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Learn about the votes that determined the 2007 pro-choice scores

The year 2007 witnessed two historic events for the pro-choice movement. In January, pro-choice leadership assumed control of Congress for the first time since 1994. With a net pick-up of 23 new pro-choice seats in the House and three in the Senate, pro-choice lawmakers in the 110th Congress have successfully halted President Bush from advancing legislation to dismantle reproductive freedom any further. Moreover, by taking back control of the Senate, pro-choice senators have a greater say in moderating President Bush's right-wing judicial nominees, which will be vital should a vacancy open up on the U.S. Supreme Court within the next year. Now, holding the reins of Congress, pro-choice lawmakers also have been able to make significant headway into reversing some of President Bush's most egregious attacks on reproductive freedom. However, despite our 2006 electoral gains, pro-choice lawmakers are still outnumbered in the 110th Congress, which consists of only 164 solidly pro-choice House members (of 435), and only 35 fully pro-choice senators (of 100).

Then, in April, women suffered a major setback when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban by a narrow 5-4 ruling. This decision represents a stark departure from prior rulings, and with it the Court effectively eliminated one of Roe v. Wade's core tenets: that a woman's health must always be protected. Perhaps most ominously, President Bush's appointees to the Court provided the votes needed to erase this core protection of Roe — likely signaling a seismic shift in the Court's future rulings on the choice issue. The ramifications of the decision are not limited to a single statute. In upholding a dangerous and invasive federal law, the Roberts Court has given the green light to anti-choice politicians to enact even more new restrictions to test the shrinking contours of the right to privacy.

NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2007 Congressional Record on Choice documents the key reproductive-rights votes taken during the first session of the 110th Congress. Despite their new status in the minority, this year anti-choice lawmakers continued their relentless assault on choice on the following fronts:

United Nations Population Fund: Anti-choice senators — led by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) — voted to allow President Bush to block the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund for the sixth year in a row.

Title X funding: Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and other anti-choice representatives tried to defund Planned Parenthood — the nation's largest network of reproductive health providers — by banning the organization from participating in the Title X family-planning program. Thankfully, the effort failed.

Federal health grants: Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) tried to cut off all federal health funding for health centers that provide abortion services. Congress rebuffed the attempt.

"Unborn child" regulation: Anti-choice senators tried to block reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program by codifying the Bush administration's controversial "unborn child" regulation, which allows states to make an embryo or fetus — but not a pregnant woman — eligible for the health-care program. This effort, too, failed.

More legislative assaults: Anti-choice lawmakers continued to assail reproductive freedom in other contexts as well: they filed 11 anti-choice amendments to a single spending bill, a massive assault that parallels only their attacks in 1995 after winning control of Congress; they tried to entangle unrelated legislation in anti-choice politics by attacking medical abortion and raising the issue of so-called "post-abortion syndrome"; and they even tried to pick fights where they didn't exist by offering anti-choice amendments to legislation dealing with issues such as cockfighting and methamphetamine abuse.

Abortion bans: Finally, because Congress is still dominated numerically by antichoice forces, anti-choice lawmakers sustained bans on abortion access for women who depend on the federal government for their health care — Medicaid and Medicare clients, U.S. servicewomen and military dependents, federal employees, residents of the District of Columbia, Indian Health Service clients, and women in federal prison.

Despite suffering what the president described as a "thumpin'" in the 2006 elections, and a public that is clearly rejecting divisiveness on this issue, the Bush administration still refused to halt its own assault on reproductive freedom:

Veto threat: This year President Bush — at the behest of anti-choice activists — issued a blanket veto threat, vowing to reject any bill from Congress that includes a pro-choice provision.

Honaker nomination: In March, President Bush nominated controversial anti-choice ideologue Richard Honaker to be a federal district judge. Honaker is well-known to NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming for his long history of working to end legal abortion: while serving in the Wyoming legislature he introduced a near-total ban on abortion care, and after it failed, he worked tirelessly to put the ban on the ballot as a statewide initiative. Sadly, this is just Bush's latest attempt to stack the courts with anti-choice judges.

