Planned Parenthood Endorses Jeff Merkley

Praise Merkley's 100 Percent Record Protecting Women's Right to Choose

PORTLAND - Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon endorsed House Speaker Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate today, praising his 100 percent record protecting women's right to choose. Merkley fought in Oregon to expand access to affordable birth control and ensure that rape victims have access to emergency contraception.

"Jeff Merkley has been a leading supporter of women's health - standing up to extremists and passing common-sense legislation that expands access to affordable birth control and ensures rape victims have access to emergency contraception," said Nancy Bennett, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. "We need this kind of leadership in the U.S. Senate - someone who will help protect access to birth control, stop funding dangerous, ineffective abstinence-only education, and insist that any Supreme Court nominee be committed to uphold Roe vs. Wade. That's why Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon is proud to support Jeff Merkley."

"I am honored to have the endorsement of Planned Parenthood," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley. "I believe that reproductive choices should be made by women, not by government. Time and time again Republican Gordon Smith has voted against reproductive rights for women. He is fundamentally out of step with Oregon. I will always protect a woman's right to choose."

Jeff Merkley has received 100 percent ratings from both NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon for his work in the Oregon State Legislature. Merkley believes that women's reproductive choices should be made between them and their doctor - not politicians and special interests. In 2007, Jeff led the fight in Oregon to pass the "Access to Birth Control Act." The bill required health insurance plans to cover birth control and required hospitals to offer emergency contraceptives to women who seek emergency room treatment after a sexual assault.

In the U.S. Senate, Merkley will always protect a woman's right to choose and fight to create "buffer zones" that would require protestors to stay at least 15 feet away from abortion clinic doors and driveways.

Republican Gordon Smith has earned a career rating of 11.9% from NARAL and has received three 100% ratings from the National Right to Life Committee.

*In 1999, Gordon Smith voted to kill an amendment that expressed the sense of the Senate that Roe v. Wade was correctly decided and should not be overturned. [Senate vote #336, 10/21/99, Senate vote #48, 3/12/03]
*In 2000, Smith voted against killing an amendment that would deny federal funding to schools that allowed health care professionals to distribute emergency contraceptives even in cases of rape or incest. Instead of siding with the people of Oregon, Smith voted with Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, John Ashcroft and Rick Santorum. [Senate vote #169, 6/30/00]
*In 1997, in 1999, and twice in 2003, Smith opposed allowing late-term abortions even to protect the health of the mother. [Senate vote #70, 5/15/97 Senate vote #335, 10/20/99; Senate votes #46, 49 3/12/03]

Jeff Merkley spent his early years in Roseburg, Oregon, a community where the children of loggers and mill workers learned the value of honest work, good neighbors, and strong families. Merkley earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. He went on to serve as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and then for Congress. After returning to Oregon with his wife Mary, Merkley led Habitat for Humanity and worked with low-income families to rebuild neighborhoods and purchase their first home.

As Oregon's next U.S. Senator, Jeff Merkley will take on the special interests and fight hard for regular hardworking Oregonians. He will take on the big insurance and drug companies to make health care more affordable and accessible for all. He will end unfair trade deals that have cost Oregon 70,000 manufacturing jobs and will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. And Merkley will end the war in Iraq, bring our sons and daughters home, and fulfill the commitment we have made to veterans and men and women in uniform.

Today, Jeff Merkley lives in East Multnomah County with Mary, a professional nurse, and their two children, Jonathan age eleven and Brynne age ten.

Posted April 11, 2008
Endorsements, Press, Spotlight