In the last 48 hours, the House and Senate have taken major steps to shape the budget that affects U.S. foreign affairs spending – and their positions couldn’t be farther apart when it comes investing in global women’s health. The House wants to slash funding for international family planning and bring back outdated restrictions to U.S. foreign aid. Meanwhile, the Senate would expand support for women around the world and amend the total ban on abortion in the Peace Corps.

July 26, 2013

Politicians are doing their darndest to insert themselves into the exam room, intruding upon the personal and private decisions best left up to a woman and her doctor. And we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed this trend…

July 26, 2013

A federal judge in North Dakota has blocked the state’s law banning abortions as early as six weeks—before many women know they are pregnant. The law, which would ultimately outlaw abortion in the state demonstrated just how far some politicians would go to take away women’s access to safe and legal abortion.

July 23, 2013

On Saturday, Ken Cuccinelli faced off against Terry McAuliffe in the first gubernatorial debate of 2013. Everything was on the table, including women’s health. Considering Cuccinelli’s long history of trying to restrict and limit women’s access to safe and legal abortion, it was hardly a surprise when the moderator asked him if he’d continue in the same vein and use the governor’s office to push his extreme ideological views.

July 23, 2013

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President Obama repealed the global gag rule in his first week in office, but we have yet to see the end of this harmful policy.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