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North Carolina Election Results

Posted in: Elections, NC by admin on November 3, 2010 | No Comments

Both houses of North Carolina’s state legislature are now controlled by anti-choice majorities. There’s a long road ahead to protect the gains we’ve made in North Carolina and hold the line against the coming attacks on reproductive health and rights.

However, we are proud to congratulate our endorsed candidates who won last night:

U.S. House of Representatives
Congressman David Price
Congressman Melvin Watt
Congressman Brad Miller

NC State Senate
Senator Dan Blue
Senator Josh Stein
Senator Bob Atwater
Senator Floyd McKissick
Senator-Elect Eric Mansfield
Senator Ellie Kinnaird
Senator William Purcell
Senator-Elect Gladys Robinson
Senator Linda Garrou
Senator Dan Clodfelter
Senator Charles Dannelly
Senator Malcolm Graham
Senator Martin Nesbitt

NC House of Representatives
Representative Angela Bryant
Representative-Elect Susi Hamilton
Representative Jean Farmer Butterfield
Representative Michael Wray
Representative Larry Hall
Representative Paul Luebke
Representative Mickey Michaux
Representative Rosa Gill
Representative Grier Martin
Representative Jennifer Weiss
Representative Deborah Ross
Representative Darren Jackson
Representative Diane Parfitt (ahead by a small margin; results may change)
Representative Rick Glazier (ahead by a small margin; results may change)
Representative Bill Faison
Representative Joe Hackney
Representative Winkie Wilkins
Representative Verla Insko
Representative Pricey Harrison
Representative Alma Adams
Representative Maggie Jeffus
Representative-Elect Marcus Brandon
Representative Alice Bordsen
Representative Larry Womble
Representative Tricia Cotham
Representative Martha Alexander
Representative Susan Fisher
Representative-Elect Patsy Keever

Thanks to all our endorsed candidates for all your hard work and for pledging to protect reproductive rights and health. And thanks to all our volunteers and supporters who made phone calls, knocked doors, handed out voter guides, and encouraged your friends and families to vote.

We start preparing for the coming legislative session today — stay tuned for more information on what you can do hold the line against anti-choice attacks!

The Pro-Choice Choices for NC 2010

Posted in: Elections, NC by admin on September 7, 2010 | No Comments

vote button Planned Parenthood Health Systems Action Fund announces our endorsements for the November 2, 2010 election.

These candidates have pledged to do more than just support a woman’s right to choose. They have also agreed to support expanding access to information, education and health services to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Once elected, they will continue to stand up for women and families and put commonsense health care needs ahead of ideology and politics.

Click to jump to: U.S. Senate, U.S. House, NC Senate, NC House, Wake County Board of Commissioners.

United States Senate: Elaine Marshall

“Elaine Marshall was the first woman elected to statewide office in North Carolina, and she has been a passionate advocate for women and women’s reproductive health care and rights throughout her long career in public service,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “At a time when women’s access to basic health care is continuously under attack, we need strong leadership in the U.S. Senate and we’re confident Marshall will provide that.” Click here to read the full press release.

United States House of Representatives
District 4: Representative David Price
District 12: Representative Melvin Watt
District 13: Representative Brad Miller

North Carolina State Senate
District 2: Ms. Barbara Garrity-Blake
District 9: Mr. Jim Leutze
District 14: Senator Dan Blue
District 16: Senator Josh Stein
District 18: Senator Bob Atwater
District 19: Senator Margaret Dickson
District 20: Senator Floyd McKissick
District 21: Mr. Eric Mansfield
District 23: Senator Ellie Kinnaird
District 24: Senator Tony Foriest
District 25: Senator William Purcell
District 28: Ms. Gladys Robinson
District 32: Senator Linda Garrou
District 37: Senator Dan Clodfelter
District 38: Senator Charles Dannelly
District 40: Senator Malcolm Graham
District 49: Senator Martin Nesbitt

