Planned Parenthood Action Fund Statement: Anti-Abortion Politicians Silent After Latest Abortion Ruling
For Immediate Release: April 10, 2023
Washington, D.C. — Last week, a federal judge in Texas declared in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone unlawful, threatening the 22-year approval of one of two medications used in the most common medication abortion regimen in the United States. The Biden administration, countless abortion rights champions in Congress, and state officials across the country have spoken out, criticizing the blatant attack on reproductive rights. But anti-abortion politicians who have championed this agenda for decades, are suddenly, and conspicuously, silent.
The overwhelming majority of Americans support abortion rights. As Politico and CNN attest, discussing their anti-abortion agenda is now “Republican quicksand” and causing them “trouble.”
None
On Sunday, one of the few Republicans on the record responding to the ruling said the quiet part out loud: they would rather stop talking about abortion. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) told CNN’s Dana Bash, “Get off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion. Let’s have those real conversations, and let’s talk about—let’s talk about the other things that are happening in this world.”
Jenny Lawson, the vice president of organizing and engagement campaigns at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, issued the following statement:
“Anti-abortion politicians have never been shy about their agenda. You’d think after spending nearly 50 years working towards eliminating abortion rights, they would have something to say about Friday night’s ruling. But they are MIA. They’re seeing the outrage and backlash around the bans and restrictions they’ve introduced and supported and suddenly don’t want to talk about abortion anymore. But anti-abortion politicians can’t hide forever. The American people deserve to hear from their lawmakers about the chaos they have wrought. Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations will make sure of it.”
###
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.