Stand Up for Choice: Elections Have Consequences

Onerous restrictions on access to abortion, fishing expeditions into women's confidential medical records, state laws that make it more difficult for rape survivors to get or learn about emergency contraception, every limitation on women's reproductive rights has come from some election where a pro-choice candidate has lost and the other candidate has won.

State and local-level stealth candidates have hidden their radical agendas from voters, have been elected, and from there sought and achieved higher office.

By seizing control of Congress, anti-choice senators and representatives have passed legislation that has resulted in the first ever nationwide abortion ban (now on its way to the Supreme Court) and more than one billion taxpayer dollars wasted on medically inaccurate and ineffective abstinence-only sex education.

Mid-term elections are just as important as presidential elections, and primaries are where candidates are selected and where you can have the most impact. Next year at this time these people will be deciding how much the government will interfere in your private life.

IT'S TIME TO BECOME A PRO-CHOICE VOTER

Over thirty years of anti-choice assault has made it clear that there is only one way to keep politics from impacting women's health and safety and that is to elect only pro-choice candidates to office.

In order to change the political climate it is imperative to elect only pro-choice candidates who understand that reproductive rights are basic human rights and will therefore pass only laws that protect and advance those rights.

The entire U.S. House of Representatives, a third of the U.S. Senate, and many state legislatures and governorships, including Illinois, are up for grabs this year.

These are battles where the rights, health, and the very lives of women are on the line. Anti-choice laws start in legislative bodies and in the minds of anti-choice politicians. They will end only when pro-choice Americans flex their political muscle and hold them accountable. That means voting at every opportunity and voting pro-choice.

Many anti-choice politicians attempt to hide their voting records around election time. They bow to the demands of extremist groups like Concerned Women of America, Focus on the Family and Family Research Council but will not include that information on political literature. These groups have radical and oppressive positions and the politicians who follow their dictates should explain their support of those positions. Consider the following:

• Dozens of state proposals are being enacted protecting pharmacists who are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control and emergency contraception on moral grounds.
• In Illinois, in 1997, proposed HB 2213 would have required a married woman to give her husband 72 hours notice before having an abortion with no acknowledgment for domestic violence.
• A radical Michigan bill would limit women's ability to obtain an abortion even very early in pregnancy and prevent doctors from providing treatment after a miscarriage.
• The Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter attempted to seize medical records from Planned Parenthood health centers.
• There is an ongoing battle in several states to keep safe and legal abortion services available to minor women as the result of lawmakers who decide that they know better than the doctors involved in those cases.
• South Dakota is working on a law to make it punishable by 30 days in jail and a $200 fine for any school personnel to refer a student to a family planning clinic.
• Each year in Illinois, numerous anti-choice bills are introduced. They can be stopped only if we have pro-choice legislators who are willing to stand up for our rights.

VOTER INFORMATION

Illinois remains the most pro-choice state between the two coasts, and that is due to the leadership of the two organizations listed here.

PERSONAL PAC

Personal PAC is a bipartisan Political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-choice candidates to state and local office in Illinois.

"Personal PAC focuses like a laser beam on the Illinois General Assembly and state government to make certain that the interests of women and their families are protected. As a state representative and Lt. Governor, I know first hand the critical importance of Personal PAC's campaign strategy and vigilance to protect reproductive choices." -- Former Lt. Governor Corinne Wood (Republican)

“Every year, anti-choice forces try to roll back the protections afforded to women under our constitution. And every year, Personal PAC works with pro-choice leaders to uphold our constitutional right to reproductive choice. I am proud to stand with Personal PAC in defense of a woman's right to choose. My opponent in the race for Attorney General, Joe Birkett, opposes abortion even in the case of rape and incest, and I deeply appreciate the assistance of Personal PAC in making sure that he is defeated and that Illinois' next Attorney General is a voice for choice." -- Attorney General Lisa Madigan (Democrat)

ILLINOIS PLANNED PARENTHOOD COUNCIL (IPPC)

IPPC is Planned Parenthood's statewide legislative and political office. It supports and protects public policies that guarantee individual reproductive rights and access to reproductive care. We lobby government officials and educate the public on reproductive health care issues.

If you would like to find out more about legislative issues in Illinois and sign up for email alerts, visit the website at www.plannedparenthoodaction.org. You will also find a link to Planned Parenthood Illinois Votes, working to organize and mobilize the pro-choice majority in Illinois and to foster a climate in which laws and policies ensure reproductive freedom for all.