WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden warned Friday that Republicans seeking a national abortion ban won’t stop there as he urged supporters to channel their anger into mobilizing votes for those Democratic in 2024.
“We cannot allow the most personal decisions to fall into the hands of politicians,” he said. “Make no mistake, this election is about ballot freedom once again.”
Just a mile from where Biden rallied abortion rights supporters on the eve of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned federal abortion protections, the Faith & Freedom Coalition held its annual conference.and Vice President Mike Pence is urging his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination to support a 15-week federal abortion ban — at least.
A year after the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, both sides are at odds on the issue. Biden on Friday issued an executive order seeking to strengthen access to contraception and picked a trio of top-level endorsements at a rally with Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff. Several Republican hopefuls are scheduled to speak at an evangelical summit this weekend, touting their anti-abortion credentials and urging like-minded activists to stay on the political offensive amid concerns that backfire.
Most Americans want to make abortion legal nationwide. In the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections, many political pundits are dismissing the issue as a galvanizer, but it is one of the main concerns of voters, who often reject efforts to prevent abortion. in Democratic and GOP-leaning states when given the opportunity.
“Reproductive freedom is an issue for all of us. Men, women, everyone. Women cannot be less-than,” said Emhoff.
The leading voices of abortion rights often endorse the Democratic president for reelection. But the heads of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL-Pro Choice America and Emily’s List say getting out early and strong behind Biden and Harris is important on an issue that will galvanize voters.
“I am very proud of the bold actions this administration has taken to protect patients and protect providers to provide them with accurate information and let them know they are not alone,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and chief executive of the Planned Parenthood Action fund.
Mini Timmaraju, head of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the longer restrictions are in place, the more people will know someone who has experienced something terrible. “They have to make a decision about where to go to college based on the states that have bans. They have to make a decision on whether to practice medicine based on abortion bans. It permeates everyday life now, and it there are unintended consequences.”
The consequences of restricting access to abortion can quickly move beyond the termination of an unwanted pregnancy to miscarriage and pregnancy care in general. Women in states with strict restrictions are more likely to be unable to access care for pregnancy-related complications. Doctors facing criminal charges if they provide abortions more afraid to care for patients who are not sick enough to be considered curable.
“Republicans are working overtime to make it harder for us to make our own health care decisions and determine our future,” said Laphonza Butler, head of Emily’s List.
Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, 20 states have passed either bans or restrictive abortion policies. A year after Roe fell, 25 million women live in states with abortion bans or tighter restrictions. But 22 states and the District of Columbia have expanded access to abortion care.
Most states with severe abortion restrictions are also states with high rates of maternal mortality and higher rates of stillbirth and miscarriage. Black women are disproportionately affected – they are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Harris argues that this is no coincidence, given that maternal health care and abortion care are linked. The same medical procedures used to perform an abortion are used to treat miscarriage.
He said Friday that this is not an abortion rights issue, it’s a freedom issue. “Freedom to make decisions about one’s own life, one’s own body. The freedom to be free from government interference when it comes to a person’s private decision. Decisions about the heart and home.”
Biden’s executive order aims to strengthen access to contraception, a growing concern among Democrats after some conservatives signed a willingness to push beyond abortion to regulate birth control. In 2017, nearly 65% or 46.9 million of the 72.2 million girls and women ages 15 to 49 in the US used some form of contraception. The mandate aims to increase and expand options, lower out-of-pocket costs and raise awareness about options.
Biden regretted that he even had to sign such an order. “The idea, that I have to do that — really, think about it,” he said.
Pence’s comments on Friday were a challenge for the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to endorse a federal abortion ban. The former president is scheduled to address the evangelical assembly on Saturday night.
“We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state of the country,” Pence said.
Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said “we will certainly do everything we can, as an organization and as a pro-life and pro-family movement, to give our candidates a give them a little testosterone booster shot and make it clear to them that they don’t need to be defensive. Those who are afraid of this need, frankly, to grow a backbone.”
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