Morning Joe: Abortion Played a Role in Voters’ Midterm Decisions - Reproductive Freedom for All®

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

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Morning Joe: Abortion Played a Role in Voters’ Midterm Decisions

Reproductive Freedom for All

Morning Joe: Abortion Played a Role in Voters’ Midterm Decisions

Washington, DC – Earlier this week, Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju joined Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist on MS NOW’s Morning Joe to discuss new post-election exit polling that shows abortion mattered in the midterms—and voters want Congress to act. New research from Reproductive Freedom for All and Impact Research found that 53% of battleground voters said abortion influenced their choices, and 59% supported Congress passing more protections for access to reproductive health care, including abortion. Lauren Leader, co-founder and CEO of All In Together, also joined the interview.

Watch the full Morning Joe segment HERE, and read highlights below.

Mini outlined opportunities to turn voters’ support for abortion access into action: 

  • Repeal state abortion bans: “We are now finally in a place where we have reproductive freedom trifectas in so many states that we can start repealing these abortion bans and passing extensive laws to protect access to care.”
  • Turn governors’ campaign commitments into action: “It’s not an accident that Keisha Lance Bottoms [has] come right out of the gate saying [she] wants to work to repeal these bans and that attorneys general that are newly elected in those states have committed to not prosecute patients and providers who have been bearing the brunt of these laws. Especially the doctors, and it’s had a chilling effect, creating material health care deserts in places like Texas and Georgia where doctors don’t want to practice.”
  • Move quickly in the House to restore federal abortion protections: “House Democrats have an opportunity in the first 100 hours, and they’ve made a commitment, to seriously pass legislation that would codify federal abortion rights, but would also repeal discriminatory barriers to care like the Hyde Amendment.”
  • Press the Senate to act on voters’ support for abortion access: “We can run robust campaigns to communicate to Republicans who are on the fence on this issue where voters are, and this exit polling is going to be critical to explaining to them that Independents and a majority of Republicans support some sort of relief for those states with bans.”
  • She also highlighted other ways Congress can protect access to care: “Republicans and Democrats in the Senate can also block devastating judicial appointments. It’s those judicial appointments that have created complete chaos for us and abortion rights in this country. There’s a lot that can be done through budget reconciliation as well, restoring funding—ACA, Medicaid cuts, et cetera, cuts to Planned Parenthood. There’s a lot of opportunity to fix a lot of the mess.”

More headlines on what the midterm results mean for the future of reproductive freedom:

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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.