Here’s what she wrote to one of her constituents, who published this letter on his website:
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 MurrayUnited States Senator
Isn’t that AWESOME!!! Gee, why aren’t more people in the US Senate speaking out in strong pro-choice terms as Patty Murray? And why don’t we pay more attention to the heroes valiantly standing up against the War on Women? I’d like to read about them. But does Patty Murray says stuff like this out loud? Does she publish articles or editorials or speeches in which she defends women’s rights out loud, as it were, are there any videos of her? I couldn’t find any. She’s not on Emily’s list of candidates, and she doesn’t show up in this video of women speaking rather tepidly, if you ask me, about their support for women’s rights:
Only Boxer rises to the level of passion demonstrated by Rep Jackie Speier:
or Rep. Gwen Moore:
The media–and I am also guilty of this–pay loads of attention to the lurid details of the latest wacky yet scary and very serious threats to women’s reproductive freedom and autonomy–but very little attention to the people who actually say things I want to hear.
And do you know what else I want to know? WHO ARE THE PRO-CHOICE SENATORS? Do you know? It took me a darn long time to find a list. I’m too stupid, it seems, to figure out how to access this information at the NARAL site. I couldn’t find it at Planned Parenthood, either. I found it on the concisely titled blog, STFU Sexists, and it is not clear where the author obtained the information, but it’s a start:
PRO-CHOICE SENATORS BY STATE
Please reblog this list so that as many people as possible can have this information at their disposal. Call your senators every day and tell them that you stand with them and thank them for their continued support of women and reproductive rights, and to filibuster the anti-choice attack on Planned Parenthood.
- * – Denotes a mixed voting record on reproductive rights
- If your state does not appear on this list, you have no pro-choice senators. Please refer to the list of Anti-Choice Senators by State.
ALASKA
Lisa Murkowski - 202.224.6665
Mark Begich - 202.224.3004
CALIFORNIA
Barbara Boxer - 202.224.3553
Dianne Feinstein - 202.224.3841
COLORADO
Michael Bennet - 202.224.5852
Mark Udall - 202.224.5491
CONNECTICUT
Richard Blumenthal - 202.224.2823
Joe Lieberman - 202.224.4041
DELAWARE
Tom Carper* – 202.224.2441
Chris Coons - 202.224.5042
FLORIDA
Bill Nelson - 202.224.5274
HAWAII
Daniel Inouye - 202.224.3934
Daniel Akaka - 202.224.6361
ILLINOIS
Dick Durbin - 202.224.2152
Mark Kirk* – 202.224.2854
IOWA
Tom Harkin - 202.224.3254
LOUISIANA
Mary Landrieu - 202.224.5824
MAINE
Olympia Snowe - 202.224.5344
Susan Collins - 202.224.2523
MARYLAND
Barbara Mikulski - 202.224.4654
Ben Cardin - 202.224.4524
MASSACHUSETTS
John Kerry - 202.224.2742
MICHIGAN
Carl Levin - 202.224.6221
Debbie Stabenow - 202.224.4822
MINNESOTA
Amy Klobuchar - 202.224.3244
Al Franken - 202.224.5641
MISSOURI
Claire McCaskill - 202.224.6154
MONTANA
Max Baucus - 202.224.2651
Jon Tester - 202.224.2644
NEVADA
Harry Reid - 202.224.3542
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Jeanne Shaheen - 202.224.2841
NEW JERSEY
Frank Lautenberg - 202.224.3224
Bob Menendez - 202.224.4744
NEW MEXICO
Jeff Bingaman - 202.224.5521
Tom Udall - 202.224.6621
NEW YORK
Chuck Schumer - 202.224.6542
Kirsten Gillibrand - 202.224.4451
NORTH CAROLINA
Kay Hagan - 202.224.6342
NORTH DAKOTA
Kent Conrad* – 202.224.2043
OHIO
Sherrod Brown - 202.224.2315
OREGON
Ron Wyden - 202.224.5244
Jeff Merkley - 202.224.3753
PENNSYLVANIA
Bob Casey - 202.224.6324
RHODE ISLAND
Jack Reed - 202.224.2934
Sheldon Whitehouse - 202.224.2921
SOUTH DAKOTA
Tim Johnson* – 202.224.5842
VIRGINIA
Mark Warner* – 202.224.2023
Jim Webb - 202.224.4024
VERMONT
Patrick Leahy - 202.224.4242
Bernie Sanders - 202.224.5141
WASHINGTON
Patty Murray - 202.224.2621
Maria Cantwell - 202.224.3441
WISCONSIN
Herb Kohl - 202.224.5653
WEST VIRGINIA
Jay Rockefeller - 202.224.6472
