Abortion Access

Planned Parenthood believes every woman should have access to the full range of reproductive health care services, including access to safe and legal abortion.

Our primary goal is prevention — reducing the number of unintended pregnancies.  While teen pregnancy rates have declined significantly since 1990, the number of repeat teen birth rates remains high and we still have a lot of work to do. That’s why it is important that every woman have access to affordable birth control, so she can choose and consistently use the method that works for her. At the same time, decisions about whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child must be left to a woman, her family, and her faith, with the counsel of of her doctor or health care provider — not to politicians.

Access to abortion is legal, constitutionally protected, and consistently supported by a majority of Americans; yet anti-women’s health policymakers have made it increasingly hard for women to access through court battles, ballot measures, and burdensome legislative restrictions on abortion services. Some extremists even resort to intimidation, harassment, and violence against women and health care providers.

Planned Parenthood fights these efforts on every level. From courthouses to statehouses to Capitol Hill to the grassroots, we work to protect access to reproductive health care through education of elected officials, litigation, and mobilization of more than seven million Planned Parenthood activists, donors, supporters, and patients.

There’s a lot we can and will disagree upon, but we should respect the real-life decisions women and their families face every day. Women don’t turn to politicians for advice about birth control, mammograms, or cancer screenings or treatments — and politicians should not be involved in a woman’s personal medical decisions.

It's a personal decision. Nobody knows a woman's specific situation — we're not in her shoes.