1.
THE FRONT LINES
FALL/WINTER 2014
On October 2, 2014, when a federal appeals court ruled in favor of HB2—Texas’s omnibus
bill packed with measures aimed at shutting down abortion clinics—all but eight clinics in the
state were forced to close overnight. With the dash of a pen, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit stranded thousands of women with limited or no access to safe, legal abortion care. All
this under the guise of promoting women’s health and safety.
Continued on page 2
FROM THE FRONT LINES

2.
THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS www.reproductiverights.org2
FROM THE FRONT LINES cont. from page 1
Lead sponsors Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), above, and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act in November 2013.
The Center for Reproductive Rights immediately filed an
emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to
reopen the clinics until the case could be reviewed.
Two weeks after the mass shuttering, the Court allowed
13 of the clinics to temporarily reopen.
Texas is one of the most egregious examples of the dire
impact of these sham laws and the need for the federal
Women’s Health Protection Act, which was introduced by
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-
CA) in November 2013. By making a range of medically
unwarranted restrictions on abortion services unlawful, the
proposed legislation affirms that our constitutional rights
should not vary by state.
“The types of laws we are challenging in Texas right now
are exactly what the Women’s Health Protection Act is
designed to combat,” says the Center’s Director of
Federal Policy and Advocacy Julianna Gonen. “Courts
and legislatures across the country are hollowing out
women’s constitutional rights, and this bill would put
an end to that.”
After an extremely successful advocacy day in June
where over a hundred advocates from 29 states came to
Washington to meet with members of Congress about the
bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act was granted a
coveted hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With more than 160 cosponsors in Congress, it was clear
the act had resonated.
The Center worked closely with Sen. Blumenthal’s office to
prepare for the hearing. Center President and CEO Nancy
Northup testified as lead witness, highlighting the current
crisis in access to abortion along with Dr. Willie Parker,
abortion provider at the last clinic in Mississippi, and Chris
Taylor, a state legislator from Wisconsin.
On July 15, an overflowing audience—with more than a
few members wearing #ActforWomen (the official Twitter
hashtag for the Women’s Health Protection Act) t-shirts
that the Center had handed out—watched the two panels
of witnesses in intense and sometimes heated debate.
The hearing generated extraordinary national interest in
the legislation. Even the misleading and skewed testimony
offered by the opposing witnesses only served to further
energize our supporters.
“WHPA has come a long way in one short year,” notes
Gonen. “It’s been invigorating to help mobilize members
of Congress, the advocacy community, and our own
supporters around this effort.”
We expect the bill’s sponsors to reintroduce the bill with
the start of a new Congress in January. Already, we are
working to build on the incredible momentum the act
generated this past year.

3.
3THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Last month, we took an
emergency appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court after
clinic shutdown laws
closed 80 percent of
the clinics in Texas – the
second largest state in
the country.
Within days, the Supreme Court issued a ruling
in our favor.
While the litigation goes on, clinics in critical
areas of Texas, including the impoverished Rio
Grande Valley, have reopened and are serving
women.
This is an extraordinary victory for Texas women
and for all of us working to ensure that the
protections of Roe v. Wade will endure.
But we are not relying on just the courts to make
Roe’s promise real.
In Congress, we have championed the
Women’s Health Protection Act – introduced
by Sen. Richard Blumenthal last November.
The Act will protect access to safe, legal abortion
care for every woman across the U.S., no matter
where she happens to live.
Across the globe, we are working with the UN
and other international bodies to advance access
to quality reproductive health care, as well to
prevent abuses such as forced sterilization and
child marriage.
All of these battles to advance our ideals are
long, arduous, and hard-won. And we are in it
to win.
Your passionate support is essential to making
our shared ideals a reality. Thank you for your
commitment to the health, dignity, and rights
of all women.
Sincerely,
Nancy Northup,
President & CEO
FROM THE PRESIDENT
““If you closed 80% of the
polling booths in Texas,
you would not say you
still had the right to vote.
- Nancy Northup, All In With Chris Hayes, MSNBC, 10.03.14

4.
THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS www.reproductiverights.org4
As lead pro bono counsel on our team fighting
the sweeping anti-abortion legislation of Texas
HB2, Alex Lawrence is no stranger to the dire
consequences of clinic closures. Growing up in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the 1980s, Alex—
unlike most kids his age—was keenly aware that
his hometown’s only abortion clinic was in grave
danger of being closed down.
Although it was in the news, Alex heard the details of the epic
struggle from his grandmother. She was one of the attorneys
representing the besieged clinic.
“Tough as a five-cent steak,” says Alex of his grandmother, Selma
Cash Paty, who still practices law at age 87. “And she’s probably the
reason I went to law school.”
Alex, now a world-class litigator with the firm Morrison & Foerster,
has been involved in pro bono work with the Center for Reproduc-
tive Rights since 2003. Together we’ve taken two abortion restriction
cases to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and we are back
there now for a third time.
A three-judge panel—rather than the whole bench—will hear the
Texas appeal in the coming months.
Alex’s work at his firm pulls him in many directions—from intellectu-
al property rights to white collar criminal defense—but it’s clear that
his grandmother’s passion is also his own.
“Growing up seeing her take part in this fight has made me want
to continue it,” says Alex of his commitment to his work with the
Center.
Despite the heroic efforts of Ms. Paty—who Alex remembers receiv-
ing numerous threats—the Chattanooga clinic was eventually forced
to close in 1992. To this day, there are no abortion clinics in the
state’s fourth-largest city.
“When clinics are shut down, I’ve seen how it creates a real barrier,
particularly for poor women,” says Alex. “I do this work for those
women—for the ones who are being denied their fundamental right.”
COMMITMENT TO OUR MISSION
Alex Lawrence
“To me, reproductive
rights are simply about
freedom—economic
freedom, personal
freedom. It makes
my blood boil to
see people try to
take that away,
especially in such
disingenuous ways.”

