This week alone, you've sent more than 3,500 letters to President Obama and Congress asking them to fight back against attacks on birth control insurance coverage. And they have heard you loud and clear.

This morning, President Obama reaffirmed that women will be able to access no-copay birth control. If your employer has decided not to provide contraceptive coverage on religious grounds, insurance companies will be required to provide no-copay birth control coverage to you directly. While the Catholic Health Association has already come out in support of this solution, Republicans in Congress are only increasing their efforts to roll back birth control access.

Today's announcement is a clear victory for women's health, but the fight is far from over. It's going to be tough, but you have the power to make politicians in Washington back down from their continuing attacks on birth control. We all need to step up to the plate on this one.

That is why, during the week of Valentine's Day, we're asking you to help show support for birth control on your campus or in your community by joining the Birth Control for Us campaign and creating a Valentine's Day uproar! 

TAKE ACTION: "Twitter Storm" Congress with #BC4US valentines.

• Step 1: Click here to download and print your valentines (or make your own!)
• Step 2: Take a picture of yourself holding your valentine
• Step 3: Post them on our Facebook Page or email them to bc4us2012@gmail.com (*)
• Step 4: Tweet these pictures to ".@SpeakerBoehner" and your Senators and make sure to include the hashtag #bc4us. To find your Senators on Twitter, click here.

Here's a handy infographic and timeline about social conservatives' ever-ambitious War on Contraception. Help us spread the word — post this on your Facebook profile and elsewhere!

Click the preview below to see the image in full:

NEW ACTION ALERT: If you have a minute, send a message to President Obama and your Members of Congress: Tell them to stand up for birth control access! See the message below for more info.

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Dear Advocate-

This year, you have already proven how truly powerful grassroots activists can be. I wish we had time to simply celebrate these victories, but the attacks just keep coming.

After an outpouring of support from activists like you, President Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services announced in January that they are standing strong by no-cost birth control. In that announcement, the administration kept intact a conscience clause for churches. While we believe everyone should have access to basic preventive coverage, the Obama administration has already provided a compromise.

TAKE ACTION: Tell President Obama to stand strong against attacks on birth control coverage. Tell Congress not to undermine women's access to basic health care.

Despite these clear concessions aimed at finding a middle ground, social conservatives are not stopping their relentless attack on access to birth control. Social conservatives — led, as usual, by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — have decided that if you're a student or employee of a religious affiliated organization, they have the right to deny you any medical coverage they don't agree with.

This view is extreme, but they're making sure people listen. If you look at the media, birth control is suddenly a "controversial issue."

It's 2012. Are we seriously talking about denying women access to birth control? Apparently, we are.

TAKE ACTION: Don't let attacks on birth control undermine women's health. Tell President Obama and Congress to stand up for birth control.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has introduced a bill to greatly expand the religious exemption which would exclude contraceptive coverage for those with health insurance and impose a financial burden on women choosing to prevent unplanned pregnancy. The House of Representatives is gearing up to do the same. We need you to take a stand.

256 million people are guaranteed access to basic preventive coverage — including birth control — because of the Affordable Care Act. Since birth control coverage would guaranteed to everyone else, the White House must not cave to 261 Catholic Bishops and deny students and workers at religious institutions the same basic health care.

Sarah Audelo
Senior Federal Policy Manager
Advocates for Youth

by Trina Scott, Senior Program Manager, Young Women of Color Empowerment at Advocates for Youth

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora. Watch the video below on how young people can get involved and protect themselves. We'll also be tweeting facts and resources throughout the day via #NBHAAD — follow us and retweet!  

African Americans experience disproportionate rates of HIV and AIDS. In their lifetimes, 1 in 16 black men and 1 in 32 black women will be diagnosed with HIV; and African Americans make up 14% of the population but account for 44% of all new HIV infections.

Why the disproportionate rates?

