Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Reproductive Health Champion Senator Ed Markey for Re-Election

JANUARY 21, 2020 — Today, Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced its endorsement of Senator Ed Markey. This announcement is part of the Action Fund’s larger rollout of endorsements of federal candidates committed to protecting reproductive health and rights around the country. For the Action Fund and its 13 million members nationwide, winning a reproductive health majority in the U.S. Senate is a top priority. From judicial nominations to abortion access to funding reproductive health programs, Congress makes critical decisions that directly impact Planned Parenthood patients every day.

Statement from Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts:

“We are pleased that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed Senator Ed Markey. People across Massachusetts want their elected officials to stand up to the Trump administration’s attacks on our health, rights, and freedoms, and Senator Markey has been an outspoken and uncompromising champion of reproductive health care and abortion access for nearly four decades. More than 34,000 patients rely on Planned Parenthood for reproductive health care in Massachusetts. Those patients, and everyone in our Commonwealth, need a champion in Congress like Senator Markey to fight for equitable access to care.”

From his support for the Affordable Care Act’s no co-pay birth control benefit to his support for international family planning, Senator Markey has fiercely fought for the health, rights, and dignity of his constituents, as well as people throughout the country and across the globe. Senator Markey has supported reproductive rights and health care in every vote since the Action Fund started tracking this data in 1995. In the last year alone, he co-sponsored every Action Fund priority bill for reproductive health and rights, including the EACH Woman Act, which would lift the discriminatory Hyde Amendment and restore federal insurance coverage of abortion. In addition, Senator Markey has been an outspoken leader in the fight against the Trump Administration’s domestic gag rule, which dismantled Title X, the nation’s only program for affordable birth control, denying health care to millions of people with low incomes.

Last year, 26 abortion bans passed in states across the country, forcing people to cross state lines or wait hours or weeks just to access basic health care. In 2018, the American people sent more women, including women of color, to Congress than ever before and flipped the House of Representatives to a clear pro-reproductive health majority. In 2020, there is a clear opportunity to flip the Senate and usher in a full Congress that will protect people’s health and rights.