Pence, Toomey “big fans” of denying women care
For Immediate Release: July 21, 2016
Pittsburgh, PA–– Amid the chorus of boos and chaos of the Republican National Convention last night, you may have missed that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence officially accepted his party’s vice presidential nomination. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey has noticed, though, and has heaped high praise on the GOP’s No. 2 since his selection by running mate Donald Trump.
“I'm a big fan of Mike Pence,” Toomey said.
Or, read another way, Toomey might as well have said, “I’m no fan of women.”
Noticeably absent from Pence’s keynote address Wednesday night was any mention of his crusade against women and access to health care. Given that 69 percent of Pennsylvanians want Planned Parenthood to be able to continue providing these necessary services, as do the majority of Americans, it’s not entirely surprising that Pence tried to hide his record.
Let’s fill you in. Since being elected Governor in 2013, Pence has signed every abortion bill to cross his desk, including an one of the most invasive, extreme anti-abortion bills in the country. He’s also worked to pass legislation to cut Planned Parenthood from an HIV prevention program.
His governorship is hardly the beginning of a poor record on women’s health, though.
He’s happy to take away health care while having no idea how it works. Stating that condoms are “too modern” for him, he’s claimed they don’t work --- despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other respected health organizations pointing out exactly the opposite. Ideology “trumps” science for Mike Pence.
Pence also has been at the forefront of attacks on Planned Parenthood and against access to basic reproductive health care for years. In 2007, as a representative, he introduced one of the first amendments in Congress to strip Planned Parenthood health centers of federal funds.
Mike Pence has never backed down in his fight to insert ideological policy positions into a woman’s most private and personal decisions, and neither has Pat Toomey.
“It’s no wonder Pat Toomey likes Pence so much. Toomey wants to ban abortion, jail doctors for providing abortion services, and see Roe v. Wade overturned. He also wants to make it harder for women to access contraception and receive unbiased and judgement-free health care,” said Meghan Eirkson of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates. “In six years, Toomey has voted seven times to block patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers.”
Pence may have slid in under the radar given the RNC circus, but he and Sen. Pat Toomey are certainly on the radar of the men and women who rely on critical health services that Pence and Toomey are such “fans” of obliterating.