Abortion

Since 1973, women have had the legal right to decide whether or not to have an abortion  yet, even today, numerous barriers threaten women’s ability to exercise this central right.. We’re working to ensure that women have access to abortion care by protecting and advancing this fundamental right.

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to Disclose Limits on Care Is Part of a Long Tradition of Protecting Women’s Decision-making and Access to Reproductive Health Care

April 9, 2013

Women face many obstacles to receiving comprehensive, affordable, quality health care, including when individuals and institutions refuse to provide health care services.   Some even go so far as to refuse to inform women about their health care options or even to notify women that there are certain services or information that they will not provide.  This prevents women from participating fully in their own medical decision-making.  Not only are their rights compromised, their health may be harmed.

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Fact Sheet | Roe v. Wade and the Right to Abortion

January 18, 2013

The long-standing, well-established constitutional right to privacy places limits on the government’s ability to interfere with a person’s most basic, personal decisions – including the decision whether and when to bear children.  The right to abortion was first recognized four decades ago, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed its central holding, yet this fundamental constitutional right is under ever-increasing attack.

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Fact Sheet | Even More Than Abortion: The Constitutional Importance of Roe v. Wade and the Right to Privacy

January 18, 2013

Roe did far more than establish the right to abortion; it solidified and expanded the constitutional “right to privacy,” which has also been described as the right to autonomy or to be let alone.  This right to privacy is part of the right to liberty protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which state that no person shall be deprived of “life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

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Fact Sheet | 40 Threats to A Woman’s Right to Decide Whether to Have an Abortion

January 18, 2013

January 22, 2013, is the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, this historic Supreme Court decision and the fundamental constitutional right to abortion that it confirmed have been under ever-increasing attack. The following items summarize 40 of the current threats to Roe and to a woman’s right to safe, legal abortion.

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More Resources

Webinars & Presentations | Stop Stupak Now

January 10, 2010

Watch the video now.

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Reports & Toolkits | The Record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Critical Legal Rights for Women: Right to Privacy and Abortion

July 17, 2009

The Record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Critical Legal Rights for Women: Right to Privacy and Abortion

Prior to the hearings, it did not appear that Judge Sotomayor had stated publicly her legal views regarding Roe v. Read more...

Fact Sheet | Oppose Efforts to Limit the District of Columbia's Ability to ProvideWomen with Necessary Medical Care

June 09, 2009

Although all states currently have discretion over how to spend their local revenue, anti-choice members of Congress have, in the past, barred the District of Columbia from using local funds to provide abortion services. In doing so, the federal government has impeded DC’s ability to provide access to abortion services for low-income women who cannot afford to pay for these services without public local funding. Under pro-choice leadership, Congress has in the past lifted such restrictions, but anti-choice members of Congress have prevailed in recent years.

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Fact Sheet | Strong Support Shown by Republicans and Independents for Reproductive Health Care Agenda

January 27, 2009

A new national opinion survey sponsored by the National Women's Law Center and the YWCA USA demonstrates that Republicans and Independents strongly support an array of public policies to improve reproductive health care.

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Reports & Toolkits | Reproductive Health Care Poll of Republicans and Independents

January 16, 2009

Public Strategies conducted a national survey of 1,000 self-identified Republican and Independent voters, September 30-October 8, 2008 on behalf of NWLC and the YWCA. The purpose of the survey was to gauge their attitudes and opinions on various reproductive health care issues, including comprehensive sex education, contraception, emergency contraception/Plan B and abortion. Some of the survey’s key findings will be noteworthy to lawmakers, as they run counter to long-held assumptions about Republican opinions on the issue of reproductive health care.

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