EMILYs List Statement on Republicans Blocking the Right to Contraception Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senate Republicans blocked the Right to Contraception Act, which would have established a legal right for individuals to access and use contraception and for health care providers to provide contraception and related information, referrals, and services, while prohibiting the federal government and states from banning or restricting it. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement: 

“When Republicans tell you who they are, believe them. Today Republican extremists in the Senate told us loud and clear: they want to go back to an America where birth control is illegal. They’ve come for abortion, IVF, and now contraception, and it’s obvious that they won’t stop until they’ve banned every form of essential health care to control our bodies, lives, and futures.

“The two paths that lay ahead for our nation could not be more distinct. While Democrats push to safeguard fundamental health care and basic human rights, Republicans are working overtime to rip our freedoms away. This November, we must replace these extremists with Democratic pro-choice women to maintain control of the Senate and flip the House. That is the only path forward for protecting our rights for generations to come.” 

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.