States “At Risk”

Too many.  We've seen simply too many bills designed to undermine women's health in too many states during this legislative cycle.  In state legislatures and Governor mansions across the country, elected officials have been relentlessly focusing on introducing and passing bills that restrict women's access to essential care.  From efforts to prevent Planned Parenthood health centers from providing lifesaving care, to onerous restrictions on access to safe abortion care that have nothing to do with improving women's health, these bills are being driven by politicians who are willing to threaten women's health in an attempt to gain political points.

It's important to understand the range and scope of these legislative attacks, and what has caused this dramatic surge of legislation.   Read here to learn more about what's been going on, and how you can get involved.

Pennsylvania

Why We're Watching: In Pennsylvania, the state legislature has launched a full-scale attack on women’s health with numerous bills aimed at restricting access to vital reproductive services. For example, the legislature is working on unnecessary, politically motivated abortion regulations that single out women’s health centers and put more women at risk. Learn More

Florida

Why We're Watching: The state legislature and Governor Rick Scott have mounted a full-scale, nonstop attack on women’s health in Florida. During the 2011 session, politicians filed 18 anti-choice bills limiting women’s access to the full range of reproductive health services, spent more than two months of the legislative session debating abortion restrictions, and passed four bills into law. Learn More

New Hampshire

Why We're Watching: Citizens of the Granite State reacted strongly when a new Republican majority in the House took aim at the lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing and treatment provided by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) — and so they stood up against an unprecedented effort by executive officials to strip these essential services from New Hampshire women. Learn More

Ohio

Why We're Watching: Ohio's anti-women's health legislators, with solid majorities in both houses of the state legislature, have introduced a barrage of bills that put reproductive health care at risk. Thirteen anti-choice bills have been introduced in Ohio, seven of which were introduced in the first eight weeks of this session. Instead of focusing on the economy, the state legislature has decided to spend their time further restricting Ohio women's access to health care — all while unemployment hovers around 8 percent. Learn More

Texas

Why We're Watching: Everything is bigger in Texas, including the threat to women’s health. This past legislative session, Rick Perry and his friends in the legislature drastically cut access to reproductive health services that will leave Texas women without access to vital health care. Learn More

Wisconsin

Why We're Watching: The 2010 election shifted the Wisconsin State Legislature a full 180 degrees on women’s health. With longtime family planning foe Governor Scott Walker at the helm, anti-women’s health politicians and their political allies wasted no time turning the clock back on sex education, birth control, and women’s access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood. They’ve simply gone too far in Wisconsin — and in response, Wisconsin women are giving radical politicians the boot. Learn More