Orr appointment: In October, President Bush appointed anti-contraception activist Susan Orr as acting director of the federal office that oversees the nation's family-planning program. Formerly a senior staffer at an anti-choice lobby group, Orr 2007 applauded the president's proposal in 2001 to cancel birth-control insurance for federal employees.

Office of Women's Health: In February, media outlets reported that the Bush administration intended to cut funding for the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Women's Health (OWH) by more than 25 percent. The OWH played a vital role in approving the emergency contraceptive Plan B® for over-the-counter sales to adults in 2006, and many observers speculated that the budget cut may have been a political apology to the president's anti-choice allies who opposed the move. Amidst public outcry and mounting congressional pressure, the administration reversed course a month later and fully funded the OWH.

Roe "celebration": In "honor" of the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Bush proclaimed a "National Sanctity of Life Day" — as he has done every year since 2001.

Misguided funding priorities: The president proposed yet another increase in taxpayer funding for discredited "abstinence only" programs, while he gave no increase to the Title X family-planning program — which provides essential health-care services to millions of American women and men — and proposed drastic cuts to international family-planning assistance.

Despite this onslaught of anti-choice activity, pro-choice and pro-family-planning lawmakers continue to pursue a positive agenda — and, under new pro-choice congressional leadership, even secured some key victories for reproductive rights:

Global gag rule: During consideration of the annual foreign-aid bill, both the House and Senate took action to reverse course on the global gag rule, a Bush policy that bars U.S. funds to any overseas health center unless it agrees not to use its own, private, non-U.S. funds for abortion services or counseling — or even if it takes a public pro-choice position. The House exempted contraceptive supplies from the global gag rule; the Senate voted to repeal the policy entirely. Unfortunately, in the end a Bush veto threat, backed up by a sufficient number of anti-choice lawmakers, blocked the repeal effort.

Pro-choice oversight hearing: In October, to highlight the dangerous effects of the global gag rule, the House held its first pro-choice hearing in more than 12 years.

Improvements to "abstinence-only" programs: For the first time in the program's history, the House passed legislation to improve the Title V "abstinence-only" program to guarantee that the curricula are medically accurate and proven effective. The bill also would have allowed states the flexibility to use these dollars for programs that work best for their teens, including honest and realistic sex education. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to take similar action so these improvements were not presented to President Bush.

Medical accuracy: For the first time, both the House and Senate health spending bills took steps to ensure that other federally funded "abstinence-only" programs are medically accurate.

Prevention agenda: Pro-choice lawmakers continued to champion a host of legislative measures to prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion, including the Prevention First Act, the Responsible Education About Life Act, the Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act, and the Access to Birth Control Act.

Freedom of Choice Act: As anti-choice advocates rallied around the Supreme Court's decision on the Federal Abortion Ban, pro-choice lawmakers, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), responded by reintroducing the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill to codify a woman's right to choose in federal law. To date, more than 120 lawmakers have signed on — the highest number in recent times.

Emergency contraception: Pro-family-planning lawmakers introduced legislation to ensure that rape survivors are offered emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms, ensure women in the military have access to the medication on bases overseas, and raise general awareness about this effective method to prevent pregnancy after sex.

Crisis pregnancy centers: Pro-choice Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced a bill to protect women from anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers that use false advertising to lure in women seeking medical care or honest counseling only to bombard them with anti-choice propaganda.

Looking ahead to next year, NARAL Pro-Choice America remains committed to protecting the pro-choice gains we made in the 2006 elections, and electing even more pro-choice policymakers — including a pro-choice president. Much is at stake in next year's election. With the new conservative composition of the Supreme Court and anti-choice lawmakers still wielding a numerical majority in Congress, the next president could very well chart the future of Roe v. Wade for the next generation. Defenders of reproductive freedom stand at a critical crossroads between two futures: one road leads to an end to legal abortion; the other to choice as a fundamental American value. The risk to our freedom is real. The choice is clear. Unless we heed this call to protect a woman's right to privacy, dignity, and choice, we will fail our daughters, our granddaughters, and our future.