The Quickie: Anti-Abortion House Members Just Cannot Get a Clue
For Immediate Release: Jan. 10, 2023
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.
In today’s Quickie: anti-abortion House members start by attacking abortion rights on day 1 and the abortion rights fight heats up in Virginia.
ANTI-ABORTION HOUSE MEMBERS IGNORE MIDTERMS, ATTACK ABORTION RIGHTS ON DAY 1: Last night, the narrow anti-abortion rights House majority of the 118th Congress passed a rules package that fast tracks consideration of three anti-abortion bills, with votes coming as early as this week. This will be the first time members of the House vote on abortion since the 2022 midterm elections, when voters overwhelmingly turned out to support abortion rights. It seems that anti-abortion politicians just cannot take a hint: abortion rights are extremely popular and their constituents want leaders who will defend their reproductive freedoms.
“The first order of business of the narrow anti-abortion rights majority in the House directly contradicts the clear message that voters delivered in November: to protect and expand reproductive health care and rights,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) President Alexis McGill Johnson said. “Instead, the majority is pushing its dangerous and unpopular agenda forward, and making it clear that they will stop at nothing to take away our rights. Thankfully, abortion rights leaders in the Senate and executive branch can stop them. But the House’s actions will not go unnoticed to voters, who overwhelmingly support abortion access. The midterms should have put anti-abortion politicians on notice. It’s past time they listen.”
The three anti-abortion bills aim to: expand the Hyde Amendment, peddle misinformation about abortion care to address a made-up problem, and disingenuously condemn violence at anti-abortion facilities while ignoring the mounting violence and threats against people who get abortions and abortion providers.
Read PPAF’s full release here.
THE FIGHT TO PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS HEATS UP IN VIRGINIA: As the battle for abortion rights continues in the states, a critical week for reproductive freedom begins in Virginia: Today’s three special elections, particularly the race for Senate District 7, will determine whether the 2023 legislative session — which opens tomorrow — will begin with a guaranteed pro-abortion rights majority.
The Virginia Mercury previewed the upcoming legislative fight in the Commonwealth, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin continues to push for a 15-week abortion ban with limited exceptions — a major threat to reproductive freedom in Virginia.
“A ban is a ban, plain and simple,” said Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (PPAV). “The goal of this ban as with all abortion bans is to stop people from accessing essential health care.”
Today’s SD-07 special election in Virginia Beach and Norfolk will be critical for reproductive rights champions to block anti-abortion legislation this session. PPAV has endorsed champion Aaron Rouse in that race, investing “a lot more resources and time and attention” than is typical for a special election due to its importance for the future of abortion access, Lockhart told the Mercury.
“We know that every single seat matters,” Lockhart said. A win for Rouse “would ensure that no abortion ban would get to Gov. Youngkin’s desk.”
Read more at Virginia Mercury.