Pro-Choice Maryland

From NOW:
All women have the right to have the children they want, raise the children they have, and plan their families through safe, legal abortion, and access to contraception, and pre and post-natal care. For those rights to become a reality, women in all communities need to have the resources and the economic, social and political power to make health decisions about their bodies, their sexuality and their reproduction.

Sign the NOW Pledge to protect reproductive rights

From NOW:
Keep our reproductive rights out of this man’s hands!
Rep. Trent Franks' (R-Ariz.) nationwide 20-week abortion ban is close to passing. He recently reintroduced the D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would outlaw abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks, and has amended it to broaden its coverage so that its provisions will apply across all 50 states. Your representative — pro-choice or not —needs to hear from you so that we can preserve women's rights and lives. Please sign the petition!

I got this from both Planned Parenthood and NOW, though I will share what NOW sent me:
There is a chance that the bipartisan, inclusive Senate-passed Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (S. 47) could pass the House of Representatives tomorrow.

But, the completely unacceptable substitute VAWA, being pushed by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash) as the sponsor, will be brought to the floor for a vote first. If the substitute fails, House members will then be able to vote yea or nay on the Senate-passed bill. We think we have the votes to defeat the substitute and pass the inclusive Senate bill, but we must have your help! We are so close now, with 201 co-sponsors and 19 House Republicans who signed a letter asking Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to allow the Senate bill to have a floor vote.

Please contact your House member, whether Democrat or Republican, and implore them to vote for the Senate-approved VAWA. The Senate version contains program improvements essential to bring protection and support to violence survivors who have not had access to services in the past.

Please make a call and send an email message right away, and don't forget to let them know that you are a voter in their district. Since we have only a few hours to reach House members, your calls and email messages must be sent today and early Thursday morning.

( More about the background of the subsitute and calling your house member )

To take action with Planned Parenthood on this issue, go here

From NOW:
Right-wing politicians are waging a ferocious War on Woman, attacking our access to reproductive health care, our economic security, and even our safety from domestic violence and sexual assault. The We Are Woman Rally is endorsed by NOW and other women's rights organizations and is led by dedicated grassroots activists from across the country who are fed up with the right-wing extremists in Washington.

We would love to have as many NOW activists as possible stand with us at this momentous event. Bring your friends, and make your voice heard to stop the War on Women!

Details
What: We Are Woman National Rally for Women's Rights

Who: We Are Woman organization, NOW and Allies
Featured speaker: Bonnie Grabenhofer, NOW Executive VP

When: Saturday, Aug. 18

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: West Front Lawn, Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.
First Street NW, between Pennsylvania Ave. NW and Maryland Ave. NW

Metro: Capitol South (Blue & Orange Lines) or Union Station (Red Line, Amtrak)

For more info, go to the We Are Women site.

From NOW:
Send a message to your Congress members today, urging them to vote down any effort to restrict contraceptive coverage in health care.

Background:
Continuing Attacks on Birth Control - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other extremists are expanding their campaign against women's reproductive rights by going all out to restrict birth control. They are not content with the Obama administration's extraordinary accommodations to religiously affiliated organizations -- namely, churches have carte blanche to keep birth control out of their health plans, while for other religious employers the cost of birth control coverage is absorbed entirely by the insurer. Now the bishops and their allies in Congress want all employers to be able to strip birth control from their health plans. That this is happening in a volatile election year is no accident.

( More )

This information needs to be conveyed to your senators in order to defeat these attacks on birth control.

I got this from NOW, but MoveOn.org is hosting this:

Trust Women Week is from Jan 20th to Jan 27.

People around the country are joining together to show our strength and advocate for women's health and reproductive justice. Join the march now and add your name to our message for Congress and other elected officials.

Many reproductive rights and women's rights organizations support this

From NOW:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is receiving comments from the public about proposed regulations for the new state-based health insurance exchanges and qualified health plans under the new health care reform law. NOW wants to make sure that women's access to insurance coverage for abortion care is made simple and affordable.

Write your own comment or use NOW's sample comment below by cutting and pasting it into the appropriate space on the government regulations website. The deadline for comments is Oct. 31, so act NOW!

( Sample Comment from NOW )

This is basically the same as the previous post, but this is through NOW.

As I said, from NOW:
Urgent action required! The House of Representatives plans to consider H.R. 358 this Thursday, Oct. 13. This so-called "Protect Life Act" will amend the Affordable Care Act to prohibit federal funds from being used for any part of any plan that provides coverage for abortion care. In addition, it would allow hospitals to refuse to provide or even refer a patient for abortion care, even if doing so would cause a woman to die. Demand your representative vote NO on H.R. 358.