Today the Democratic Party approved a platform that affirms the party’s unwavering commitment to protecting women’s rights and ensuring full equality.

President Obama – the son of a single mother and the father of two daughters – understands that women aren’t a special interest group. They are more than half of this country, and issues that affect women also affect families. That is why the first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women fight back when they are paid less than men, and why we continue to fight to overcome Republican opposition and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to help stop gender discrimination in pay before it starts. And that is why the Justice Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, led by President Obama’s appointees, have investigated and prosecuted numerous violations of the nation’s civil rights laws, and obtained more than $140 million in relief for victims of gender discrimination. We Democrats will continue to support efforts to ensure that workers can combat gender discrimination in the workplace and to protect women against pregnancy discrimination. And that’s why we support passing the Healthy Families Act, broadening the Family and Medical Leave Act, and partnering with states to move toward paid leave.

We understand that economic issues are women’s issues, and the challenges of supporting and raising a family are often primarily a woman’s responsibility. That’s why putting Americans back to work is Job One. That’s why the Affordable Care Act especially helps women by guaranteeing they and their families won’t become uninsured when they lose their jobs. That’s why this administration strengthened Medicare and Medicaid for millions of women and families. And that’s why the Affordable Care Act is ending health insurance discrimination against women, and provides women with free access to preventive care, including prenatal screenings, mammograms, cervical cancer screening, breast-feeding supports, and contraception.

We understand that women’s rights are civil rights. That’s why we reaffirm our support for the ERA, recommit to enforcing Title IX, and will urge ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. That’s why we are committed to ending violence against women, why Vice President Joe Biden originally wrote and championed the Violence Against Women Act during his time in the Senate, and why we support reauthorizing and strengthening it now.

The President and the Democratic Party believe that women have a right to control their reproductive choices. Democrats support access to affordable family planning services, and President Obama and Democrats will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers. The Affordable Care Act ensures that women have access to contraception in their health insurance plans, and the President has respected the principle of religious liberty. Democrats support evidence-based and age-appropriate sex education.

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way. We also recognize that health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. We strongly and unequivocally support a woman’s decision to have a child by providing affordable health care and ensuring the availability of and access to programs that help women during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including caring adoption programs.

If these values sound like your values, join Woman for Obama today.

JOIN WOMEN FOR OBAMA

Five years ago today,President Obama stood on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois and said:

“I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.”

This is where it all began. It hasn’t always been easy, but every day since then, we’ve come together to work for change.

Since that moment, President Obama has been making history fighting for change--from "yes, we can" to 23 months of private-sector job growth, and everything in between.

Along the way there have been some historic achievements for the Hispanic community, including President Obama’s appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to serve as the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. The President also signed the Affordable Care Act -- ensuring that by 2014 nine million Hispanics who currently lack coverage will have access to affordable health care, and he ended the war in Iraq. President Obama has kept true to his promise to fight for change.

Hace cinco años we started this together, and we have made progress -- but there is more work to do. President Obama is still fighting to fix our country’s broken immigration system, to keep creating jobs, and to break down barriers to education so that we all get a fair shot at the American dream. Sign up to volunteer today and let’s continue making history.

As African Americans for Obama launches, check out new ways you can take ownership of this campaign. Re-electing President Obama and protecting the changes we’ve made since 2008 will take a community-wide effort. Look at the programs below and figure out where you fit in. After that, visit our volunteer sign-up page and make it official—that you’re committed to African Americans for Obama.

Congregation Captain Program
Congregation captains will take the lead on educating others about the importance of participating in this campaign and how to get involved. Working in your individual capacity, you’ll reach out to key community members and mobilize your personal networks with house parties and other outreach activities, as well as provide assistance in conducting voter registration drives.

Barber Shop/Beauty Salon Program (B&B Program)
Barbers and beauticians will help us engage in voter registration and volunteer recruitment efforts through this program. You can identify key leaders within the community who should definitely stay engaged and facilitate communication between your personal networks and organizers in the field.

Black Business Captains Program
We aim to incorporate and cultivate individuals who are business leaders into a larger program of empowerment and engagement for the African American community. You’ll take the lead on educating local business leaders about the importance of participating and of business owners getting involved in the President’s re-election campaign.

Civic Organization Captains Program
Civic organization captains and non-profit leaders will work to provide education to their organization's members about the importance of participating this year and opportunities for involvement. You’ll support volunteers during voter registration and recruitment efforts while engaging with key leaders in your personal network.

Sign up on our volunteer page for more information on how to get involved.

Hundreds of volunteers in nearly two dozen states have been gathering in backyards and living rooms to plan rallies, press conferences, and meetings with lawmakers—all aimed at changing the conversation on climate change, and encouraging individual members of Congress to act. In all, volunteers have already held 99 meetings in communities across the country, with more to come.

When it comes to climate change, too many lawmakers refuse to accept the science—and the danger—we face. We can't make real progress on this issue until Congress is forced to acknowledge the problem, and in the coming weeks OFA volunteers are planning for some serious on-the-ground action to do just that.

More than 1.4 million Americans added their names to Organizing for Action's petition demanding expanded background checks on gun sales. Last week, volunteers (including three survivors of gun violence) went to Washington to hand-deliver those names to Congress.

Watch the video about their journey—then share it with your friends.

Share

As a former member of Gabrielle Giffords’ staff and a survivor of the Tucson shooting, I’m on Capitol Hill today with a great group of fellow Organizing for Action volunteers, delivering petitions from supporters all across the country in support of common-sense gun violence prevention. We’ve been making the rounds, including meetings with Senator Dick Durbin and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Mike Thompson.

It had been a really productive morning and we were on our way down the escalators out of the Capitol when I saw my senator, Jeff Flake, walking up the stairs right in front of us.

We already know each other, because he was very supportive of Congresswoman Giffords’ office. However, people in Arizona have been unhappy about his ‘no’ vote on the amendment that would have expanded background checks for gun sales. There’s been a lot of action on this issue in Arizona, so it was rather interesting running into him.

I was standing there in front of him with two other survivors of gun violence who introduced themselves–and to his credit he stopped and engaged in conversation with us for five or six minutes. We told him we were there to deliver 1.4 million petition signatures in favor of background checks for gun sales, and that the will of the people is behind us. The sense we got from him is that we’re still working on this. It’s not a closed door, so let’s engage. We said we’d love to sit down with him, look at the bill and talk about his concerns.

The bottom line is that he knows we’re out there and he knows we’re not going away. He’s taken a tremendous hit in polling—he even joked that he's now less popular than ‘pond scum.’ But we told him, ‘We don’t think you’re pond scum—we think you can come around to something that’s reasonable.’

The people who signed this petition are part of making the difference. When that many signatures are gathered, it shows how important this issue is to people. These people are working hard to represent us, and it absolutely shores them up. We said ‘We’ve got your back’ to members of Congress several times today, and they were all very welcoming, thanking us.

In fact, on a train below the Capitol, Senator John McCain rushed to board with us and I had the chance to say “Thank you!” for his courageous ‘yes’ vote on background checks for gun sales. Many of the folks on the train agreed, giving him a nice round of applause.

But we’re only delivering the petitions—it’s all across America that people are signing them. There is tremendous political will behind this, and these signatures are part of making a change.

It took longer than expected, but this afternoon we finished counting:

More than 1.4 million Americans signed our petition demanding expanded background checks for gun sales—by far the most in @ofa history.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 7, 2013

Later this week, volunteers will personally deliver every one of those petitions to Congress. That's more than 1.4 million people who aren't backing down, and aren't going away.