Stupak Redux: Time to Redouble Our Efforts

Stupak Amendment Round 2. Stupak: 1. Women’s Health: 0. But not for long. In the month since the anti-choice Stupak Amendment passed the House during its debate over health care reform, you have taken tremendous action. Nearly 30,000 of you signed our online petition opposing the abortion coverage restrictions the Stupak amendment would impose, adding your names to the list of 385,273 individuals who signed similar petitions through our sister organizations. Over 1,300 people from 30 states traveled to lobby their members of Congress at the December 2 Lobby Day. And many more of you have taken action at home, whether by meeting with or calling your members of Congress, writing letters to the editor or urging your friends to get involved. We need you to keep the momentum going.

It’s time for the next showdown. Today, exactly one month since the Stupak Amendment passed the House of Representatives, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a Stupak-like amendment in the Senate, and it could be voted on at any time.

This amendment must fail.

You have done great work so far, and we need to keep pushing. Please write to your Senators right now and urge them in no unequivocal terms to oppose the Nelson amendment in the Senate. Health care reform that improves women’s health and lives, rather than limiting their ability to get health care they need, hangs in the balance.