The right to choose is about more than a woman's right to safe, legal abortion. Freedom of choice encompasses preventing unintended pregnancy through sex education and improved access to birth control, defending a woman's right to bear healthy children, defending the independence of our nation's courts, and addressing the inequities in reproductive health care.

In this section, you will find information, research, statistics, and facts about these issues:

Abortion
NARAL Pro-Choice America fights to protect the right to safe, legal abortion. Ever since the Supreme Court guaranteed a woman's right to choose more than 30 years ago with its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the anti-choice movement has worked furiously to dismantle it – with the ultimate goal of outlawing legal abortion altogether.

Birth Control
Improving access to birth control is at the forefront of our efforts to prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. For the 98 percent of American women who use some form of contraception during their reproductive lives, birth control is basic, essential health care. Unfortunately, the far right is broadening its attacks to include blocking women’s access to birth control.

Sex Education
To address our country's high rate of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among teens, NARAL Pro-Choice America supports honest, age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex education that teaches both abstinence and information about contraception. At the same time, anti-choice lawmakers are spending tax dollars on unproven, ideological "abstinence-only" programs that actually censor life-saving information.

Women of Color
Although many barriers to adequate health care apply to all women, systemic obstacles can have an especially negative effect on the ability of women of color to access quality reproductive-health care. As a result of these challenges, the reproductive-health needs of many women of color are going unmet in the United States. We must overcome these barriers to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive-health choices.

Choice in the Courts
Americans who value freedom and privacy must remain committed to ensuring the independence and objectivity of our courts. The federal judiciary has historically played a key role in ensuring civil rights for ordinary Americans. Today, the right wing is determined to roll back these rights by packing the courts with anti-choice nominees.

The Bush Administration and Choice
President Bush, with the enthusiastic support of his anti-choice supporters, has waged a tireless war on women's reproductive freedom and personal privacy. Time and again, President Bush has taken steps to make abortion more difficult and dangerous, to block women’s access to birth control, and to inject politics into medicine and science.

For a full list of our fact sheets, click here.