Guest feature by Melanie Zurek, Executive Director 

It has been a momentous week and one that has ignited great hope. Here at AAP, we too have hopes for what lies ahead, and join our colleagues in anticipating positive changes for women and families that include:

• Increased funds for family planning,  STD prevention and healthy pregnancy promotion
• Restored standards of medical accuracy and scientific integrity in government decision making
• Significant and meaningful progress toward health care reform
• Abortion increasingly being understood within the context of women’s lives and broader reproductive health
• Though it will vary by state, greater opportunity and support for reproductive health and rights programs and providers including the possibility of making federal funds available for abortion – one of the most significant steps the new government can take to promote equality and health for all women

For AAP, these changes will shift the landscape for our work in varied and important ways. We are well positioned to respond to shifts:  taking strategic and creative advantage of new resources and greater opportunity for proactive work in some areas, as well as increasing our efforts in more restrictive, ‘red’ states that might experience even greater anti-abortion extremity. While confident in the optimism this election brings, we know that the Obama administration and other key changes bring an opportunity, not necessarily an assurance to improve abortion access. So while we celebrate this moment, we also begin our work to ensure that its promise is realized for all women, encouraged and inspired by all those who, this past week, stood with us.