Planned Parenthood Action Fund: We’re In It for the Long Run

More than 35,000 Pledge to Fight for Accountability alongside the Action Fund

New York, NY – Today, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed wildly unpopular legislation that could virtually end access to safe and legal abortion in Texas.

Statement from Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“The bill signed into law by Governor Perry today makes a terrible situation for women’s health even worse. Already, Rick Perry and other politicians have cut more than 130,000 Texas women off from basic preventive health care, including lifesaving cancer screenings and well-woman check-ups, and this new law will severely limit access to safe and legal abortion, which will cause women to resort to desperate and dangerous measures. These relentless attacks on women’s health have a devastating impact on women who already have the least access to health care.

“Doctors oppose this law because they know it will hurt their patients, and the public overwhelmingly opposes these attacks on women’s health. In Texas alone, 80 percent of voters oppose special session passage of the bill Governor Perry signed today, which is why the governor and his allies had to break the rules and shut down the democratic process to push this through the State Legislature.

“The fight over this law will move to the courts, while the bigger fight for women’s access to health care in Texas gains steam. People are enraged by this law, and it has created a whole new generation of activists who are in it for the long run to elect leaders who will protect women’s health.”

BACKGROUND

On Saturday, Planned Parenthood Action Fund launched an initiative to engage and mobilize people across the country.

• Since its launch on Saturday, more than 35,000 men and women have joined the Action Fund in pledging to support leaders who stand with women.

• In Texas, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund will identify several key politicians who have advanced these attacks on women’s health and will spend the next 16 months working to defeat them.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that women have a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. Provisions similar to those in Texas House Bill 2 enacted elsewhere have been enjoined by federal and state courts.

• Three courts have recently enjoined requirements that physicians who provide abortion have admitting privileges, similar to a provision in this bill.

• In both North Dakota and Oklahoma, laws banning evidence-based protocols for non-surgical abortion have been challenged and both were enjoined by state courts.

• The only federal court to address a 20-week ban on abortion found it unconstitutional. A state court in Georgia has enjoined a similar restriction.