Washington, D.C. -- Faced with a straight up or down vote on support for Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a woman's constitutional right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, a razor thin majority of the U.S. Senate cast their votes for the constitution and for a woman's right to choose abortion. The measure passed by a vote of 51-47. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) offered the amendment on Roe during the "partial-birth abortion"debate.

"We congratulate those Senators who stood up to the anti-choice activists who would, at all costs, deny women access to safe and legal abortions, even at the expense of overturning the American constitution," said Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Those Senators who voted against Roe are radically out of sync with a majority of the American people, who support a woman's right to choose," Benshoof said.

The Senate vote reaffirms a fundamental right, the right of privacy, as written into the constitution by our founding fathers. Today's vote for Roe v. Wade recognizes a value all Americans hold sacred, the right to be free of government interference in personal and private family decisions.

The Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe was based on privacy law extending back decades in United States constitutional jurisprudence. The landmark decision established that a woman's right to privacy encompasses her right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. Courts across America have rejected attempts to abrogate that right and the majority of Americans agree that politicians should not be in the business of dictating whether and when women should or should not have an abortion.