Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon will honor U.S. Senator Ron Wyden as its "2018 Pro-Choice Champion." The award will be presented at the 2018 Courageous Voice Breakfast with keynote speaker Sonya Renee Taylor on Wednesday, May 30th in Portland.
Every year, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon presents the Marilyn Epstein Pro-Choice Champion Award to recognize a leader who goes above and beyond in advocating for women's and reproductive healthcare issues. The award has previously honored State Representative Mary Nolan (2011), Secretary of State (now Governor) Kate Brown (2012), Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (2013), U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (2014), Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy (2015) and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (2016). Last year's award went to the chief sponsors of the Reproductive Health Equity Act: House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson; State Representatives Jeff Barker and Julie Fahey; and State Senators Laurie Monnes Anderson and Richard Devlin.
"Senator Wyden has been a leader in fighting against this administration's agenda of discrimination and attacks on Planned Parenthood," said Becca Uherbelau, Board Chair for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. "As the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, he understands that women's health issues are economic issues. Now more than ever, we are so grateful for leaders like Senator Wyden who will not back down in the face of attacks on our rights and our bodies."
Throughout his tenure in the nation's capital, Senator Wyden has courageously stood up for reproductive freedom time and time again:
* He led efforts to defeat multiple right-wing attempts to repeal and roll back the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood. Had Republicans succeeded, thousands of Oregon women would have lost access to health insurance and the providers they trust.
* He fought against efforts to cap and radically gut the Medicaid program, which covers almost 40 million women, serves as the country’s primary payer of family planning services and pays for half of all births in the United States.
* He helped lead the fight in the Senate to protect women's access to no-cost contraceptive coverage and defeat right-wing attempts to ban safe, legal abortion after 20 weeks.
* He condemned the Trump administration's attempts to use the Office of Refugee Resettlement to push its anti-abortion agenda using the lives of the women in its custody.
* He opposed the Trump administration's push to make it easier for employers to deny women coverage for birth control and for providers to discriminate against women and LGBTQ individuals.
* He demanded the protection of and continued funding for the Title X and Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs, essential resources for women and girls to be able to access family planning and educational services they deserve.
The 2018 Courageous Voice Breakfast will take place from 7:30-9am Wednesday, May 30th at Hilton Portland Downtown, 921 SW Sixth Ave. This year's keynote speaker is Sonya Renee Taylor, an award-winning performance poet and body-positivity activist. Tickets are available at PPAOregon.org.
