Planned Parenthood Condemns Senate Vote to Advance 20-Week Abortion Ban  

This Harmful Bill is Out-of-Touch with the Majority of Americans

WASHINGTON D.C. - Today, Senate Republican leaders will vote to advance legislation that would ban abortion at 20 weeks. This vote comes as funding for the U.S. government remains in limbo and as senators fail to address issues such as increasing funding for health care safety net programs and passing a clean Dream Act. Dozens of health care provider organizations have joined over 30 reproductive health, rights and justice organizations and over 30 faith groups to share vocal opposition to the bill.

This bill would hurt women and keep patients from being able to make personal decisions about their health care with their trusted medical providers. Doctors, including the highly respected and trusted American College  of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), oppose these laws because they prevent doctors from giving their patients the best health care possible. The bill also includes claims rooted in fake science that have been debunked by medical experts time and time again. In fact, both the ACOG and Physicians for Reproductive Health are in agreement that science does not support the claims made in this bill. 

Statement from Dana Singiser, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy, Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 

“It is shameful that Mitch McConnell thinks it’s more important to attack women’s health than to fund the federal government. This bill hurts women and prevents doctors from being able to give their patients medical care. No woman should have to face the impossible situation of being unable to end a pregnancy for medical reasons. No woman should be forced to cross multiple state lines and jump through hoops just to access a safe, legal abortion. This bill interferes with a woman’s ability to control her own body and make personal decisions about her pregnancy.  If the last few months have shown us anything, it’s that Americans want policymakers working to improve health care access and rights for women, not take them away.”

In states that have passed laws that ban abortion at 20 weeks, some women and their families have been put into unimaginable situations — such as being unable to end a pregnancy for serious medical reasons because of extreme laws that don’t reflect the real-world situations that women and their families and their doctors face. In other cases, financial hurdles, barriers put in place by extreme politicians, lack of a nearby provider, or clinic closures can make it impossible for a woman to get an abortion as soon as she would like. 

These types of bans are rejected by the medical community and the American public. When Americans understand the real-world impact of 20-week bans, a solid 60 percent of voters oppose them. A strong majority of voters — Republicans (62 percent), Democrats (78 percent), and Independents (71 percent) — say this is the wrong issue for Congress and their state legislators to be spending time on. Doctors, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, oppose these laws because they prevent them from giving their patients the best health care possible in an individual situation.

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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 and electoral activity, including voter education, grassroots organizing, and legislative advocacy.