PPAF Fact Check: Hillary Clinton Would Protect A Woman’s Right To Safe Legal Abortion
For Immediate Release: Oct. 20, 2016
Las Vegas, NV -- Tonight, Hillary Clinton underscored her commitment to protecting a woman’s access to safe, legal abortion.
Hillary Clinton said it best: “I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions.”
FACT: Hillary Clinton will protect and expand access to reproductive health care — including safe and legal abortion, birth control, and Planned Parenthood health care services
- As secretary of state, shefiercely defended the role of the U.S. government in family planning around the world — including access to safe and legal abortion — calling it “an important part of women’s health.” And as senator, she helped prevent the passage of bills that would have eliminated the ability to access abortion safely and legally. She also voted to protect access to abortion — including formilitary servicewomen and low-income women.
- When it comes to supporting reproductive health legislation, Clinton has gone above and beyond. For instance, while in the Senate, she was theforemost sponsor of the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act, an effort to ensure that emergency contraception would be available at military treatment facilities for victims of sexual assault. The military lifted its ban on emergency contraception at military facilities in 2010.
- Hillary Clinton supports access to affordable birth control: Clinton waged a multiyear effort — andeven blocked the nomination of an FDA head with Sen. Patty Murray — to pass a breakthrough in birth control access: the approval of emergency contraception available over the counter. She alsostood up to the Bush administration when it proposed a rule that would have defined widely used birth control methods such as IUDs as abortion and allowed medical providers to refuse to offer contraception to patients.Thanks to vocal opposition from senators like Clinton, the rule was not enforced and women’s birth control access was protected.