Contact: Casey Olesko 201.647.5502 / Casey.Olesko@ppgnnj.org

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey supporters participated in this year’s Women’s March on New Jersey in a statewide rally to protect women’s rights, civil rights, and human rights.

The Women’s March in 2017 sparked an energy that continues to this day, as women and allies across the United States defeated the repeal of Obamacare, protected access to Planned Parenthood, spoke up against sexual harassment and assault, and stepped up and ran for office all across the country. In the past year, millions of women called and showed up at their member of Congress’s offices, including right here in New Jersey, demanding that their representatives vote against efforts to strip health care from millions of Americans and block women from getting preventive care at Planned Parenthood.

“2018 will be a pivotal year for women’s health and women’s rights, and women will be a potent political force,” said Christine Sadovy, Legislative and Political Director with Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. “We’re going to use this energy and support to fight at the local level to ensure everyone in New Jersey has full equality, can control their own bodies, and can access health care without fear, shame, or stigma.”

In 2017, reproductive rights were under attack at both the federal level and in New Jersey. For the eighth consecutive year, former Governor Chris Christie vetoed funding for lifesaving preventive reproductive health care services from the state budget – funding that would have supported breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections at Planned Parenthood health centers and other community providers across the state. Since he first eliminated this funding eight years ago, the number of cases of bacterial STDs has risen 35 percent across the state, and has risen nearly 50 percent or more in 11 out of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

At the federal level, Donald Trump and Mike Pence spent last year trying to block access to affordable birth control, defund Planned Parenthood, cut teen pregnancy prevention programs, and strip away women’s fundamental right to control their own bodies.

As a result of these attacks, Planned Parenthood saw an unprecedented outpouring of organizing, activism, and support. People across New Jersey and across the country marched, showed up at town hall meetings, flooded the Congressional switchboard with calls, organized online, and stood up for access to health care. Nationwide, in the last year, Planned Parenthood gained more than 250,000 volunteers and more than 1.5 million new supporters; held more than 2,700 organized events across the country to resist attacks on women and basic health care rights; and delivered more than 1.5 million petition signatures to members of Congress in opposition to defunding Planned Parenthood.

“One year ago, millions of women like me marched in the streets the day after Trump was inaugurated,” said Sara Goetz of Maplewood. “Today, I’m here to stand with Planned Parenthood and show that we still aren’t backing down – we’re just getting started!”