Last Tuesday we finally got what we've all been waiting for: a fundamental shift in the way the United States looks at family planning. The election confirms what Americans have known for years -- that family planning services are essential to our well-being. We are happy to be working with the Obama transition team to knock down the barriers that have for too long blocked families from exercising their reproductive rights. The American voters sent a clear message; it is time to move past the Bush administration's ideological anti-family planning policies to pragmatic solutions. Now we have the government to do it.
The election proved to be one of epic proportions: with turnout smashing historical records and pundit expectations, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won a massive victory over Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Democrats expanded their majorities in both the House and Senate. Although Congressional Democrats did not quite match the most optimistic predictions, results for both congressional and presidential elections suggest a convincing vote to take the country in a new direction.
Obama won an historic election to become the 44th President of the United States, winning 349 electoral votes and still counting. With voter turnout appearing to top record highs, President-elect Obama appears to have truly expanded the map for Democrats in this election. Not only did he capture all states carried by Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and win the key swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, he won clear and convincing victories in Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico and Indiana, states that had long seemed lost to Democratic presidential candidates.
For family planning providers and advocates around the country, Obama's election represents an enormous victory, and we are hopeful that the coming days and years will provide numerous opportunities to work with the new administration to increase access to family planning services for low-income and uninsured women and men.
As expected, Democrats made significant gains in the Senate, claiming several open seats and unseating at least two big name incumbents. While three races remain too close to call (Alaska, Georgia, and Minnesota), it is unlikely that Democrats will reach their goal of a 60 vote majority in the Senate. As of this writing, the new Senate makeup stands at 55 Democrats (+6), 2 Independents, and 43 Republicans (-6).
Voters elected pro-family planning Democrats to open seats of departing, anti-family planning Republicans Wayne Allard and Pete Domenici. In Virginia, pro-family planning former Governor Mark Warner (D) won the seat of retiring, mixed-family planning Senator John Warner (R). Two other states netted pro-family planning pickups: pro-family planning former Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) defeated Senator John Sununu (R), and in North Carolina, pro-family planning Kay Hagan (D) defeated incumbent anti-family planning Senator Elizabeth Dole (R). These wins bring the expected pro-family planning majority in the Senate to 59. The defeat of any one of incumbent Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), or Norm Coleman (R-MN) would bring that majority to 60. In Oregon, pro-family planning challenger Jeff Merkley (D) defeated pro-family planning Senator Gordon Smith in an incredibly close race.
House Democrats built solidly
on the gains they made in the 2006 mid-term elections, although they
failed to capture the 25-plus seats pundits and party leaders were projecting.
The surprises of the night came on both sides of the aisle, with somewhat
unexpected defeats of both Republicans (Thelma Drake, VA-2) and Democrats
(Nancy Boyda, KS-2). With 11 races still undecided, House Democrats
have made a net gain of at least 15 seats. The most recent information
has the makeup of the house at 251 Democrats to 173 Republicans.
Of the eleven gubernatorial races, Democrat Christine Gregoire's (D) victory in Washington was the most exciting for family planning advocates. Governor Gregoire's opponent, Republican Dino Rossi, supported pharmacists' right to deny emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault, abstinence-only education, and other severe restrictions on women's reproductive health care.
Voters in California, Colorado, and South Dakota defeated ballot initiatives that would have significantly restricted reproductive health. For a third time, California defeated an initiative requiring a waiting period and parental notification before a minor could obtain an abortion. Colorado's initiative to legally define a fertilized egg as a person failed in landslide. And South Dakota's residents voiced their opposition to an abortion ban with unclear exceptions for health of the mother, rape, and incest.
