EMILY’s List Announces Partnership With Ultraviolet

Today, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource in politics, and UltraViolet, a community of women and men fighting to expand women's rights and combat sexism, announced a partnership to mobilize their online communities and demand that Republicans stop trying to block access to basic healthcare for women and families. The campaign directly responds to the private company Hobby Lobby’s lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s contraception mandate, and the 11 Republican lawmakers who just recently signed on in support of the suit.

The Republican lawmakers are: Senators Orrin Hatch, Daniel R. Coats, Thad Cochran, Mike Crapo, Charles Grassley, James M. Inhofe, Mitch McConnell, Pat Roberts, Richard Shelby, and Congressmen Lamar Smith and Frank Wolf. The digital campaign includes an online petition and web advertisements.

“The Republican Party lost big last November, but they just haven’t learned their lesson,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “Women voters already made it clear that they don’t want politicians to roll back the clock by blocking access to basic healthcare services. And they really don’t want their employer telling them whether or not they have access to birth control. But Republican extremists insist on re-hashing old battles and continuing the War on Women. Luckily the two million members of the EMILY’s List community are ready to make sure that if the GOP keeps up its anti-woman agenda, there will be consequences at the ballot box.”

“The implications of this court case are downright scary for women. Imagine a world where your boss has the right to control your personal medical decisions. It's un-American,” said Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet. “Further, it's mind-blowing that these 11 conservatives want to insert themselves into this case. Obviously they didn't learn the lesson of the 2012 election and they now seem intent on losing any women voters their party has left.”

UltraViolet is an online community of over 385,000 women and men in every state and congressional district, who take collective action to expose and fight sexism in the public sector, private sector and the media.

During the 2011- 2012 election cycle, EMILY’s List helped elect an historic number of candidates – the only pro-choice Democratic woman governor in the country, 19 new women to the House, six Senate incumbents, and three new Senators – all the first women to represent their states in the Senate. And this cycle, women we’ve helped elect include the first Hindu and first female combat veterans to serve in the House, the first openly gay Senator, and the first Asian American woman to serve in the Senate. With a community that has quintupled since 2010 – now more than two million members strong – EMILY's List is one of the largest political action committees in the nation. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY's List has worked to elect 100 pro-choice Democratic women to the House, 19 to the Senate, 10 governors, and over five hundred women to state and local office. In the 2011-2012 cycle, EMILY's List had the largest number of members and donors in our 28 year history, and raised a record-breaking $52 million dollars.

Below is the email sent today by EMILY’s List:

Friend,
We're facing an urgent new threat to birth control coverage.

Right now, 11 Republican lawmakers have tacked their names on to a legal brief in support of Hobby Lobby, a major retailer currently suing the Obama Administration. What's this all about? Hobby Lobby wants to deny its women employees insurance coverage for birth control.

It's clear that congressional Republicans haven't stopped their assault on women's rights -- even after a walloping at the ballot box from women voters, where we showed just how much we care about making our own healthcare decisions. Now they're taking it to the courts and it's time for us to stand up and fight, or else we could live in a world where our bosses get to make our healthcare decisions.

Sign on right now, and join EMILY's List and UltraViolet in demanding that Republicans get their hands off women's healthcare and stop waging their War on Women.

The fact is: birth control is a personal, medical decision and no politician or employer has the right to dictate how women use it.

At Hobby Lobby alone, the care of thousands of women in 42 states is at risk. And if the courts side with them, that means millions of women face losing basic health coverage. It's too dangerous for us to sit by and not make our voices heard loud and clear.

Speak out now and join the millions of women in the EMILY's List and UltraViolet communities standing together to make sure that women in this country keep the coverage for the healthcare they deserve. <http://emilyslist.org/take-action/lets-end-debate?et_cid=%25%25jobid%25%25&et_cname=%25%25emailname_%25%25&et_sid=%25%25memberid%25%25&ms=WOEEPL301A>

We've got to get to it. The Republicans fighting to allow bosses to make women's healthcare decisions must be held accountable. Speak out now. http://emilyslist.org/take-action/lets-end-debate?et_cid=%25%25jobid%25%25&et_cname=%25%25emailname_%25%25&et_sid=%25%25memberid%25%25&ms=WOEEPL301A  

Thanks for all you do.

Stephanie
For more information on EMILY’s List, please visit www.emilyslist.org     http://www.emilyslist.org/  .