According to the CDC:

"Blacks do not engage in more risky behavior than members of other racial/ethnic populations. Many of the factors that place blacks at higher risk for chronic diseases also place them at increased risk for HIV. For example, social and economic realities prevalent among blacks — such as higher levels of poverty, racial discrimination, limited access to health care and housing, and higher rates of incarceration — are associated with  increased HIV risk." 

In fact, studies have found that African Americans are more at risk for HIV and STIs even when they have the same or fewer risk behaviors.  

So what will turn the HIV epidemic around for African Americans? It will take a combination of approaches.  That's why there are four focal points of this year's NBHAAD: education, testing, involvement, and treatment.  

"Educationally, the focus is to get Blacks educated about the basics of HIV/AIDS in their local communities. Testing is at the core of this initiative, as it is hoped that Blacks will mark February 7th of every year as their annual or bi-annual day to get tested for HIV. This is vital for those who are sexually active and those at high risk of contracting HIV. When it comes to community and organization leadership, getting Blacks involved to serve is another key focus. We need Black People from all walks of life, economic classes, literacy levels, shades and tones as well as small and large communities to get connected to the work happening on the ground in their local areas. Getting those living with HIV or recently-tested positive for the virus connected to treatment and care services is paramount. We have learned that you can't lead Black people towards HIV/AIDS education, prevention, testing, leadership or treatment unless you love them. And, we can't save Black people from an epidemic unless we serve Black people."

Advocates considers redressing HIV disparities among African Americans to be one of our most important goals and a vital part of advocating for young people's reproductive and sexual health.  Through policy initiatives and through our work with the Young Women of Color Leadership Council and the Youth of Color Initiative, Advocates supports policies and programs which will not only provide young African Americans with the information and tools they need to protect themselves from HIV, but help dismantle structural barriers to prevention and treatment (including poverty, racism, and unequal access to information, employment and health care).

Check out and share our resources on youth of color and HIV, including:

Youth of Color — At Disproportionate Risk of Negative Sexual Health Outcomes

Understanding Disparities in the HIV Epidemic: How Social and Cultural Forces Lead to Unequal Risk for African Americans/Blacks

Young African American Women and HIV

Advocates' Research Guide:  the Reproductive and Sexual Health of Youth of Color

And don't forget to watch the video, share the video, like us on Facebook, follow, and retweet! 

By now many of you have heard about the decision of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to discontinue more than $600,000 in annual funding for cancer screenings and prevention services at Planned Parenthood. The decision was clearly political, motivated by pressure from the anti-choice movement to sever ties from Planned Parenthood. The Komen Foundation put politics above women’s health and we, as a movement, have responded. From Facebook posts, to constant Twitter updates to an outpouring of donations to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings at local clinics, our movement continues to show is resilience and commitment to putting people’s lives first. We have proven that we will continue to do what is right and defend access to reproductive health services.

The outpouring of grassroots anger at this decision and the energy directed at defending Planned Parenthood has been immediate, powerful, and inspiring. One longtime activist said it best. If you agree, sign on and share it:

This is for all the anti-choice, anti-women people out there.

Listen up.

You can spend every minute of every day trying to force the rest of us to live by your ideology. You can go after federal funds for health care and pressure private organizations like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to stop funding breast cancer screenings for poor women. You can try to make it impossible to get birth control.

But you know what you can't do? You can't win. You can't break us. Planned Parenthood isn't just a family of organizations. It's a movement. It's women and men of all ages who believe that health care — including reproductive health care — is a basic human right. We are millions strong. We are everywhere. We act, we give, and we do whatever it takes to make sure that Planned Parenthood is there for the women, men, and teens who rely on them.

Know this: When you go after Planned Parenthood and the people they serve, you go after ME. I stand with Planned Parenthood. I stand with them against anyone who wants to stop women from receiving the health care they need. I stand with them today, tomorrow, and for as long as I need to.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. Throughout the week, Amplify will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from The 1 in 3 Campaign January 21-27.

