The Quickie: PA Republicans Speak Out on Mastriano's Fringe Abortion Stance: "He Cannot Be Elected"

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. 

PA REPUBLICANS SPEAK OUT ON MASTRIANO’S FRINGE ABORTION STANCE: “HE CANNOT BE ELECTED.” Pennsylvania GOP candidate Doug Mastriano has made his opposition to abortion a key part of his gubernatorial campaign — but his extreme stance is turning off key voters in the state’s suburbs — and not just Democrats. Republican voters find Mastriano’s desire to ban abortion entirely — among other fringe beliefs — not just unpalatable, but unacceptable. One voter, who supported Trump in 2016, told WHYY:

"She’s not against voting for a Republican again, but it won’t be Mastriano. When Roe v. Wade fell, she recalls being hit by how impactful the gubernatorial race would be."

“I was like, oh, my gosh, this guy is really bad,” she said. “I mean, he was bad before, but now it’s, like, really bad. He cannot be elected.”

This sentiment is echoed in the populous counties around Philadelphia, with Republican organizers telling WHYY that abortion bans are a dealbreaker for suburban women, especially mothers. 

“I deal with all moms. I deal with all women,” she said. “They just want their kids to be educated, productive members of society. Do we have to vote for someone who thinks that if a woman gets raped, they have to keep the kid? That’s moms everywhere.”

Many of these women are happily supporting reproductive rights champion Josh Shapiro for governor, even though it means voting across party lines. Even the Republican organizer is considering it. 

Read more at WHYY. 

THE STATE OF ABORTION ACCESS: Danika Severino Wynn, vice president of abortion access at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, joined the podcast rePROs Fight Back to talk about the state of abortion access nearly two months after Roe was overturned. Danika talked about the landscape of abortion access in places where abortion is banned and the challenges involved in accessing care. She also highlighted the work being done across the abortion ecosystem to ensure that people can get access to information to help them make an appointment for care when they need it. As Danika told the host Jennie Wetter:

“First, there is not a way in such a short amount of time, and really maybe ever, for half the states to handle the other half of the states’ volume of folks needing abortion care. What that means is that we see increasing amounts of patients seeking care in states that have maintained access, which then in turn means longer wait times, and potentially pushes out people further and further away from their homes to be able to get access to care. And another big worry is that it makes it take longer for people to get care and then they’re pushed out further and further into their pregnancies to be able to access abortion. It is really important to put yourselves in a pregnant person’s shoes, if somebody has decided that they cannot continue to be pregnant for whatever reason that it is, every day that they are waiting to end that pregnancy feels like years.”

Listen to the episode here.

AMERICANS STRONGLY SUPPORT OUTCOME OF KANSAS REFERENDUM ON ABORTION RIGHTS–AND WANT THE SAME FOR THEIR STATES: The latest Navigator data poll shows that by a 35-point-margin, Americans overwhelmingly support the outcome to keep abortion rights in the Kansas state constitution (57 percent support, 22 percent oppose). 

Nearly two in three Americans (63 percent) indicate they would vote to protect abortion rights if their state had a similar referendum while just 24 percent would be opposed. This includes an overwhelming majority of Democrats (86 percent), more than three in five independents (62 percent), and nearly two in five Republicans say they would vote to to protect abortion rights (38 percent). Two in three women say they would vote for a Kansas-style referendum to protect abortion rights (66 percent), including 85 percent of Democratic women, 75 percent of independent women, and 40 percent of Republican women. 

This polling confirms what we have long said: No matter the state, the public wants abortion access protected and health care decisions left to pregnant people and their doctors.