Why Women

It’s 2012, and women are still making $0.77 for every $1 a man makes in the same job. And Scott Walker just made that wage gap easier to maintain and harder to prosecute.

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We know that women voters are critical to helping Democrats win in every election, but this year, we have a specific challenge: reaching women voters who voted for Obama in 2008 and getting them to return to the polls this November. Earlier this week, the Washington Post posed the question: can women save the Democrats? We believe the answer is yes, and we have the research to back it up.

We’re not fooled. Hawai’i GOP Senate candidate Linda Lingle announced that Senator Blunt will be a “special guest” at her fundraiser.

Senator Roy “I want your boss, not your doctor, to decide what kind of health care he thinks you deserve to have” Blunt. That guy. Despite having his amendment defeated last week, Lingle is trying to drum up some attention and bring out the checkbooks for her fundraiser.

Part of a Mother's Day Series from EMILY's List

You know the kind of person who’s tough as nails, pushes you to be your very best, and supports you unconditionally? For me, that’s my mom, and there’s no better occasion to thank her for everything she’s done to help me get where I am today: the first African-American woman to represent Alabama in Congress.

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The EMILY's List community has had a huge impact Natalie Tennant's campaign for governor of West Virginia.

When the GOP puts out "pro-life" ads, they don’t show the real consequences of denying women the right to control their reproductive destinies. They don’t show the staggering number of women who are not healthy enough for pregnancy, or suffer from complications. They show you sugary images of smiling families and healthy babies. "Pro-life" as pro-family is a blatant lie, and it’s time the GOP fessed up.

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman wrote an interesting piece in The Hill today called “GOP turning off women voters.” He lays out all of the indisputable reasons why defunding Planned Parenthood and Title X is bad for women: it would actually increase the cost of vital women’s health services drastically, and it would result in more unplanned pregnancies, undetected cancers, and sexually-transmitted infections.

No one is for violence against women, right? No one supports rape, domestic violence, stalking, or abuse. And yet, Wednesday, Republicans refused to even consider the Violence Against Women Act.

Changes in the Violence Against Women Act – rights for Native Americans, immigrants, LGBT – were included to reflect the reality of life since the Act was last updated. But Republicans in Congress have made the safety of others political, rather than common sense.

Ever since Iowa finished caucusing and Rick Santorum galloped to a narrow second place, the former Pennsylvania Senator has garnered, well, about a metric ton of media that he wasn't getting previously.

But I wanted to bring to your attention to one nugget about Santorum that I haven't heard too many folks talking about. He opposes birth control. Full stop. For single women and for married women alike.

It was heartening to see some incredible women – including EMILY’s List alumnae – get their due in TIME’s 100 list for 2011.