As we close out our week of storytelling, Harriett talks about abortion access before Roe v. Wade and the terrible impact of income inequality on women's ability to access safe abortion care. In October, Harriet was featured in The San Francisco Chronicle sharing her own abortion story and her hope that more women who have had abortions will come forward. She is also the founder of California Republicans for Choice.

1in3Campaign.org: Harriett - Part 2 of 2 from Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

HARRIETT: Before abortion was legal here in California – and we were one of the first states – we wealthy women would go to a pro-choice doctor, a pro-choice obstetrician and explain the problem, why she couldn’t have the child.

Then he’d say, “Well, can you afford to go to Japan, fly to Japan?”

And she said, “Yes, we could swing that.”

And he said say, Then you call Japan Airlines and you ask for Miss Suzuki. You don’t have to use the ‘A Word’ you just say Miss Suzuki. All she handles are the abortion package deals, and that involves air and ground transportation, meals, lodging, and surgery. And thousands of women are doing this.”

And yet a young woman, or an older woman without money, they would have to go – if they really wanted one – they’d have to try to find somebody in the Bay Area who could do it…Go to Mexico…It’s very chancy and terribly unfair.

The biggest difference I see is that it’s even for everybody, because in California low-income women can get abortions. We got Pete Wilson to change his stand on that. That’s when I was running California Republicans for Choice and we had…Low-income women can get abortions.

And there’s some thing else that…You know, we who have money, we don’t understand really what it’s like to live when you’re really poor. And so many people just can’t understand that, and I think that’s a terrible thing. They’re pushing something…

All of them who are making these laws have plenty of money to get their wives, sisters, children to where they can have a safe abortion if they wanted. But they’re not going to suffer. Low-income women are going to suffer. And that’s just terribly, terribly unfair.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. Throughout the week, Amplify will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from The 1 in 3 Campaign January 21-27.

1in3Campaign.org: Alex from Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

ALEX: I had my daughter and then nine months went past and I got pregnant again. And that was a big shock. And I wasn’t contemplating keeping the baby but this would have been my first abortion and I was very scared. And me and my daughter’s father didn’t have any money. Abortions cost money. A lot of money. $350 is not cheap when you’re 19 with no job and a new baby and the baby’s father is halfway trying to support us.

I ended up calling a friend of my mom’s who had gone through… Who was an older woman, but she related to young people and she knew, you know, certain people who knew certain people who knew certain people who could help me with terminating the pregnancy. So she referred us to a clinic.

And before that, we had to go borrow money from two different family members to get the abortion done. We didn’t even have any money… We didn’t even have any money to get the abortion done, and that’s just… Like, how could we not have any money to do that, but we would have money to raise another one? You know what I mean? Like there woulda just been no way. So that day, we rushed around, we got our money, and we went to the clinic.

I think that women should definitely share these stories - especially if they’re older women and they’ve been through this before. I think knowledge is power. And if no one talks about it, then how are we supposed to know what to do or what to expect?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. Throughout the week, Amplify will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from The 1 in 3 Campaign January 21-27.

1in3Campaign.org: Joy from Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

JOY: Let’s see… I was 23 and I had just finished undergrad and I moved to San Diego on my way… I was going to be teaching English in Korea, so I was there working for the summer. I was in a relationship, taking birth control pills – Not consistently or correctly. I didn’t have a lot of education on how I was supposed to be taking them… – and I was in a sexual relationship. And I ended up getting pregnant.

For me, it was never really a question of what my decision was going to be. I just needed, you know, the resources to be able to do that. I found out relatively quickly that I was pregnant and decided to get an abortion. I was in the state of California and there were really no restrictions. I was 23, also, at the time. The only thing that was a little bit prohibitive was the cost, but that just really wasn’t an issue cause I was… Like I said, I had a partner who was able to support that and I also had a job as well.

