American Civil Liberties Union

Thank you to Grey's Anatomy for daring to speak the A-word (abortion) in its two hour season premiere. In the episode, skilled hospital resident Cristina Yang (played by Sandra Oh) declares, in the clearest of terms, that she does not want to be a mother; she does not want children; she wants her career as a surgeon; and she wants to have an abortion.

Today, in 2011, long after abortion has been legalized, long after discrimination against women in many arenas became illegal, long after calls to end gender stereotyping, the Grey's Anatomy episode is — sadly — radical stuff.

I'm back in New York after an action-packed, anti-Stupak day at the capitol. It was exhilarating — buses from all over, from Mississippi and Wisconsin and Maine; an overflow crowd at the noon rally (did you catch I said overflow!); and a parade of representatives and senators – Sens. Boxer and Murray, and Reps. DeGette, Nadler, Maloney, Capps, Lowey, Edwards, Harman, Slaughter, and DeLauro among others.

What an incredible night. Voters in South Dakota, Colorado, and California stopped three ballot measures that would have seriously threatened the ability of women and families to make private health care decisions. While these initiatives were fought vote-by-vote in each state, they were battles that were won for all of us.

The victories were decisive: in South Dakota, the split was 55 to 45 percent against a ban on nearly all abortions, and in Colorado, 73 to 27 percent said no to an amendment that would have not only prohibited abortions but could have been used to block stem cell research and curtail access to in vitro fertilization and certain forms of contraception, among other reproductive health services.