On January 20, 2009, a bright, chilly winter day, I stood and watched President Barack Obama take the oath of office. After eight long years of a White House that relentlessly attacked a woman's right to choose, the pro-choice American majority finally said, "Enough." And within days of that swearing-in ceremony, President Obama began to undo eight years of damage. He repealed the global gag rule, fixed the birth-control price crisis, re-funded the U.N. population program, and took steps to repeal Bush's eleventh-hour attack on reproductive rights, the Federal Refusal Rule.

That's not all. President Obama selected former NARAL Pro-Choice America Legal Director Dawn Johnsen for a senior Justice Department position, and his very first judicial nominee, David Hamilton, issued pro-choice rulings as a district-court judge. This summer, Justice David Souter made national headlines when he announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. NARAL supported President Obama's nomination of Justice Souter's successor, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina nominee to the Supreme Court.

These wins at the federal level, however, were overshadowed quickly by anti-choice lawmakers' audacious attacks on our reproductive freedom in Congress' health-reform legislation. Although the battle over health reform remains unfinished as I write this, the Stupak-Pitts amendment, if included in final legislation, would represent the most serious rollback of a woman's right to choose in a generation. The fact that the House of Representatives voted by a 46-vote margin in its favor should be a wake-up call to all Americans who value their reproductive rights. And in many states across the country, the right to choose hangs in the balance. One state, Arizona, illustrates the dire situation many women in the United States face, even with a pro-choice president.

In the past year, we lost an important pro-choice champion in Arizona. When Gov. Janet Napolitano left the state house to head the Department of Homeland Security, anti-choice Jan Brewer moved into the top job in that state. While governor, Napolitano consistently vetoed dangerous anti-choice legislation. With this change in leadership, the anti-choice Arizona legislature was able to enact three dangerous anti-choice measures within just six short months of Gov. Napolitano's departure. These measures attacked Arizonan women's access to both abortion and contraception, imposing new burdens on the right to choose where they didn't exist before. Arizona's case is a chilling reminder of the importance of having pro-choice lawmakers at all levels of government.

The 19th edition of Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States reflects these challenges that women faced in 2009, and highlights opportunities to improve and secure pro-choice policies in the states.

As we look forward to the coming year, we take stock of our situation. We continue to fight against attacks on reproductive rights in Congress' health-reform plan. We continue to hold lawmakers accountable for their cynical and unrelenting assaults on the right to choose. We continue to mourn the loss of Dr. George Tiller, whose absence is felt across the country. We stand by abortion providers, whose numbers are diminishing across the country in the face of restrictive laws and outbreaks of violence at health centers. And we celebrate each policy victory – whether at the state or federal level – as a win for women everywhere.

We are at an historic moment. Positive change for women is within our grasp, but we can't take anything for granted – nor can we ignore the fact that opponents of freedom will go to great lengths to construct roadblocks on our path to progress, as we've seen firsthand in the battle for responsible health-care reform. In order to realize the full promise of that historic day in January, we must act on our values and build the collective strength of America's pro-choice majority for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Nancy Keenan
President
NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation