This week marks the 39th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade ruling and advocates for women’s rights are celebrating an important victory. The Obama administration announced Friday that health insurers must provide free access to birth control as part of the reforms established by the Affordable Healthcare Act.
At the same time we are witnessing the most unprecedented assault on women’s reproductive health and rights.
The 2010 elections swept in anti-abortion and anti-contraceptive state legislatures across the country who quickly got to work attacking everything from women’s insurance coverage of abortion to state funding for birth control and cancer screenings.
135 reproductive rights laws were enacted in 36 states, 68 percent of which restrict access to abortion.
Over 86% of counties do not have an abortion service provider, funding for women’s health care is increasingly restricted, and several states are seeking to pass “personhood” statutes which would criminalize abortion and even miscarriage.
It seems each state legislature tries to outdo the next with their war on women.
The U.S. House of Representatives attempted to eliminate Title X, the federal program that helps provide reproductive health services to low-income and uninsured Americans. They are attempting to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding, which is being defunded by some reactionary state legislatures.
And because this is an election year, women’s health and reproductive justice are in the spotlight.
All of the Republican presidential candidates are opposed to reproductive and health rights and favor the repeal of Roe vs. Wade and elimination of Title X funding.
This war on women is provoking a big fightback and a commitment to mobilize a massive vote in defense of women’s rights in November. You can raise your voice today.
Reproductive-rights groups are fighting back with a simple but powerful pro-choice message: Trust women. We’re joining with scores of organizations in the Trust Women online march. This is a way for us to stand in solidarity, show our numbers, and send a strong message to elected.
Click here to join the march and send your message.
The Trust Women March will deliver your message, along with those of all the other marchers, to Congress and other elected officials to make a difference for women’s health and reproductive justice at the national and state level.
Now is the time to speak out.
Esther Moroze CPUSA National Board
See related articles below: ” On Roe vs Wade Anniversary, a big win for women from Obama administration” PeoplesWorld.org, Jan. 23, 2012: ” White House stands firm in birth control battle,” The Washington Post, January 20, 2012:
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