The FFRF Action Fund continues to play a critical role in supporting abortion rights across the country. That’s why it is supporting the work of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes to defend abortion access throughout the region.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes works across Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, a region where the push to ban abortion has often been seen to be religiously motivated. One of Missouri’s abortion-restricting statutes opens by declaring that “Almighty God is the author of life,” and the lawmakers who passed the abortion ban that took effect when Roe fell openly said they were writing their religious beliefs into law. One legislator explained that “to me God doesn’t give us a choice in this area.”
“No one should have medical decisions, especially the immensely personal decision about when and whether to become a parent, dictated by someone else’s religion,” comments Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the FFRF Action Fund. “Missouri lawmakers made no secret of it. They wrote their theology straight into the statute books, even though the bible says nothing whatsoever about abortion. Freethinkers have been fighting for abortion rights for generations, and FFRF Action Fund members are proud to stand with Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.”
“Patients deserve to make private medical decisions with the people they love and trust, free from political interference,” says Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. “Anti-abortion politicians have spent decades trying to take control of our bodies, our rights and our lives. We are grateful to count the FFRF Action Fund among our supporters, and we will keep fighting to protect abortion rights and access across the Midwest and South.”
FFRF Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes (PPGPV) is a 501(c)(4) organization advocating for the rights of people in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma to access the essential services that Planned Parenthood Great Plains provides. The states that Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes serves were some of the first to enact abortion bans following the Dobbs decision and are home to some of the most egregious targeted regulations of abortion providers (TRAP laws) in the country. PPGPV lobbies state lawmakers to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and comprehensive sex education in the communities they represent and galvanizes grassroots supporters to make their voices heard in Capitol buildings and communities across the region.