Engaging Policymakers

The Center works with state advocates throughout the country to promote and defend women's access to reproductive health care services in state legislatures and other policy-making bodies.  Our State Program work is critical because each year state legislatures consider hundreds of bills that would restrict abortion.  Anti-choice activists intentionally target states where they are likely to succeed in passing harmful legislation, and use those victories to push similar bills in other states and on the national level.  Indeed, much of the erosion of reproductive rights in this country has come as a result of state legislative action.  The Center's State Program pays particular attention to the impact that restrictive laws and policies have on marginalized women and women who face disproportionate difficulties in achieving meaningful access to reproductive health care. The State Program also assists activists seeking to proactively strengthen reproductive rights and improve access.   

Specifically, the Center's State Program provides legal analysis, technical support and strategic advice to state legislators, advocacy organizations and individuals who want to ensure that all women have meaningful access to safe and legal reproductive health services, including abortion and contraception.   This includes model legislation; talking points; written analyses and veto letters. Click to view the Center's advocacy materials on emergency contraception.

The Center's State Program also monitors and analyzes proposed state laws and policies that would affect women seeking reproductive health services. Read:

• Our latest update on state legislative highlights
• Our latest analysis of policy and legislative trends
• About the subject areas on which the Center's State Program works
• About existing laws in a specific state