January 19, 2012

Chart of the Day: 2011 in Reproductive Rights

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On Thursday, NARAL Pro-Choice America released its annual report on the status of reproductive rights in the US. The report puts numbers to something you might already have guessed: in 2011, legislators around the country were quite busy passing bills limiting access to abortion services.

At the national level, the House voted on eight different bills dealing with reproductive rights. That’s up from one vote in 2010, three in 2009, and zero in 2008. But state-level lawmakers were even more active. In 2011, 26 states enacted 69 new limits on abortion rights. That’s the second-highest number since NARAL started counting in 1995, coming in just below 1999, when 70 such measures were passed around the country. Over 700 anti-abortion rights measures have been passed around the US since 1995.

Here’s the national picture:

Image courtesy of NARALImage courtesy of NARAL

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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