“Today, on the 38th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, we urge lawmakers to end the divisive, dangerous efforts to take away women’s right to choose abortion and impede women’s access to this basic health service, and instead focus on preventing unintended pregnancies.

The November election put in place more federal lawmakers who oppose a woman’s right to choose. But the extreme measures proposed by these lawmakers are at odds with the majority of Americans who do not want women to be denied access to reproductive health services.

Today, half the pregnancies in our country are unintended and by age 45, about one-third of women will have had an abortion. Making family planning services available to everyone who needs them, and offering all youth unbiased and comprehensive sexuality education is essential to effective efforts to reduce our nation’s staggering rates of unintended pregnancy. That should be a top priority.

We also need to ensure that all women — regardless of their income, where they live, whether they serve in the military — can access a full range of reproductive health services that includes abortion care. We urge Congress to reject the outrageous “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which would reduce the availability of abortion coverage in the private insurance market nationwide, narrow the already limited rape and incest provisions in the Hyde Amendment, and permanently deny low-income women and military women access to health coverage that includes this essential care.

We will continue to urge that birth control services and supplies be included in the package of preventive services that health plans will be required to cover without deductibles or co-pays, as provided for in the Affordable Care Act.

We must protect and expand common sense policies that improve women’s health by providing access to affordable, high quality reproductive health services.”