From: To: Subject: Reply from Senator McCaskill Date: Monday, February 01, 2010 9:08 AM February 1, 2010 Dear Friend, Thank you for contacting me regarding my position on abortion. I appreciate hearing from you, and I welcome the chance to respond. Abortion should be safe, legal and rare. As your U.S. Senator, I am committed to ensuring that women, especially those victimized by sexual assault or experiencing severe medical complications, have a right to emergency contraception and safe abortions if they so choose. That said, I support placing certain restrictions on partial birth abortion and requiring parental consent for minors under the age of 15. Instead of criminalizing women and their doctors, we must focus on reducing abortions. I am a strong supporter of the Prevention First Act (S.21). This legislation seeks to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions by expanding family planning education programs and increasing access to emergency contraception. The bill would also help improve women's access to preventative health care services. Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance to you on this or any other issue.   Sincerely, Claire McCaskill United States Senator P.S. If you would like more information about resources that can help Missourians, or what I am doing in the Senate on your behalf, please sign up for my email newsletter at www.mccaskill.senate.gov.