Washington, DC – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, received confirmation from the CEO of Verizon Wireless today that the corporation has reversed its policy that was blocking its customers from receiving text-messages they had requested.

"Let’s hope Verizon has learned a lesson today: citizen participation in democracy is neither ‘unsavory’ nor ‘controversial,’" Keenan said. "As soon as the story first came out last night, we were deluged with calls from Americans outraged over Verizon’s corporate censorship. We thank all of our members, bloggers, and other concerned citizens who joined us in putting pressure on Verizon to reverse this decision. We should take great solace in this initial victory, but we must remain vigilant in preventing corporations, business interests, and other third parties from blocking Americans’ ability to participate in the democratic process."

On September 25, Keenan sent a letter to Verizon calling on the company to reverse its decision. The New York Times then reported in today’s edition that the cell-phone giant was the only major cellular carrier to reject NARAL Pro-Choice America’s application for a text-messaging short code.

Verizon confirmed in a letter to Keenan that it had accepted NARAL Pro-Choice America’s application for a text-messaging short code. To read that letter please visit:

http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/retraction-letter.pdf. NARAL Pro-Choice America is also requesting that Verizon make its new policy public so that its customers can be assured that the corporation will not engage in similar censorship activities in the future.

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 Contact: Ted Miller or Kathryn Prael, (202) 973-3032