Komen Aftermath: Female Senators Announce Rights Campaign

Don’t dare say that all Democrats are weak when it comes to standing up to the hateful right-wing propaganda machine. In the aftermath of the public backlash against the whole Komen/Planned Parenthood fiasco, a group of Democratic Senators has launched  the campaign “One Million Strong For Women” to battle the constant attempts by conservatives to limit women’s rights regarding reproductive health and related issues. 

The group of Senators, along with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will make a formal announcement today. A sample of that announcement was included in an email from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) office obtained by HuffPo:

“The strong public outcry in response to the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood last week — which they later reversed — shows how powerful we can be when we come together.

“Our right-wing opponents continue to launch attack after attack against women’s rights, women’s health, and women’s economic security — and we’ve got to fight back every single day.

“The next battle over the Obama administration’s decision to make contraception more affordable under the new health care law is already underway. It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century we have to fight for access to birth control, but that is the fact — and there will be many more fights in the weeks ahead.”

The group has already launched an official website to encourage the public to join the campaign:

Time and again, our opponents have come after women — women’s rights, women’s health, women’s economic security.

They tried to defund Planned Parenthood through the budget process. They tried to restrict women’s health care through Medicare and Medicaid. This time, they tried to get Komen to cut off support for Planned Parenthood.

Enough is enough. We may have won this latest round, but our opponents aren’t going away. They’re launching endless attacks against women every single day, and we need to rise to the challenge.

We’ve got to build a grassroots force that’s ready to take them on whenever and wherever they attack women’s rights and women’s health.

And we’ll do it by coming together. Join us.

Let’s harness the power of our reactions over Komen’s attempt to politicize women’s health, and our disgust at the constant onslaught of attacks from the right, and get behind this political effort to protect this most basic right to privacy.

Thanks to the following Democrats who are taking the lead on this campaign:

Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Ben Cardin, Sen. Robert Menendez, and Sen. Charles Schumer.