SUPPORT FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

WHEREAS, over the last two decades we have witnessed the increasing efforts of anti-choice forces to undermine the reproductive rights of American women; and

WHEREAS, state legislatures are intimidated into adopting more and more restrictive measures, which result in limitations to reproductive healthcare and abortion rights, and women’s access to reproductive health services has increasingly become an issue for the courts; and

WHEREAS, we must assure that all teens have access to realistic sex education curricula and information about avoiding unwanted pregnancies; and

WHEREAS, women should have the right to make the profoundly personal choice of whether and when to bear children, as well as have access to birth control methods, including over-the-counter emergency contraception; and

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers has supported women's reproductive rights since 1981, including access to healthcare, birth control and abortion:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers work with other organizations to preserve reproductive rights and call upon the U.S. Senate to carefully review the qualifications of any Supreme Court nominees in order to assure reproductive rights to American women; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT call for medically accurate sex education programs in public schools that include abstinence education and information on birth control in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT call upon the Food and Drug Administration to immediately approve over-the-counter emergency contraceptives and to support national and local efforts to require pharmacists to fill birth control prescriptions.