Election shakes up national rankings of sexual, reproductive rights

A national ranking of states’ commitments to sexual and reproductive rights was shaken up following this week’s elections.  The updated rankings are part of Mapping our rights: Navigating discrimination against women, men and families, an online resource released today at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force annual conference in Kansas City. 

As a result of 11 state referenda and over 30 legislative changes in the past six months, New Mexico sits alone at the top as a state with laws and policies most supportive of sexual and reproductive rights.  Kentucky joins Ohio at the bottom of the ranking, replacing South Dakota. Voters in South Dakota turned thumbs down on an unjust and harsh anti-abortion law.

Mapping Our Rights (www.mappingourrights.org) is an interactive Web site that identifies 25 state laws and policies that promote or prohibit individuals’ abilities to make the most intimate personal decisions:  whether to form partnerships or marry, or whether or not to become a parent.  The site first appeared in May and was updated to reflect election results and incorporate significant changes to policies following state legislative sessions.

About this week’s election, Leila Hessini, Senior Policy Advisory for Ipas noted, “citizens want less interference in their most intimate decisions, not more.” She continued, “the decisions to choose a life partner and start a family are perhaps the most personal decisions an individual will make.”

The map — a partnership between the Task Force, Ipas and the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective — is being launched at Creating Change, the annual conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Creating Change brings together more than 2500 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists from around the country to develop the activist agenda for the following year.

“The outcome of Tuesday's election shows that the political pendulum is shifting back toward freedom, justice and equality,” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.  “Our agenda is one where full equality is the floor, and our vision is where a transformed America is the ceiling.” 

While voters in seven states approved bans on same-sex marriage on Tuesday, voters in Arizona succeeded in turning back a proposed constitutional amendment. Voters in California, Oregon and South Dakota rejected proposed laws that would have further restricted access to abortion in those states.  Rankings were also altered on the basis of recent legislative changes. For example: 

• Hawaii rose to the fourth spot as a result of legislation that repealed clinical regulations designed to harass abortion providers, and a law that guarantees the right to abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.
• Tennessee dropped to 35 from 31, as a result of mandatory, state-scripted abortion counseling, and a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
• South Dakota rose slightly to 49.  Although voters chose not to uphold what would have been the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was approved. 

The three organizations joined together in the map project, bound by a belief that decisions about whether to form unions and create families can not be separated.

“We believe that everyone has the right to have a child, not to have a child and to parent the children they have,” said Loretta Ross, National Coordinator of SisterSong. 

The indicators used to rank the states include, among others:

• public funding for family planning and abortion
• whether health-care providers can deny medical services because of their beliefs
• whether same-sex couples can adopt
• the use of abstinence-only curricula in schools
• whether states have anti-discrimination clauses that explicitly protect gays

The Web site was released at Creating Change: Building Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Political Power, the Task Force’s annual meeting.  It is the largest annual meeting of the national LGBT community, drawing over 2,000 LGBT rights leaders and activists from around the country to set the agenda for upcoming battles.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258