In perhaps the first good news that has come out of Washington in the last several weeks on the women’s rights front, the Democrats have announced that they are going to fight the three anti-abortion bills proposed by the House Republicans (H.R. 3, H.R. 358, and H.R. 217).   After coordinating their message with Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Federation, and NARAL, the House Democrats will kick off their mutli-tiered campaign against the bills with three press conferences.  Talking Points Memo also reports that the “Democrats hope that publicizing the bills and forcing the Republicans to talk about them could alienate the new House majority from some of its independent female supporters.”

Reportedly, the Democrats will be making three arguments in this campaign against the anti-abortion legislation.  Because there has already been a national conversation and significant public outrage, the central piece of the Democrats pushback will be the “forcible” rape language in H.R. 3.  While this will be the main message, the Democrats’ secondary goals will be to “cast the GOP as distracted from the moribund economy by social issues and hypocritical on the ideals of personal freedom.”  The first press conference, led by California Senator Barbara Boxer, is expected to be held tomorrow. Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will also hold a press conference this week to take on H.R. 358 (the bill that would allow doctors to let pregnant women die instead of performing a life-saving abortion) and H.R. 217 (the bill that would defund Planned Parenthood).

To support this Democratic effort and to fight the outrageous and draconian anti-abortion legislation, please contact your Rep.