NARAL Pro-Choice Washington released its first scorecard for state lawmakers this week week and things do not look good—especially for Democrats who like to consider themselves reliable pro-choice advocates. That's because NARAL wasn't just looking for senators and representatives to vote the right way. The group was looking for champions of reproductive rights. Few legislators made the grade.

In the legislative scorecard released yesterday (PDF), NARAL Pro-Choice Washington gave just 14 of 147 total lawmakers an A grade, described as a sign that they "actively and energetically promote bills and policies that stand with women." Many Democrats received C grades, indicating only that they vote the right way when bills come up. To calculate the grades, the group looked at bills introduced this session about access to abortion and birth control, work accommodations for pregnant women, healthcare for women who've been in jail, and equal pay.

Senator Reuven Carlyle, a pro-choice Seattle Democrat who got a C, took to Facebook to complain that the group "makes it virtually impossible to receive a top grade without prime sponsoring their top bills and making it central to your agenda."

"The strategy definitely throws a sharp political elbow to your lifelong, dedicated, passionately engaged, and unequivocally supportive friends," Carlyle continued, "and not just your opponents."

Yeah, that's exactly the point. In today's political climate, in which women's rights are under attack not just nationally but here in Washington, "supportive friends" are not enough. In a state legislature where even modest bills with early bipartisan support can't get through, it takes an active fight—often behind the political scenes—to protect and advance reproductive rights.

"Too many legislators this year voted the right way when given the opportunity but didn’t work proactively to promote pro-choice legislation, didn’t push their fellow legislators, and didn’t take public action to promote policies that best serve women," NARAL wrote in a press release. "This scorecard puts lawmakers on notice: If legislators want the pro-choice vote, they can’t take their pro-choice constituents for granted."

UPDATE: Carlyle's Facebook post also said "being 100% focused on writing a morally responsible budget unfortunately isn't part of the picture" in NARAL's scorecard. He emailed me after this post when up to say that was his "central point" and that he's "cool with the strategy." "Hard core budget work—fighting behind the scenes for funding during the budget negotiations—wasn't valued when, in fact, that's critical to access to reproductive rights," he said in the email.