Congressman Jim Moran's News Commentary

This past Sunday, I joined over 1 million people in what was perhaps the largest march ever on the mall in Washington. I was pleased to see so many Northern Virginia residents put aside their regular weekend activities and participate in a movement to protect reproductive rights and a woman's ability to choose. In an era where these freedoms are being encroached upon by an ideologically driven administration and Congress, we can no longer afford to restrain our voices.

The march has reignited pro-choice supporters around the country, firing up an issue which we have all somewhat taken for granted in recent years, because of the perceived impenetrableness of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. I was honored to be a congressional captain of the March for Women's Lives. The rain held off and despite the magnitude of the event, everything seemed to go off without any major hitches.

While the march has galvanized a new generation of pro-choice Americans, there are further pressing women's rights issues that need to be considered this session of Congress. As a member of the House advisory panel for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, I see a great need for better and more accessible family planning programs and preventive health care services.

Recently, I became an original cosponsor of the "Putting Prevention First Act of 2004." This comprehensive, omnibus family planning initiative seeks to provide programs that help reduce unintended pregnancy, infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) and the need for abortion. Provisions in the proposed legislation include a family planning state empowerment plan that would allow states to expand family services to women with incomes of up to 200% of the federal poverty level, without having to apply for a government waiver. It also provides $10 million for implementation of public education initiatives concerning emergency contraception and its benefits and uses to both women and medical providers. The bill would make another $100 million available in annual funding to states for support of comprehensive sex education that included both abstinence and contraception.

I am a firm believer that measures of prevention should convey the message that abstinence is the only fool proof way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. At the same time, however, teenagers should be fully educated about the use of contraception. While it may be nice for some of us to pretend abstinence is a cure-all, it is naive and dangerous to think that abstinence-only education is sufficient in preventing teen pregnancy and disease. Leaving our children unaware of what is available to decrease the probability of getting pregnant or contracting a virus not only short changes their futures, but potentially sets them up for a hard and painful fall.

From cutting funding for family planning services, an outdated focus on abstinence-only education, and efforts to slowly chip away at the foundation of Roe v.Wade, the Bush Administration has made clear where it stands on some of the most important women's rights issues. With the grassroots success of the March for Women's Lives to the number of proposals being advanced in Congress by supportive representatives and senators, the fight to stop this assault has only just begun.