Getting the Facts Straight: Anti-Abortion Politicians Can’t Run Away from their Unpopular, Extreme Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC – The political media and elected officials finally get it. Abortion rights are popular and being anti-abortion is a losing political strategy. Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations have been saying this for years, but glad we’re all on the same page now.

Here’s what we need to agree on next:

• Anti-abortion politicians saying they want abortion rights to be a “states fight” issue are lying. In a federal case with national implications, nearly 150 lawmakers signed a brief saying they wanted the courts to restrict access to mifepristone, one of two medications used in the most common medication abortion regimen in the United States That means even in states that protect access like California and New York. 
• Just because the national abortion ban hasn’t come to the House floor yet does not mean the threat is gone. Two of the first bills the narrow House majority voted on in January were pulled straight from the anti-abortion wishlist. Members have voted and signed on to national abortion bans throughout their careers. They cheered when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, and said nothing as states passed ban after ban. The only thing that’s changed is the clear electoral consequences. They’re playing politics, not having a change of heart.
• Anti-abortion members of Congress own the attacks on abortion access — just as much as state legislatures or judges. Most Republican U.S. Senator have voted to confirm judges with known records hostile to abortion rights. Most of them directly asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade. For years, they railed against abortion access and pushed stigmatizing, dangerous misinformation on abortion to the public. They’re more than complicit in the attacks on abortion rights — they’re accomplices and leaders.

As Jenny Lawson, vice president of organizing, engagement, and campaigns at Planned Parenthood Action Fund told Jezebel:

“Countless anti-abortion politicians are shamelessly trying to walk back their extreme rhetoric on abortion. Not because their true agenda changed, but because the American people have caught on and don’t agree with their ultimate goal of banning abortion nationwide. We’re not fooled: They’re not split on abortion rights, nor do the slight differences in rhetoric equate to actual policy differences. They are simply scared for their jobs — as they should be.”

###

Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.