Voters Support Broad Reproductive Health Agenda

Obama, a strong pro-choice advocate, repeatedly opposed government intrusion into important life decisions while asking Americans to respect differences and work together. “Obama envisions a society that allows Americans to move past the division that has defined a generation of the most bitter politics, division that brought our government to a stalemate,” said commentator Scott Swenson in a Reproductive Health Reality Check blog posting.

In perhaps the most resounding defeat for an extremist position, Colorado voters rejected by a three-to-one margin a proposal that would have given legal rights to fertilized eggs, making abortion the legal equivalent of murder and creating a legal nightmare.

In California, voters for the third time defeated an initiative that would have required teens either to inform their parents before having an abortion or charge a parent with abuse. For the second time, South Dakota voters rejected a ban on abortion by 55 to 45 percent, finding inadequate its narrow exceptions for cases of rape, incest or threats to the mother’s health or life.

Michigan lifted its ban on embryonic stem-cell research into cures for chronic disease, while Washington became the second state after Oregon to authorize doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

“Women and families are the real winners in this election,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). “We need government policies that improve access to health care, not take it away.” Pro-choice victories in congressional races are “a major step toward getting our country back on track,” she said.

Pro-choice Democrats took six Senate races against anti-choice opponents: former governors Jeanne Shaheen and Mark Warner won in New Hampshire and Virginia respectively, while incumbent Mary Landrieu was victorious in Louisiana. Rep. Tom Udall took the seat of retiring anti-choice Sen. Pete Domenici in New Mexico, and State Sen. Kay Hagan ousted anti-choice Sen. Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina, while Rep. Mark Udall won in Colorado.

“Udall’s victory is a sign that voters are tired of the divisive attacks of the past and are ready for a change,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Other pro-choice winners took House seats in Arizona, Colorado and Illinois, with many races yet to be reported.

The results were “a clear message: personal, private health care decisions should be made by women, their doctors and their families, not by politicians,” said PPFA’s Richards.

The New York-based Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health hailed the victories as “a hopeful and joyous day for physicians who care about women’s health.” In a statement, however, the organization warned against “any midnight regulations the Bush administration may force through” before leaving office in January. “We cannot drop our guard in the waning days of the Bush presidency.”

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