Press Release California
Memo
NARAL Pro-Choice America Denounces Dangers of the Anti-Choice Movement As They Defy Public Health Guidance in Name of Ideology
For Immediate Release: July 31, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
This week, the Trump administration is working overtime to undermine life-saving public health guidance and radical anti-choice activists are callously capitalizing on a public health crisis to deny people reproductive freedom. Major anti-choice electoral organization Susan B. Anthony List just announced that it is sponsoring an in-person multi-state tour of fake women’s health centers, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response:
“Vice President Pence has long endangered public health by putting his own ideology over fact-based policy, but doing so during a festering pandemic is a new low. As governor of Indiana, he oversaw a spike in HIV rates after the defunding of the state’s reproductive health clinics. Undaunted, he pushed the same strategy at the national level after becoming Trump’s second in command. Now, as the COVID-19 crisis takes hundreds of thousands of American lives, he’s focused on traveling around the country to promote health disinformation peddled by fake women’s health centers. It’s unconscionable and disqualifying for leadership. It’s time to wrest political control away from those who put their extreme ideology above science and elect political leaders like Vice President Biden who will put data and evidence at the heart of their decision-making.”
The tour kicks off August 5th with an event in Tampa, Florida—a state which broke its record for single-day COVID-19 deaths this week, hit a record-high number of COVID-19 cases, and had a huge and alarming jump in hospitalizations of children as schools prepare to re-open in-person. The state’s surge in cases has been fueled by anti-choice, anti-freedom Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) inept response to the pandemic.
And they’re not the only group opposed to reproductive freedom that is actively jeopardizing health and safety. Care Net, one of the country’s largest networks of fake women’s health centers, is planning a massive, in-person gathering in early September, also in Florida.
Earlier this week, NARAL Pro-Choice America endorsed Vice President Joe Biden and as part of its biggest-ever electoral program, NARAL has been calling out Trump and Pence’s attacks on reproductive freedom in major ad buys. Through testing, it was clear that these ads are effective at moving key voting blocs in battleground states and illustrate how Trump and the Republican Party’s extreme overreach on abortion makes them even more vulnerable to defections from critical groups of voters. Exposing how Trump dismisses expert medical advice in favor of GOP ideology during the pandemic also decreases confidence in Trump’s performance managing the crisis. Negative movement is especially pronounced among Independents, suburban voters, and Obama-Trump voters exposed to these ads and was notably equivalent for men and women.
NARAL has also run ads exposing the hypocrisy of those who identify as “pro-life” but have been quick to jeopardize safety and well-being during the pandemic. For more information on the hypocrisy of elected officials who oppose abortion rights and have ignored public health information in the face of an unprecedented pandemic, see NARAL’s latest memo here.
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”