5.
5THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Last Clinic Standing
Our major legal victory at the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will keep Mississippi’s
last remaining clinic open—for now. The three-judge
panel deemed it a constitutional violation to force a
woman to go out of state to obtain abortion services.
With clinic shutdown laws threatening a huge swath
of the country, our battles to keep endangered clinics
open rage on in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
Pushing Boundaries
This fall at the Ford Foundation, we launched the
updated World’s Abortion Laws map, one of the
Center’s signature publications which visually
compares the legal status of abortion across the
globe. In the last 20 years, 35 countries have
liberalized their abortion laws, a trend that has
marked incredible progress toward improving
women’s rights and lives worldwide.
Groundbreaking Declaration
in the Americas
In an unprecedented move, a committee within the
Organization of America States (OAS) linked abortion
restrictions to violence against women and called on
governments to decriminalize abortion in cases of
rape and incest, risk to the woman’s health or life,
and fetal impairments. The Center played a key
role, testifying alongside advocates before the OAS
committee as they were drafting the declaration.
Holding the U.S. Accountable
on Maternal Deaths
This summer, the Center and our partner SisterSong
turned the spotlight on the maternal mortality crisis
affecting black women in the South during a charged
session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination in Geneva. The Committee
found that the U.S. has failed to make sufficient
progress addressing racial and gender disparities in
reproductive health and, echoing a number of our
recommendations, called for the government to
make key policy changes to eliminate disparities in
maternal mortality.
IMPACT: The Return on
Your Investment

6.
THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS www.reproductiverights.org6
CENTER EVENT
A Pivotal Moment
At JAzz At Lincoln center
With the glittering New York City skyline as a backdrop, the Center
for Reproductive Rights hosted its 2014 Gala on October 29 at
Jazz at Lincoln Center. The theme of the evening was “A Pivotal
Moment,” in recognition of the unprecedented challenges and
opportunities we face today as advocates for women’s health,
equality, and lives.
More than 300 guests gathered to celebrate the Center’s accom-
plishments and affirm their support as the organization undertakes
the formidable work ahead.
The mood at the event was especially celebratory, coming just
weeks after the Center achieved a stunning victory at the U.S.
Supreme Court, allowing 13 critical reproductive health care
clinics in Texas to reopen.
The Gala honored two women of impressive global impact:
The Hon. Louise Arbour, leader of some of the most significant
international human rights efforts, from the tribunals for the
former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to the UN High Commission for
Human Rights; and Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan—
the world’s largest women’s magazine—and editorial director of
Hearst Magazines.
The energy and momentum of the evening translated into
$1 million raised to continue the Center’s groundbreaking efforts
improving and protecting every woman’s fundamental right to
quality reproductive care, no matter where she lives.

7.
7THE FRONT LINES CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Susan Gibson, Board member Laurie Campbell and
Board member Roberta Goss
Dr. Willie Parker, Board member Aimee Boone
Cunningham and Ed Cunningham
Gala Co-Chairs Senator Richard Blumenthal,
Cynthia Blumenthal, and Rebecca Cook
Honorees Joanna Coles and Louise Arbour
Photos: Getty

8.
120 Wall Street, 14th Floor
New York, New York 10005
Tel 917 637 3600 Fax 917 637 3666
www.reproductiverights.org
Stand up for your rights
Sign Our Pledge
Join the more than 300,000 Americans who have signed on to tell politicians:
“My word is the last word on my reproductive health care.”
DrawTheLine.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Rebecca Cook – Chair
Nicki Nichols Gamble – Vice Chair
Laurie G. Campbell – Treasurer
Barkley Stuart – Secretary
Nonnie S. Burnes – Assistant
Secretary
Aimee B. Cunningham – Assistant
Secretary
José Alvarez
Cynthia Blumenthal
Julie Chaiken
Phyllis Cohen
Roberta Goss
Jonathan Kaufelt
Janet Levinger
Jamie A. Levitt
GENERAL COUNSEL
Yvonne Y.F. Chan,
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
FRONT LINES STAFF
Nina Riggs – Writer/Editor
Carveth Martin – Senior Creative & Designer
PRESIDENT
& CEO
Nancy Northup
Amy Metzler Ritter
Kathleen Tait
Lois Whitman