North Carolina House of Representatives
District 3: Representative Alice Underhill
District 7: Representative Angela Bryant
District 18: Ms. Susi Hamilton
District 24: Representative Jean Farmer Butterfield
District 27: Representative Michael Wray
District 29: Representative Larry Hall
District 30: Representative Paul Luebke
District 31: Representative Mickey Michaux
District 33: Representative Rosa Gill
District 34: Representative Grier Martin
District 35: Representative Jennifer Weiss
District 36: Ms. Robin Anderson
District 37: Ms. Debra McHenry
District 38: Representative Deborah Ross
District 39: Representative Darren Jackson
District 41: Representative Chris Heagarty
District 44: Representative Diane Parfitt
District 45: Representative Rick Glazier
District 50: Representative Bill Faison
District 54: Representative Joe Hackney
District 55: Representative Winkie Wilkins
District 56: Representative Verla Insko
District 57: Representative Pricey Harrison
District 58: Representative Alma Adams
District 59: Representative Maggie Jeffus
District 60: Mr. Marcus Brandon
District 63: Representative Alice Bordsen
District 71: Representative Larry Womble
District 85: Ms. Beth Ostgaard
District 100: Representative Tricia Cotham
District 103: Ms. Ann Newman
District 106: Representative Martha Alexander
District 114: Representative Susan Fisher
District 115: Ms. Patsy Keever

Wake County Board of Commissioners
This year, several members of the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted to strip coverage for abortion services from Wake County employee insurance plans. Due to the efforts of our pro-choice majority, they were unsuccessful. As a result, the PPHS Action Fund is making endorsements in the commissioners’ races for the first time. The candidates below all support including abortion coverage as part of a basic employee health plan.

Commissioner Lindy Brown
Commissioner Brown was a fearless champion for comprehensive reproductive health insurance for Wake County employees this past spring. Her efforts were instrumental in restoring abortion care to the County insurance policy.

Mr. Donald Mial
Don Mial has pledged his support for a woman’s right to make fundamental reproductive health decisions without government interference.

Mr. Jack Nichols
Jack was a founding board member of Planned Parenthood Health Systems in Raleigh and as has a long history of working on behalf of reproductive justice in his capacity as an attorney.

North Carolina Primary Results Are In!

Posted in: Elections, NC by admin on May 5, 2010 | No Comments

Yesterday’s primary netted great victories for some of Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s endorsed candidates. Congratulations to the following pro-choice candidates:

Senator Linda Garrou (SD 32)
Senator Malcolm Graham (SD 40)
Representative Rosa Gill (HD 33)
Representative Rick Glazier (HD 45)
Representative Winkie Wilkins (HD 55)
Representative Alma Adams (HD 58)
Susi Hamilton (HD 18)

A lot of voters are solely focused on federal races; however, when it comes down to the life of the average woman in NC who needs to fill her birth control prescription, or get STD testing, or access an abortion, it is the men and women in our state legislature and sitting on the county commissions that hold the keys to her ability to access necessary health care.

Make no mistake: the anti-choice zealots are hard at work limiting access to reproductive health for women throughout our state. Just this year alone, over 15,000 municipal employees have lost health insurance coverage for abortion care.

Help us work hard this election year to protect these hard won gains. There are many anti-choice senators and house members up for re-election and many of our great pro-choice legislators are going to be in tight races. With your support, we have an opportunity to defeat anti-choice incumbents, increase our pro-choice seats, and re-elect legislators who will continue to protect our right to privacy.

PPHS Action Fund Announces Primary Endorsements

Posted in: Elections, NC by admin on April 13, 2010 | No Comments

North Carolina will hold primary elections on May 4, 2010. (Click here for more information about how and where to vote!)

PPHS Action Fund is proud to announce our endorsed candidates for the primaries. All of the following candidates support access to safe, legal abortion as well as preventative health services such as contraception, sexually transmitted disease prevention and treatment, and comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education.