I think the interesting thing about me having an abortion is that you kind of keep that under wraps, and I did that for a long time. But, the more I talked to people about it the more I found out there were so many people that I knew who had had abortions. It was a decision that I had to make and I was so grateful that I was able to have that decision. And I think that, you know, we all make mistakes and there’s, you know, some folks who very much think that “You make a mistake. You pay for it. That’s sort of the way that it is.” And I would just argue that having the ability to, like, make a mistake or to not do something the way that, you know, you had planned on doing – and then being able to turn that around is very liberating and has tremendous impact on my life.

I mean, I would not be here if at the age of 23 I did not have the option to have an abortion. I would be a completely different person. And you know, my sister was a teen mom. She had five children before she was the age of 22 and her life is so different than mine.

It’s just… I just couldn’t imagine being in a situation where I wasn’t able to choose how I wanted to plan out my life.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. Throughout the week, Amplify will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from The 1 in 3 Campaign January 21-27.

1in3Campaign.org: Angela - Part 1 of 2 from Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

ANGELA: My junior year of college was probably, um… In the ‘90s. I was in a relationship with someone that I met, and we’d been dating for about a month. Really great guy. We were having lots… It felt like we were soul-mates, had a lot in common. And after a month of dating, like I said, there was a point where I started feeling really sick. Just didn’t feel good, couldn’t eat the same things. Certain smells made me really sick. And I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

So I went to the doctor. I was in college, like I sad, at the time. Didn’t say anything to my parents, but I was on their health insurance so I had access to go to the doctor when I needed to. I made an appointment and the doctor told me I probably had acid reflux or something and gave me a prescription for something. I got the prescription and took it for about a week or so and nothing changed. In fact, it got worse. So I went to another doctor. And this doctor actually gave me a stronger prescription for my acid reflux. And after taking that second prescription that was given to me by the doctor, I really thought about it. I said “Heeeeey, Angie, it seems like it’s been about three or four weeks and your period should be here. And it hasn’t come. So maybe this could be a pregnancy.”

And I was terrified at that point. I decided to let my partner know that I could possibly be pregnant – maybe it’s not acid reflux, but maybe there’s something else going on – and decided to take a pregnancy test.

I remember going to the drugstore and getting the test and going back home. I was visiting for the summer with my parents, so I went in the downstairs bathroom and locked the door so my nosy sisters didn’t come in. And I sat there before I took the test, and I was so scared. Just terrified. What would I do? I’m in college, I’m a junior, I still have a ways to go. I don’t have a job. I come home and live with my parents when I’m not on campus – and I don’t think on campus is a good place to raise a baby. I was struggling as it was to make sure I was going to school. My parents were scraping every little thing that they could get to make sure that I went to school. So, I knew that it just wasn’t the time for me to be a parent. I was in a relationship with someone that was wonderful… However, it was a month. I sat there and really thought about taking this test. And I decided let me just go ahead and find out and get it over with.

I followed the instructions to the T and it came out positive. And I said, “Well okay I did something wrong. Clearly this isn’t true.” So I took another one and another one – I took three tests – and they all said I was positive. I remember just kind of cowering down on the bathroom floor and feeling so lonely at that point in time. I was afraid. I felt like being a young women – like I said, a junior in college – this is not what I ever planned. It really didn’t take long for me to decide that the only thing I could possibly do was to terminate the pregnancy, to have an abortion.

So I had an abortion.

Once I found out I was pregnant, I talked to my partner at the time and he was very supportive. He said whatever way I decided he would be very supportive - and he agreed with me once I decided to have this abortion that, you know, we were young. And we weren’t ready. And so it was simple, very simple. All I had to do was call to find a clinic because I’d never done this before. So, find a clinic that I could go to and figure out what the process is, how much does it cost… That’s another thing being a college student, you just don’t have money in your pocket all the time so that was terrifying. But he was very supportive. So we made an appointment.

