Planned Parenthood launches campaign targeting 2012 candidates

Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s president Cecile Richards held a blogger call yesterday on the launch of their new campaign and website around the 2012 elections, Women Are Watching.

Launched just this morning, the website and action center serves as a hub for updates on anti-choice candidates, current dangerous state legislation and offers ways supporters can get involved in on- and offline efforts to change the landscape of the current abysmal state of reproductive rights in the country:

Women are Watching is Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s 2012 campaign to educate women across the country about the unprecedented attacks on women’s health and where candidates stand on pivotal health care issues, empower women to hold anti-women’s health candidates of either party accountable, and work to elect pro-women’s health candidates up and down the ballot.

One thing Richards talked about that resonated with me is that we have an opportunity here to reach across party lines because of just how extreme recent efforts in particular have been (ahem, Mississippi). This isn’t just about abortion, but about the larger issue of governmental control over our individuals’ bodily integrity — and we all know the majority of people in this country want access to birth control. They just don’t know that this is what’s at stake.

Make sure to check out the site, take the pledge and follow the hashtag #women2012 for updates on the campaign.