House District 18: Susi Hamilton
Susi is running for the seat left open by the retirement of Representative Sandra Spaulding Hughes. She is the former Executive Director of Wilmington Downtown, Inc. You can learn more about Susi’s campaign at her website.

House District 33: Representative Rosa Gill
A former chair of the Wake County School Board, Representative Gill was appointed to the House of Representatives last year. During her first year in the legislature, she was a supporter of the Healthy Youth Act. You can learn more about her campaign on her Facebook page.

House District 45: Representative Rick Glazier
Representative Glazier has represented the 45th district since 2003. He was a co-sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act in 2009. Learn more about Representative Glazier and how to get involved by visiting his website.

House District 55: Representative Winkie Wilkins
Representative Wilkins was a primary sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act in 2009.

House District 58: Representative Alma Adams
Representative Adams is a tireless legislative advocate for reproductive health and rights. Most recently, she was one of the primary sponsors of 2008′s Healthy Youth Act (HYA), a bill to restore comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education to North Carolina’s public schools. Last year on Adolescent Health Advocacy Day, Representative Adams led over 200 teens through the legislature and into a committee hearing on HYA–an incredible showing of public support for the legislation. For more information on Representative Adams’ campaign, visit her website.

House District 60: Representative Earl Jones
Representative Jones is a former attorney and current newspaper publisher in Greensboro. He was a co-sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act.

House District 99: Representative Nick Mackey
Representative Mackey is an attorney who practices law in Charlotte and was a co-sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act. To learn more about Representative Mackey, please visit his website.

House District 115: Representative Bruce Goforth
Representative Goforth co-sponsored the Healthy Youth Act in 2009. Learn more and get involved at Representative Goforth’s website.

Senate District 32: Senator Linda Garrou
Senator Garrou was a co-sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act. For more information about Senator Garrou, please visit her website.

Senate District 40: Senator Malcolm Graham
Senator Graham was the primary Senate sponsor of the Healthy Youth Act. For more information about Senator Graham, please visit his website.

March Madness in North Carolina

Posted in: Elections, NC by admin on March 1, 2010 | No Comments

What a month we have had here in North Carolina. Working in reproductive choice means expecting the unexpected, but few of us expected the politics of Rep. Bart Stupak (the namesake of the Stupak amendment) to show up at our front door.

In the past three weeks, the town of Apex, the NC League of Municipalities, and Wake County have all decided to strip abortion coverage from insurance plans that cover public employees. As of right now, the fate of coverage for employees in the town of Cary, Cumberland and Mecklenburg Counties and for thousands of other women across the state who are covered by insurance through local government is in jeopardy.

We knew that something was up when so many places at once would decide to take away benefits from our hard-working public employees.

And then we remembered… anti-choice politics run deep in North Carolina.

No one embodies the measures to which extremists will go to deny women access to abortion more than Representative Paul “Skip” Stam (NC HD 37) also known as the “Prince of Pelvic Politics!”. In a creative but inaccurate interpretation of a court case, Stam has told local governments that they do not have the authority under state law to offer employee health insurance plans that cover abortion. Lawyers from the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the UNC School of Government all agree that they do have that authority.

But because anti-choice forces have threatened lawsuits to counties and municipalities that do not comply with their demands of cutting abortion care – even in the case of medical necessity – employee coverage is under fire.

If this turn of events has you as worked up as it does us here in Raleigh, let me remind you that your generous donation will help us ensure that pro-choice candidates will be supported and victorious!

This is just the tip of the dangerous and deceptively large iceberg that is Rep. Stam’s political agenda, who even voted against the Healthy Youth Act and is now working to block its implementation.

While the fate of abortion coverage across NC is unclear, one thing is as clear as ice – Rep. Stam must go! Donate now to help Planned Parenthood Health Systems Action Fund unseat him and other anti-choice zealots in NC, SC, WV and VA.