Response from Senator Patty Murray

Dear Mr. Colletti:

Thank you for contacting me to share your support for women's reproductive rights.  It was good to hear from you.

One of my top priorities as a Senator – and as a mother – is to ensure that all women in this country are able to make decisions about their bodies and their health. I believe the government must not interfere with a woman's private decisions, and it is imperative that Congress remains vigilant in protecting this right. 

In the 112th Congress, anti-choice Members of both chambers have introduced a number of bills that would place dramatic restrictions on reproductive health services.  These bills would endanger women's health by severely limiting their access to affordable reproductive health services. It would prohibit women from using their own personal funds to buy insurance that covers abortion, as well as raise taxes on businesses that offer abortion coverage in their insurance plans.  In addition, the House Republicans' proposed budget for the remainder of the fiscal year would completely eliminate Title X funding for family planning and teen pregnancy prevention. 

This assault on women's health is wrong and would be truly devastating if actually enacted.  It is an extreme agenda that restricts health care options for women and does nothing to further our goals of getting our economy back on track.  I have worked in my leadership position, as well as a senior member of both the Senate Appropriations Committee as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to fight against these attacks.  Cutting off these important programs and services would be absolutely wrong and I will continue to do everything I can in the Senate to fight it.  

I believe that in these tough times our focus should be on getting the economy back on track and people back to work, not putting insecurity back into the lives of millions of women.  It is time that we move our economy forward, and not pull women's health care backwards. 

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me on this important issue. I want to assure you that I will continue to monitor all anti-choice legislation that comes before the Senate. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my weekly updates at http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=GetEmailUpdates. 

Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,Patty Murray

United States Senator