Planned Parenthood Action Fund Adds New Hampshire Senate Candidate Scott Brown to List of Candidates Dodging Record on Women’s Health
For Immediate Release: Oct. 3, 2014
New Digital Ad Campaign Shows Scott Brown Hiding in Bathroom
WASHINGTON, DC – Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced a digital ad campaign to hold New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown accountable for his recent attempts to dodge, duck and deny his record on women’s health. The digital ads, which will run on Facebook and as banner ads on statewide news sites like the Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Public Radio, are part of the Women are Watching campaign to ensure voters know the stark contrast between former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and women’s health champion Jeanne Shaheen. It reminds voters that Scott Brown believes a boss should decide whether women have access to affordable birth control, and is hiding his stance on restricting access to safe and legal abortion.
You can view the New Hampshire digital ads here.
Voters don’t have to look much further than the polls to know that Scott Brown has a problem with women. He’s trailing women’s health champion Jeanne Shaheen by more than 12 points among likely women voters, according to a recent report. In addition to the digital ads, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, with Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund, is running a volunteer canvass and phone banking effort in Manchester, Nashua, and Concord, and are sending a series of mail pieces to households in those districts.
“It’s clear Scott Brown finally got the memo that you can’t get the support of women if you’ve spent your career attacking their access to basic health care. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words and women aren’t fooled by his recent attempts to hide from his record. Voters want to know exactly where the candidates stand on these issues, and if Scott Brown doesn’t trust women to make their own health care decisions, then women can’t trust him to represent them in the U.S. Senate,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
“New Hampshire women won’t be fooled by Scott Brown’s attempt to dodge, duck and deny his deeply unpopular record on access to birth control and safe and legal abortion. If Scott Brown truly cared about protecting the health of New Hampshire women and families he would stop the attacks on access to birth control instead of hiding in a bathroom to avoid questions about the deeply unpopular Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision,” said Jennifer Frizzell, vice president of the Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund.”
Brown has demonstrated a troubling pattern of dodging questions about his dismal voting record on women’s health issues. In response to NHPR reporter Laura Knoy’s question last week about his position on government-mandated waiting periods before abortion (the Woman’s Right to Know Act), he distanced himself from his unpopular positions and even went so far as to say he doesn’t remember a bill he co-sponsored. Planned Parenthood Action Fund searched the legislative history in the Massachusetts Senate and uncovered the legislation that Knoy was referencing, showing Brown’s support. The bill in question would mandate that physicians provide government-sponsored literature with the intent of coercing and shaming a woman seeking an abortion and it required an additional 24-hour waiting period before a woman could obtain an abortion.
This is not a new strategy for Scott Brown. This summer, he literally hid in a bathroom to avoid answering a reporter’s question about his support for the deeply unpopular Supreme Court decision that lets bosses at corporations like Hobby Lobby interfere with their employees access to birth control. A recent poll confirmed that his positions are out of touch:
- 68% of women voters say that elected leaders that support the Hobby Lobby ruling are out of touch with them and the everyday lives of women.
- 71% of women voters say elected leaders that support the Hobby Lobby ruling are focused on the wrong issues and priorities.
- 57% of women voters say they would be more likely to support a candidate who opposes allowing employers to refuse to cover birth control.
It is clear why Brown is desperately attempting to dodge questions about his women’s health record when you take a deeper look at the policies he has advanced to deny women and families access to lifesaving care.
Scott Brown: Out of touch with Massachusetts Women. Out of touch with New Hampshire Women.
Senator Brown thinks bosses should decide whether you get access to affordable birth control:
Scott Brown hid in a bathroom to avoid taking about his support of letting bosses interfere in birth control decisions on the heels of the deeply unpopular Supreme Court Hobby Lobby ruling that gives bosses a permission slip to deny their employees access to birth control coverage, forcing women to go back to the days of paying up to $600 more a year. He was a co-sponsor of the failed Blunt Amendment that would have allowed any corporation to exempt itself from the requirement to cover prescription birth control in their health plans due to religious objection. [The Guardian, 7/16/14; Hart Research Associates, 7/25/14; Concord Monitor, 7/10/14; WKXL, 7/2/14]
Scott Brown would impose his extreme beliefs about abortion on women and their families: Brown has claimed to be “pro-choice,” but actions speak louder than words, and Senator Brown’s actions have shown voters that they can’t rely on him to stand up for women’s health. During his time in Congress and in the state legislature, Brown voted repeatedly to restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortion. For instance, he voted against an amendment to allow privately funded abortions on military bases — failing to bring equal protections to 100,000 women overseas. [TIME, 1/19/10; Boston Globe, 8/24/12; New York Times, 6/10/10].
Scott Brown votes against equal pay. He has voted to kill the Paycheck Fairness Act twice, in 2010 and 2012, which is a bill aimed at correcting the pay disparity for women, who in New Hampshire make on average more than $12,000 less annually compared to their male counterparts. Scott Brown is not only extremely out of touch with women, but his position is out of touch with the state of New Hampshire. Equal pay for equal work was a top priority for New Hampshire’s legislature during the 2014 session, and in July, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan signed the state’s own bipartisan Paycheck Fairness Act into law, a significant piece of legislation for women in New Hampshire’s workforce. [S. 3772, Roll Call vote 249, 11/17/10; S. 3220, Roll Call vote 115, 6/5/12; Republican, 6/5/12; National Partnership for Women and Families, April 2014; Press Release Gov. Hassan, 7/14/14]