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For more than 30 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has been the leading national advocate for personal privacy and a woman's right to choose. Even before women won the right to safe, legal abortion – when some women died as the result of illegal, unsafe abortions - NARAL Pro-Choice America has championed reproductive freedom.
Following are key moments in the history of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the pro-choice movement.
Click here for a complete history, including bills we were instrumental in defeating and getting introduced, our role in protecting the Supreme Court, and other critical developments in the history of the choice movement.
| 1969 |
The National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) is founded. |
| 1973 |
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision recognizing that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses the right to choose abortion.
NARAL changes its name to the National Abortion Rights Action League. |
| 1975 |
NARAL moves its offices to Washington, D.C., placing more emphasis on federal lobbying and policy. |
| 1976 |
Efforts by NARAL and other pro-choice organizations generate more pro-choice mail to Congress than ever before to oppose the Hyde amendment. The amendment passes and becomes law in 1977, banning federal Medicaid funding for abortion care for low-income women. |
| 1979 |
NARAL effectively continues to fight against resolutions in state legislatures calling for Congress to convene a Constitutional Convention to outlaw abortion. |
| 1985 |
NARAL launches the "Abortion Rights: Silent No More" campaign, using the slogan "We are Your Mothers, Your Daughters, Your Sisters, Your Friends, and Abortion is a Choice We Have Made." |
| 1987 |
NARAL and other pro-choice organizations are instrumental in defeating the nomination of anti-choice nominee Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 1989 |
In response to the Supreme Court’s announcement that it will hear Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, a case threatening the protections of Roe, NARAL co-sponsors one of the largest pro-choice demonstrations ever held in the nation.
Following the Webster decision, which rendered the right to choose the most vulnerable it had been since 1973, NARAL develops its "Who Decides?" message. |
| 1992 |
In Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey the U.S. Supreme Court scales back the constitutional protections provided by Roe v. Wade. In response, NARAL holds Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) hearings across the country and steps up its lobbying campaign to pass FOCA.
NARAL convenes the National Commission on America Without Roe, where national experts discuss and catalog the ramifications of losing the right to choose and recommend policies to save this important liberty.
NARAL is instrumental in mobilizing thousands of pro-choice Americans to help elect then-Gov. Bill Clinton, the first fully pro-choice president. |
| 1993 |
To more accurately reflect the organization's comprehensive approach to reproductive health policy, NARAL changes its name to the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. NARAL also launches the "Real Choices" campaign to highlight the goals of its expanded mission: to preserve access to abortion while working to enact policies to make abortion less necessary. |
| 1994 |
NARAL and other pro-choice organizations work toward the passage and celebrate the enactment of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). |
| 1995 |
NARAL representatives participate in the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing. |
| 1998 |
NARAL and other pro-choice organizations successfully work toward passage of equity in contraceptive coverage for federal employees and their families. |
| 1999 |
After receiving its largest single grant in its history, the NARAL Foundation launches Choice for America, a multi-year marketing and mobilization campaign to reinforce the core principles and values underlying the pro-choice position. |
| 2003 |
NARAL changes its name to NARAL Pro-Choice America, and launches the largest grassroots mobilization initiative in our history. |
| 2004 |
NARAL Pro-Choice America cosponsors and helps organize the March for Women's Lives. With more than a million participants, the March is the largest demonstration of any kind in American history.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman, who had served in the position for nearly two decades, retires.
NARAL Pro-Choice America mobilized thousands of volunteers, made nearly 12 million direct contacts with targeted voters, and aired compelling advertisements in five key states. We helped John Kerry to narrow victories in the states where we worked the hardest - New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.
NARAL Pro-Choice America announces Nancy Keenan, a Montana native who served as an elected pro-choice public official for nearly two decades, as its new president. |
| 2005 |
To emphasize the fundamental American values of freedom and personal responsibility, NARAL Pro-Choice America issues its prevention challenge to President Bush and other anti-choice leaders. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan embarks on the "Heartland Tour," traveling to states like Texas, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington to meet with affiliates, community leaders, stakeholders, and policy-makers to discuss proactive, pro-choice policies and messages.
NARAL Pro-Choice America launches the Choose Justice campaign to alert Americans to the threat posed to Roe v. Wade by a change in the composition in the federal judiciary, most notably two vacancies on the Supreme Court. The campaign attracts thousands of new member activists and engages a new generation in the fight to protect Roe v. Wade. |
| 2006 |
In the historic midterm elections, Americans reaffirmed their commitment to the values of freedom, privacy, and personal responsibility by electing pro-choice candidates and defeating anti-choice ballot measures in races across the country, including the extreme abortion ban in South Dakota. NARAL Pro-Choice America capitalized on the public’s call for change with a comprehensive $2.5 million political program, which included independent expenditures in congressional races, direct contributions to candidates, and contributions to the efforts to defeat anti-choice ballot measures. | |
