The Quickie: AZ Senate Candidate Blake Masters Tries to Walk Back Extreme Anti-Abortion Views
For Immediate Release: Aug. 26, 2022
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day.
ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE BLAKE MASTERS TRIES TO WALK BACK EXTREME ANTI-ABORTION VIEWS: Yesterday, NBC reported on Masters “scrubbing his website's policy page of tough abortion restrictions.” That’s because they know the writing is on the wall and reality is kicking in. From Kansans’ overwhelming vote to preserve abortion rights to Democrats’ recent victory in the NY-19 special election, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, voters have loudly and clearly shown up for reproductive freedom. Kelley Dupps, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in Arizona, blasted Masters for his disingenuous campaign video and frantic attempt to lie to Arizonans about this record:
“This desperate move by the Masters campaign is sad but unsurprising. They’ve made the calculations and know that his true views on abortion and reproductive freedom are deeply out-ot-touch with Arizonans and will cost him the election. Instead of doubling down on his problematic and dangerous record, they’re lying — lying about Senator Kelly, lying about Masters’ anti-abortion agenda, and lying to themselves if they think Arizonans will fall for it. His record is clear: He wants to ban abortion nationwide. Arizonans are facing an abortion crisis and nationally, one in every three women in America now live in a state where they cannot get an abortion.
“Blake Masters cannot be trusted to protect our health and rights. He can’t even be trusted to run an honest campaign. This November, Arizonans are going to resoundingly reject Masters and his unpopular, extreme anti-abortion views and re-elect Senator Mark Kelly, an abortion rights champion, to the U.S. Senate.”
Read the full NBC story with screenshots and quotes from the now deleted content from Masters’ campaign website.
ABORTION RIGHTS ARE ON THE BALLOT: Yesterday, three new abortion trigger bans took effect in Idaho, Tennesse, and Texas. Jenny Lawson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, appeared on Zerlina Maxwell’s show on Peacock to discuss the impact of abortion bans across the country and how voters can respond at the ballot box. As Jenny said, “Our right to control our own bodies and lives are on the ballot this November.”
Watch the full Peacock segment here.
UTILITIES COMPANIES BANKROLL ANTI-ABORTION LEGISLATORS DESPITE PUBLIC COMMENTS: Earlier this week, the Energy and Policy Institute released a report showing that utilities companies across the country have donated more than $2.4 million to state legislators who have sponsored and voted for abortion trigger bans. The Energy and Policy Institute reviewed campaign finance fillings in 10 states with trigger laws and found that utilities companies donated heavily to anti-abortion legislators while publicly stating support for abortion.
In Texas, for example, Governor Greg Abbott and all 69 lawmakers who sponsored the 2019 trigger ban have received campaign contributions from utilities companies, totaling $1.58 million since January 2019. A third of that money was donated after the law was signed by Abbott in June 2021. In contrast with their campaign contributions, many of these companies — including two major Texas anti-abortion donors, Sempra’s Oncor and CenterPoint — publicly support abortion rights, demonstrating the necessity for corporate allies to match their rhetoric with pro-abortion actions.
Read more at the Energy and Policy Institute.