government's health-insurance programs for civilians.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced an amendment to correct this unjust policy, and it will go to the full Senate for a vote soon.
The amendment is backed by many retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces. They joined with Sen. Shaheen today for a press conference to support it.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, expressed her support for the amendment:
"It's time to end discrimination against our servicewomen and provide them with the same care women receive here at home. We salute Sen. Shaheen and these military leaders for speaking out for women serving our country. Protecting those who serve our country falls in line with our American values. It is a tragedy that this commonsense policy is continually subjected to political attacks."
On StandWithServicewomen.org, retired members of the military are speaking out in support of this amendment.
You can help, too. Take action now and tell your senators to support Sen. Shaheen's amendment.
The brave women in the military, who sacrifice so much for us, deserve our support.
Kasich's action means that states have thus far enacted a whopping 68 anti-choice measures in 2011.
Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said that anti-choice politicians in Columbus were clearly out of touch with Ohioans' values and priorities:
Politicians should never be allowed to limit the kinds of insurance benefits that women are allowed to purchase with their own money. All women deserve the same peace of mind that they can obtain the health care they need, regardless of where their insurance comes from. It is appalling that Governor Kasich signed this bill, which clearly violates the Ohio Constitution, into law. Surely there are better ways to spend taxpayer dollars than defending unconstitutional legislation in court.
But I guess Gov. Kasich and his anti-choice allies are what you'd call "constitutional conservatives": conserve the parts of the Constitution you like, ignore the parts you don't.
The health-reform law signed by President Obama in 2010 marks one of the biggest improvements in women's health in a generation.
At the same time, anti-choice Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was able to insert into the legislation restrictions on abortion coverage that are discriminatory and unfair.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently considering how to implement a provision in the health-care law that imposes financial and administrative burdens on plans that offer, and for consumers who purchase, abortion coverage in the state health-care exchanges.
In fact, there is a real risk that abortion coverage could become so complicated in state exchanges that women could lose their access to it.
Imposing any additional administrative burdens on abortion coverage would be a major setback for women's health. That's why 34,826 Americans submitted comments urging HHS to protect women's access to abortion coverage in the new insurance exchanges.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said that the Nelson restrictions could impose serious constraints on abortion coverage:
This provision may jeopardize private insurance coverage of abortion, coverage that most private insurers currently offer. These measures violate a principle on which we've been consistent and clear since the health-reform process started: women should not lose ground in the new health-care system.
No, they should not.
Thank you to the 34,826 Americans who spoke out. Together, we'll make sure that women in need of abortion care across America can continue to access these services and have them covered by their insurance plans.
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