Obama’s election means a bright outlook for Planned Parenthood
by Anna
Web Correspondent
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
It was definitely a big moment last night when the California polls closed and it became clear that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Big for many reasons, and one of them, for those of us who align ourselves with the ideals of Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups, is the realization that 2009 will usher in a new chief executive who has time and time again placed his support behind the same policies that we do.
I was prepared to write this blurb no matter what happened last night, and the plan was that if McCain/Palin won I would issue some sort of cry for solidarity in the pro-choice community, which I’m sure would have been all the more upsetting for its unmasked disappointment. Luckily, I can instead say wholeheartedly that this election came out our way.
Barack Obama is only the second presidential candidate that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has ever officially endorsed. The organization’s support spawned from Obama’s ongoing backing of pro-choice legislation, comprehensive sex education, and other reproductive health movements: He acted as honorary chair Planned Parenthood of Chicago’s Roe v. Wade celebration in 2005 and sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill resisting government efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade. He was an original co-sponsor of the Congressional Prevention First Act to ensure that all federally funded education programs include medically accurate contraceptive information. He supports over-the-counter availability of Plan B emergency contraception. And that’s the short list.
Of course, as Obama said himself in last night’s acceptance speech, the work is only beginning. To promote comprehensive sex education in all corners of the country, to protect Roe v. Wade, to ensure that birth control and other forms of contraception are readily available to every woman—things that Planned Parenthood strives for—we will have to put forth our dedication and effort for many years to come. Electing a president who agrees with us does not mean we have turned the United States into a country that universally supports our goals.
Still, I am willing to believe that Obama’s election will be instrumental in removing barriers from our path. Here’s to hoping that we soon see the U.S. making the kind of reproductive health progress we’ve been working toward.
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