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Washington, D.C. – Politico reported late last night that Penny Nance is being considered for the role of Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. State Department, which has a mandate to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through U.S. foreign policy.

Statement from Dawn Laguens, Executive Vice President for Planned Parenthood Action Fund

For Trump to even consider putting Penny Nance in charge of U.S. programs designed to protect and empower some of the most vulnerable women in the world shows a fundamental disdain for women’s health and their lives. This would be putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.

“Nance has spent her entire career fighting to control women’s bodies and deny reproductive choices in the United States and across the globe. Nance has advocated for the global gag rule to block providers from even talking about abortion, fought the International Violence Against Women Act and its mission to support survivors of violence, and championed destructive policies that hold the lives of the most vulnerable women and girls in the world hostage to her extreme ideology.

“Under Penny Nance’s leadership, the anti-women’s health organization Concerned Women for America called the authorization of the very same Office of Global Women’s Issues a ‘wasteful and unnecessary idea.’

“From day one, the Trump administration has put women’s health and rights squarely in its crosshairs. Trump is stacking his administration with officials who are fundamentally opposed to women’s health and rights, who don’t believe in birth control, and go so far as to hold a minor hostage in order to prevent her from seeking a legal abortion. The millions of vulnerable women and girls across the globe deserve an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues who will support and respect them, not an ideologue who is actively complicit in undermining their human rights.

Background on Penny Nance:

Penny Nance serves as President and CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA):

  • The CWA called the authorization of the Office of Global Women’s Issues a “wasteful and unnecessary idea

  • The CWA celebrates Scott Lloyd as a “champion and advocate” for children in his care. But outside of the far right, Scott Lloyd and his agency have been widely condemned for their mistreatment and abuse of power over 17-year-old Jane Doe (a young immigrant woman the Trump administration held hostage while it obstructed her right to access abortion care) and other young women in their custody.

  • The CWA praises the global gag rule, which takes direct aim at vulnerable women and their families around the world.

  • The CWA has opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seeks to prohibit workplace discrimination against women and LGBT people.

  • The CWA opposes ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) because of language providing for equal rights to “sexual and reproductive health.”

  • The CWA opposes the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in part because it “urged Finland to promote equal sharing of domestic and family tasks between women and men.”

  • The CWA opposes the International Violence Against Women Act and claims some of its money could be used to “undermine marriage and disrespect women’s noble roles as mothers and wives.”

  • The CWA opposed the Peace Corps Equity provision allowing abortion access for Peace Corps volunteers in the cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment

Penny Nance: a record of extreme policies and unhinged rhetoric  

Penny Nance believes that rape victims should be forced to carry their pregnancy to term.

  • “Aborting her baby, which was the result of a crime, actually adds to the emotional and physical harm to the mother” [Penny Nance in The Christian Post, 11/2/12]

Penny Nance supported Scott Lloyd and the Trump administration’s efforts to hold a young immigrant woman hostage and deny her access to her constitutionally protected right to an abortion. [Washington Examiner, 10/16/17]

Penny Nance fundamentally opposes Disney’s animated film “Frozen” because it features strong female characters, which she claims teaches little boys that they are not “essential.” [Fox and Friends, 2/4/15]

Penny Nance advocates against emergency contraception, which is often crucial care offered to victims of sexual assault, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of how it works.

  • She wrote: “the morning after pill, which we know is an abortifacient.” [One News Now, 09/26/15]

When news that Donald Trump harassed a Miss Universe star became public, Penny Nance blamed the victim.

  • She wrote: “Let’s be honest, a woman who voluntarily puts on a bikini and literally asks people to judge her based almost solely on her body can’t be mad when they do.” [Fox News, 09/29/16]

Nance believes that acknowledging the rights of transgender people is participating “in someone else's delusion."

  • Nance wrote: "Our femininity is a gift from God and if we give it away, if it is stolen from us, there is a price to be paid.” [CBN News, 8/30/17]

Nance claimed on television that the “Age Of Enlightenment” led to the Holocaust.

  • She said: “You know the Age of Enlightenment and Reason gave way to moral relativism. And moral relativism is what led us all the way down the dark path to the Holocaust...Dark periods of history is what we arrive at when we leave God out of the equation.” [Fox News, 5/02/13]

Nance’s organization, Concerned Women For America, called Uganda “courageous” for launching their horrific anti-LGBT witch hunt.

  • CWA said Uganda’s “biblical and cultural stand against the radical homosexual agenda” was “courageous.” [CWFA.org, Uganda Holding Firm To Biblical Values, 8/23/2007]

  • CWA responded to President Obama’s condemnation of Uganda’s bill by saying Obama “should realize how offensive his position on homosexuality is to devout Muslims,” and that he was “forcing the world to approve and mainstream their homosexuality.” [Lifesite News, 2/17/2014]

Penny Nance thinks Planned Parenthood should fight the terrorist organization ISIS.

  • In an opinion piece for the Daily Caller, Nance said that Planned Parenthood Global — which advocates for sound U.S. foreign policies that improve the sexual and reproductive health and well-being of individuals and families globally — “fails to even mention the threat ISIS plays to those women once on their website. In fact, search ‘ISIS’ in the [Planned Parenthood website’s] search query, and you’ll be redirected to ‘abortion and birth control.’” [Penny Nance – Daily Caller, 10/22/14]

BACKGROUND ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ANTI-WOMEN’S HEALTH APPOINTEES:

This is all part of a broader agenda against women’s access to health care, accurate information, and bodily autonomy. Just look at who's at the helm of Trump’s HHS. President Trump has systematically filled key administration positions with anti-science, anti-women’s health extremists, including:

  • Title X National Family Program Overseer Teresa Manning, a former lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee and policy analyst for the Family Research Council, claimed in an interview with WBUR that “contraception doesn’t work,” and stated on C-SPAN that she does not believe the federal government should run family planning programs.

  • CMS Administrator Seema Verma, who runs Medicaid and Medicare, two of the programs that provide the most health care to women of all ages, believes that maternity coverage should be optional.

  • FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb says that women’s access to birth control under the Affordable Care Act has been harmful to women.

  • HHS Top Spokesperson Charmaine Yoest has touted phony claims that abortion causes breast cancer that are based on junk science and spent years as an anti-abortion extremist.

  • Valerie Huber, Chief of Staff for Don Wright, now the Acting Secretary of HHS, is an anti-sex education activist and the CEO of Ascend, formerly known as the National Abstinence Education Association. She is now responsible for key programs in this country designed to reduce unintended pregnancy and ensure young people’s health.

  • (Current) Acting Health and Human Services Secretary Don Wright’s department has voiced opposition to requirements that doctors provide women seeking abortions with medically accurate referrals.

  • Domestic Policy Council Member Katy Talento believes that birth control causes miscarriages and abortions. Talento, who is vehemently opposed to basic contraceptive coverage, is now responsible for helping to shape health care legislation that will affect millions of women for years to come.

  • Jane Norton, the head of HHS Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, is a staunch opponent of Planned Parenthood who spent the majority of her political career in Colorado attempting to cut women off from this health care provider.

  • U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has rolled back U.S. positions on reproductive rights at the UN, including established rights to access comprehensive reproductive health care services, comprehensive sex education, and safe abortion. Haley also supported defunding UNFPA and appointed an LGBTQ hate group to serve on the 2017 U.S. delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

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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.

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