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ICYMI
ICYMI: Mini Timmaraju Warns Republicans are Poised to Escalate Anti-Abortion Extremism After the Midterms
ICYMI: Mini Timmaraju Warns Republicans are Poised to Escalate Anti-Abortion Extremism After the Midterms
Over the weekend, Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju appeared twice on MS NOW and joined Jessica Valenti for a livestream to unpack new reporting that Republicans are delaying aggressive action on abortion until after the midterms, and discuss how reproductive freedom is a motivating battleground voters a month out from Election Day.
Timmaraju broke down The Washington Sun’s reporting that senior White House officials told the Justice Department to slow-walk abortion-related actions until after the midterm elections. She also discussed unprecedented action from attorneys general in GOP-led states to challenge shield laws in states like New York, Massachusetts, and California that protect providers who prescribe medication abortion pills to patients living in states with bans.
Republicans know that openly attacking abortion access before Election Day would cost them votes. A source in the Sun’s article promised the “gloves will be off” immediately after the election—a threat Timmaraju underscored on MS NOW when she said, “We have to be very concerned about what Todd Blanche and Heidi Overton together can do to restrict access immediately.”
Check out the highlights from Timmaraju’s interviews:
On a Substack Live with Jessica Valenti, Timmaraju and Valenti discussed:
- The Washington Sun’s report that the White House told the DOJ to delay action on abortion until after the midterms: “One of our biggest issues every election cycle, pre-Dobbs, post-Dobbs, is a believability gap…This reporting plus the Louisiana cases show very clearly that the anti-abortion movement and Republicans, and I will say all Republicans, never intended to leave it to the states.”
- The lawsuits from Republican attorneys general targeting shield laws: “This is the playbook. We’ve always known that this state-versus-state strategy was going to be how they’d get to shield laws. And as we saw with Dobbs, overturning Roe didn’t happen overnight… They whittle away at access bit by bit.”
- How a national abortion ban disqualifies Republican candidates with battleground voters: “If you knew Congressman X supported a national ban on abortion, they hate it… That is one of the most persuasive things you can tell a voter. It’s an immediate disqualifier.”
- They also discussed the races to watch this November, Heidi Overton’s nomination to lead the FDA, and the growing threat to the right to travel for abortion care.
On The Last Word on MS NOW, Timmaraju detailed:
- How the lawsuit led by Republican attorneys general is an effort to export abortion bans: “They’re claiming that blue states are encroaching on their rights, but they’re actually doing the opposite… This state-by-state scenario was always going to lead to this moment, and with this Supreme Court, it is a disaster waiting to happen.”
- How reproductive freedom is inextricably tied to affordability: “They want to be the party of families, but they don’t want to support policies that families need, like access to family planning, reproductive freedom, and health care.”
- They also discussed the stakes of winning a reproductive freedom majority in Congress this November.
On MS NOW with Antonia Hylton, Timmaraju and Hylton discussed:
- Justice Samuel Alito’s claim that the Dobbs decision required courage: “Justice Alito may have lost some friends. Women in this country have lost their lives. Tierra Walker, Amber Nicole Thurman, many Black and brown women, specifically in states where they’re already facing disproportionate barriers to access to care.”
- The new lawsuit threatening shield laws, led by Republican attorneys general: “Republicans were never going to stop with Dobbs… They want to reach abortion bans in all 50 states. How do they do that? They do it by reaching into blue states and [going after] access to medication abortion.”
- They also covered: How abortion bans impact every field of medicine, Students for Life of America President Kristen Hawkins telling nine-year-olds to carry pregnancies to term, and Heidi Overton’s FDA confirmation hearing.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
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