Across the country, huge numbers of people have spoken up to oppose politicians’ attempts to restrict women’s access to health care—packing statehouses, attending rallies, and calling their representatives. But politicians are pushing forward with these extreme and dangerous policies anyway, in spite of both public opinion and medical expertise.

July 19, 2013

President Obama repealed the global gag rule in his first week in office, but we have yet to see the end of this harmful policy. Just yesterday, opponents of women’s health in the House wrote language echoing the global gag rule into the House foreign operations bill. If passed, this legislation would impose dangerous restrictions on foreign aid, limit women’s access to health care and undercut U.S. development objectives by weakening civil society.

July 19, 2013

Texas Governor Rick Perry just signed HB 2, the extreme and dangerous bill that threatens to virtually end access to safe and legal abortion in the state of Texas. By signing this bill into law, he’s making a terrible situation for women’s health even worse.

July 19, 2013

First, you try to pass three bills that would make abortion inaccessible to women by imposing excessive, medically unnecessary, and sometimes impossible-to-meet restrictions on providers. They all fail in regular legislative session.

July 18, 2013

The other day, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell gave his State of the Commonwealth where he addressed what he accomplished in 2012 and laid out his priorities for 2013.

July 17, 2013

The audience at New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address this week erupted into thunderous applause when he announced his commitment to passing the Reproductive Health Act as part of a broad Women’s Equality Act.

July 17, 2013

Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is running for governor, and as of 5 p.m. yesterday he secured his place as the nominee. Want to know where he stands on women’s health issues? It ain’t pretty.

July 17, 2013

What happens when Governor Rick Perry blocks Planned Parenthood health centers from participating in the Texas Women’s Health Program? The 50,000 low-income women who had previously gone to one of the 47 Planned Parenthood health centers for access to affordable birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, and STI testing are forced to find a new provider. Unfortunately, finding a new provider is easier said than done.

July 17, 2013

With the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade next week, we’re reminded that women’s health and rights have come a long way in the last 40 years. It’s been 40 years since the Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a right to make her own personal medical decisions, and 40 years of ensuring a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion. But as women’s rights have expanded, the language we’ve used to discuss the subject has narrowed to simply “pro-choice” and “pro-life.” When it really comes down to it, labels box people in—they fail to reflect the complexity of the conversation about abortion, or the way Americans think and talk about it today. That’s why Planned Parenthood Federation of America released a new video, “Not in her Shoes,” as part of the effort to expand the discussion about abortion beyond labels.

July 17, 2013