[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 2, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONGRATULATIONS TO NARAL ON 30 YEARS OF PRO-CHOICE ADVOCACY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 2, 1999

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, as the National Abortion and Reproductive 
Rights Action League (NARAL) celebrates 30 years of pro-choice 
advocacy, those of us dedicated to preserving a woman's right to choose 
know that the need for pro-choice advocacy and activism is greater than 
ever.
  America recently commemorated the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 
the Supreme Court decision that recognized the freedom to choose as a 
fundamental right, while opponents of choice worked to put the private 
decision about abortion into the hands of government. The anti-choice 
Congress has pushed a wave of legislation requiring women to endure 
increasing obstacles in order to exercise a right that should be non-
negotiable. Reproductive choice continues to be debated on the floor of 
the House on a near-daily basis.
  NARAL has long been a fierce defender against infringements on the 
right to choose. For thirty years, NARAL has worked to increase Title X 
funding for federal family planning programs, promote contraceptive 
research and the development of contraceptive options for women and 
men, to protect the right of Medicaid-eligible women to make choices 
about their reproductive health, and to ensure that women have safe 
access to reproductive health facilities by condemning clinic violence 
and harassment.
  Pro-choice Members of Congress have never underestimated the powerful 
impact of NARAL's message, that we all want to see abortion made less 
necessary. NARAL tirelessly exposes the irony of the abortion debate--
that the strongest opponents of the right to choose also oppose 
programs promoting comprehensive sex education and birth control, which 
actually reduce unplanned pregnancies. Instead, anti-choice politicians 
would make access to family planning options more difficult, more 
dangerous, more expensive and more humiliating.
  We must continue to support legislation to help reduce the number of 
unplanned pregnancies. Specifically, we must rededicate our efforts to 
require that health insurance plans provide coverage for contraceptives 
to the same extent that they provide coverage for other prescription 
drugs.
  Our job in Congress is to move our nation toward a reproductive 
health care policy that promises to make abortion less necessary and 
protects the right of Americans to do what they believe is best for 
their families. We congratulate you on thirty years of advocacy, and 
look to NARAL for leadership as the 106th Congress prepares to defend a 
woman's right to choose.

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