“Today, on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, Americans are looking to the Obama Administration and the new Congress to stand firm against efforts to further erode the right to legal abortion in this country.  We hope to work with the new Administration to promote a pro-active prevention agenda that can reduce unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and ensure that young people receive the information and services they need to make responsible choices about their sexual health.
 
At a time when half of pregnancies are unintended and teen pregnancy is once again on the rise, we need to put an end to the divisive political debates over abortion and instead work together on a comprehensive reproductive health agenda that emphasizes prevention while protecting access to abortion services for all Americans including the most vulnerable.

We look to President Obama to quickly rescind the global gag rule, which has severely eroded family planning and related health care services for women around the globe.  We call on him to reverse the Bush regulation that allows health care providers a broad right to refuse reproductive health services and information to women in need, prioritize additional funding for family planning services here and abroad, and restore appropriated funds to the United Nations Population Fund that have been withheld. Further, we urge President Obama to appoint judges and justices who respect our right to privacy, and redirect federal funds from abstinence-only sex education programs that do not work to programs that do, including comprehensive programs that stress abstinence and provide information about contraception.  We urge the Obama Administration to end the ideological restrictions on stem cell research that have stifled its promise for new treatments and cures for some of our most debilitating and deadly diseases.
 
In November, voters said no to the politicization of women’s health and elected an unequivocally pro-choice President. It’s time to put common sense policies in place that expand access to the affordable, high quality reproductive health services that constitute basic health care for women.”