We went in on a Saturday. It was nestled in a suburb that was not too far from where I lived, like the town over. And I went to the clinic that morning, very early morning, and I remember it being a beautiful sunny day. And nothing outside, no protesters, nothing like that. It just was like going to a doctor. So I went in… A very gracious, very nice staff that made me feel… because I was terrified. And not so much terrified about the decision I made, but just thinking all along that my parents would be so disappointed that I’d even gotten pregnant in the first place.

I remember going in. They were really nice. I went through the whole process. They took me in and did kind of a mini physical, made sure everything was okay, talked to me about what I was doing, and asked me if I had any questions. Explained everything. I went through the procedure and woke up. I remember waking up in the recovery room, being a little bit groggy but feeling fine. I was basically left, after that day I probably stayed home the next from work, but I felt fine.

And I finally… I still was really upset. And my upset, again, wasn’t about my decision – it was about just really caring so much about what my parents thought of me, and I thought it was really important for me to have a conversation with my mom. So I actually talked to her about the decision I had made, and my mother was absolutely supportive. But the one thing that she did say that stuck with me – and it’s the reason why I don’t tell my story often – was “That’s fine. You made the right choice for yourself, but this isn’t something you talk about.”

She made it very clear that this is something kind of hush-hush that people do, and it’s okay if you do it, but you dare not speak a word of it. So, I went about my life just really not talking about it or thinking too much about it.

Now, I’m a mother with two beautiful children. And I’m thinking more about it – especially doing the work that I do talking to college students and young adults about sexuality and that kind of thing. This comes up a lot. With the questions I often get, I often wonder why we don’t talk more about this. It’s so important to share our stories. So important. Because I think of those moments when I was crouched down on my bathroom floor terrified, feeling so alone like no one else in the world was facing this.

It’s so important that we tell our stories. And this is why I decided to say that I had an abortion - and be there and be a source for someone else who may need to talk to someone.

If everyone were to share their story, the stigma would be lifted. There would be no reason to be ashamed because you would see how many people have made this decision, made this choice.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. Throughout the week, Amplify will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from The 1 in 3 Campaign January 21-27.

1in3Campaign.org: Deb from Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

DEB: So my story is probably pretty similar to many other women’s stories. I was 35 years old. The year was 1995. I had been married for two and a half years and I had a six month old.

I was the primary bread-winner in our family. I had a good job and had been working. I had taken some maternity leave and was back at work. My husband had a new job. He was a financial planner and had just started. There were some problems in our marriage, when I looked back. But when it really came to be an issue was one day in August of ’95, my husband went to work and he never came home. And the days passed and he didn’t come back. And I called around and I couldn’t find him. The weeks passed, and every day I went to work and every day I came home and took care of my six month old infant.

Eventually, I got a phone call form a friend who said that they had heard from someone else that my husband was in Atlantic City and he had borrowed someone’s car and had pretty much totaled it. And they suggested that I go to the bank and check my bank account, which I proceeded to do, and realized that my husband had basically wiped us out.

It was about three days later that I realized I was pregnant.

I just knew that there was no way that I could have a second child and continue to work and support my son. I didn’t know what was going to happen with my marriage and I didn’t have any money left. So I found a clinic in my area – it was very good and well-reputable – and I decided that it was the best thing for me to do for my son and I… Was to have the abortion and terminate the pregnancy and really be there to focus on raising my son and figuring out what to do in my marriage. I really believe to this day that it was the most responsible action that I could take – and I was forever grateful that there was a clinic that was safe and affordable and that abortion was legal and that I could access it at the time.

There is such a stigma to abortion and to being able to talk about our experiences. I think people – women in particular – have been shamed about those choices. And yet so many of us have those experiences. It’s really important – and I should say really freeing – to finally talk about our experiences. Having shared this story now a couple of times, I feel relief about letting other people know what happened to me, and I’ve heard other people tell me that it’s happened to them. And we need to talk about it. We need to have a conversation about abortion that’s personal. One in three of us have had abortions, according to the statistics, and we really do need to talk about that.