NARAL Pro-Choice America

Nancy Keenan. As president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan is a nationally recognized progressive leader who works in partnership with allies in Washington, D.C. and in the states, as well as the organization’s one-million member activists, to protect the fundamental American values of freedom and privacy. With nearly 20 years of experience as an elected official from Montana, Nancy took the… See full bio.

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Story: You may never have heard of Carrie Baker, but she is the reason many women have access to emergency contraception (EC) at Kroger Co. pharmacies: In the spring of 2007, Carrie, a mother of two, stepped forward to tell her story. Her local Kroger pharmacy refused to stock EC. She called NARAL and wanted to take action. They helped Carrie's story garner media attention, including coverage on MSNBC and by the Associated Press. Thousands of activists called on Kroger to make sure all of its stores in 19 states had EC. The Kroger Co. agreed to require all of its pharmacies to stock emergency contraception. They even provided an "800" number for our activists in case they experienced problems. Carrie's story is a reminder. One person can make a difference. (To read other success stories, visit: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/about-us/successes/)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Naral Pro-Choice America is cited as the dominant watchdog entity in terms of reproductive rights. Their advocacy efforts receive consistent praise in shaping public policy.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Their name recognition gets frequent praise from respondents. Experts also mentioned staff and leadership quality as assets.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Opinions on areas for improvement vary by expert but included areas like affiliate support, leadership, funding and advocacy focus.
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As president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan is a nationally recognized progressive leader who works in partnership with allies in Washington, D.C. and in the states, as well as the organization’s one-million member activists, to protect the fundamental American values of freedom and privacy. With nearly 20 years of experience as an elected official from Montana, Nancy took the reins of the organization in December 2004 as the group faced numerous challenges, most notably George W. Bush's second term.  In the face of tough circumstances, Nancy said the time had come for a change in the tone of the debate over reproductive rights, and that NARAL Pro-Choice America would marshal its resources—the power of people, political acumen, and policy expertise—to lead the charge. The results are impressive.  NARAL Pro-Choice America's political program helped produce enormous gains for pro-choice forces in Congress, including the combined net gain of 44 pro-choice seats in the House and nine new pro-choice senators in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles. NARAL Pro-Choice America also was the first pro-choice political organization to endorse President Barack Obama's campaign and launched an aggressive voter-identification and -persuasion effort to reach key swing women voters in 290,000 households in Colorado, Virginia, and six other battleground states. In its 2008 post-election analysis, National Journal ranked NARAL Pro-Choice America second among the nation's top 21 political organizations for its impressive win rate among endorsed congressional candidates in hotly contested races. In 2006 and 2008, the organization also worked with its affiliates in four states to defeat six anti-choice ballot measures, including two successive attempts to ban abortion in South Dakota. The electoral progress has enabled NARAL Pro-Choice America, which Fortune magazine named the top pro-choice lobby on Capitol Hill, to advance pro-choice policies, including those that are part of Prevention First, an ongoing values-based initiative first launched in 2005 that encourages lawmakers to focus on commonsense ways to prevent unintended pregnancies and thus reduce the need for abortion. The American Prospect described Prevention First as "a cunning strategy" that allows "pro-choice advocates to define the terms of the debate." Working with new pro-choice leadership in Congress and engaging activists in all 50 states after the 2006 elections, NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2007 helped secure the third-largest increase in funding for the nation's federal family-planning program in 25 years and began taking steps to correct medical inaccuracies in Bush's failed "abstinence-only" programs, two significant prevention-related victories. Nancy looks forward to building on this progress with President Obama and the growing number of pro-choice members in the 111th Congress. Nancy's work to reshape the debate on reproductive rights and protect women's access to safe, legal abortion has gained her significant attention. In 2006, she made Washingtonian Magazine's list of the top 100 most powerful women in Washington, DC.  and the Detroit News described her as both "forthright and politically savvy." In January 2008, as part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, Nancy delivered a speech at the University of Texas at Austin that, in addition to charting a future for the pro-choice movement, urged advocates to acknowledge the moral complexity that many Americans experience on the issue of abortion, a speech that a writer for Slate magazine described as including "the kind of language that makes people wake up and listen." Before coming to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy served as a Montana state legislator and State Superintendent of Public Instruction and ran a strong campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000. Nancy's commitment to public service was shaped early in life as one of five children born into an Irish-Catholic family in Anaconda, Montana, a small copper-smelting town in the state's western region. Nancy, who worked at the copper smelter to pay her way through college, earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Montana State University and a master's degree in education administration from the University of Montana. Before seeking elected office, Nancy taught children with disabilities in her hometown. Nancy is a leading commentator on reproductive-health issues. Her list of appearances includes NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, The Brit Hume Report on FOX, CNN and NPR.  She is also routinely quoted in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and other major national and regional publications.

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