January 24, 2012

BOSTON— On the 39th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal decision in Roe v Wade, the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts (PPAF) re-launched its advocacy and educational website www.pplmvotes.org to educate the public about the ongoing and dangerous political attacks on women’s health and to recruit supporters to join the grassroots fight to protect women’s health. This fight intensified a year ago when anti-women’s health members of Congress launched their legislative campaign against women, rather than fulfilling their promises to fix the economy and create jobs.  Similar political battles are expected this year, especially with the upcoming local and national elections.

PPAF also launched a brand new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ppadvocacyma to engage and mobilize supporters via social media. Planned Parenthood supporters can already follow PPAF on Twitter at @ppadvocacyma and Tumblr at pplm.tumblr.com.

In spite of the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe, women’s health opponents have persisted in their efforts to erode access to sexual and reproductive health care in the United States.  In 2011 alone, 92 provisions were passed to restrict access to abortion services, shattering the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions in 2005. To exacerbate matters, opponents of women’s health care are no longer focused exclusively on abortion access and have expanded their attacks to lifesaving health care, including breast exams, cancer screenings, and birth control.

“Out-of-touch lawmakers on both Capitol Hill and in State Houses across the country have made it their personal mission to cut women off from basic, essential preventive care,” said Dianne Luby, PPAF President. “The public needs to know exactly how their elected officials are representing their interests. With the help of pplmvotes.org, plenty of voters will be paying close attention to this year’s elections, stay informed about what’s at stake, and know who they can and cannot count on.”

The re-launch of www.pplmvotes.org is a key component of PPAF’s mission to educate supporters across the state about key sexual and reproductive health issues and legislative priorities, where candidates stand on pivotal health care issues, and ways to get involved. Supporters of Planned Parenthood can go to the website to sign up for email alerts, make a donation or become a volunteer.

The 2010 elections dramatically changed the U.S. Congress and state legislatures nationwide, and Massachusetts is no exception. In fact, 15 pro-choice seats in Massachusetts were lost during those elections and an additional 2 were lost in special elections held last year. Meaning, the Massachusetts State Legislature’s pro-choice majority hangs on by just one seat. The upcoming elections are an important opportunity to increase support for health care access and grow and solidify the pro-choice majority in the Massachusetts legislature.

PPAF seeks to empower voters and women’s health advocates to hold elected officials accountable and work to elect candidates that will stand up for sexual and reproductive health care access. For more information, visit www.pplmvotes.org.