President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama has served as president of the United States from 2009 to present.
President Obama believes that women – not politicians – should be able to make personal, private health-care decisions, including whether to have an abortion. While in office, he has worked to improve women’s health and defend against anti-choice legislative attacks.
- His health-care law – the Affordable Care Act – will provide:1
- Near-universal coverage of maternity and prenatal care
- Insurance coverage of contraception without a copay
- Better coverage of cancer screenings, mammograms, and other preventive services
- He showed his support for medically accurate sex education by including it in his first-ever budget outline.2 He also cut failed "abstinence-only" programs and replaced this funding with teen-pregnancy-prevention programs.3
- Pledged to veto two far-reaching anti-choice bills, H.R.3 and H.R.358, that passed the U.S. House of Representatives.4 H.R.3 could force rape survivors who choose abortion care to prove to an Internal Revenue Service agent that they were sexually assaulted, while H.R.358 would let hospitals refuse to provide emergency abortion care to women who would die without it.
The president is a vocal defender of women’s freedom and privacy.
- On the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Obama issued a strong statement in support of the decision: "[A]s we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dream."5
- Following the defeat of the "personhood" ballot measure in Mississippi, the White House issued the following statement: "The president believes that extreme amendments like this would do real damage to a woman’s constitutional right to make her own health care decisions, including some very personal decisions on contraception and family planning."6
Read President Obama's Full Profile.
News & Updates
Our post-election shows that choice was a defining and decisive voting issue for likely "Obama defectors," women who voted for Obama in 2008, but were uncommitted to voting for him in 2012.
In the 2012 election cycle, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC contributed more than $709,000 to federal candidates and committees. We look forward to welcoming 40 new pro-choice faces to the 113th Congress. Find out who they are.
Tomorrow, November 6, we need you to head to the polls to re-elect pro-choice President Obama and vote for pro-choice U.S. Senate and House candidates in your state! Everything you need to vote pro-choice is just a text message away.
With polls showing Mitt Romney may be closing the gap with women voters, it's vital to reach pro-choice "Obama defectors" to make sure they know Romney opposes a woman's right to choose.
We couldn't be more excited for all the pro-choice 18-22-year olds who were too young to vote in 2008, but can now vote for our pro-choice champion, President Barack Obama, in the 2012 election.
Footnotes
1 - P.L. 111-148, 111th Cong. (2010).
2 - Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2010 (2009).
3 - P.L. 111-117, 111th Cong. (2009).
4 - Statement of Administration Policy on H.R.3, May 2, 2011; Statement of Administration Policy on H.R.358, October 12, 2011.
5 - Statement by the president on Roe v. Wade anniversary, January 22, 2012.
6 - Associated Press. "'Personhood' effort still alive after Miss. Defeat." November 9, 2011.
Please credit NARAL Pro-Choice America as the source for the information on this page. If you have additional questions about the candidates’ positions, please contact the communications department at 202-973-3032 or Media@ProChoiceAmerica.org.
