Washington, D.C. – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-ChoiceAmerica, said her organization is proud to stand with pro-choice senators whoheld a news conference today to amplify their fight against an extremelegislative attack that could take away insurance coverage of birth controlfrom women.

"We are proud to stand with our champions in the Senate who arefighting to ensure contraceptive coverage for women,” Keenan said. "TheAmerican people are with President Obama and want anti-contraception members ofCongress to back off their efforts to take away a woman’s ability to getinsurance coverage of birth control without a copay.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) hasproposed an extreme amendment to none other than a transportation bill. TheSenate could take a vote on the measure. The Obama administration’s policyalready exempts churches and other places of worship from the contraceptiverequirement. The Blunt amendment, however, aims to undo the no-cost birthcontrol policy completely. The amendment would also go so far as to allowinsurers to deny coverage for any essential health service required under thehealth-reform law they oppose based on personal views.

"Ifopponents of birth control get their way, then any employer—including the ownerof a restaurant or sporting goods store— who opposes contraception could keephis employees from getting insurance coverage of birth control,” Keenan said."Women’s contraceptive coverage would depend on their bosses’ views oncontraception. This agenda is out of touch with our country’s values andpriorities.”

Keenan said her organization isspending $250,000 this week to air radio ads inmarkets in four states: Colorado, Florida, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Theradio effort builds on more than 70,000 email messages its activists have sentto their senators and paid patch-through calls channeling additional messagesto Senate offices. NARAL Pro-Choice America also rolled out a $45,000 online adand recruitment plan, including ads on Facebook and Google to raise thevisibility of the threat to birth control among women ages 18 to 40.

Inaddition, NARAL Pro-Choice America is a member of the Coalition to ProtectWomen’s Health Care, an umbrella organization comprised of more than 30organizations representing millions of members that support women’s access tobirth control, including provider, labor, religious, and reproductive-healthgroups.

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Contact: Ted Miller, 202-973-3032