Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Condemns Senator Roy Blunt for Co-Sponsoring Extreme Ban on Abortion
Missouri — Last week, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt signed on as co-sponsors on a cruel bill (S. 3275) to ban abortion later in pregnancy. The bill, introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for the fourth Congressional session in a row, is co-sponsored by a slate of anti-choice, anti-freedom Republicans in the Senate.
More than 7,000 Missourians have lost their lives to COVID-19, and over 495,000 cases have been reported in the last year. Blunt’s decision to make attacking reproductive freedom one of his top priorities in the 2021 Congressional session reflects an increasingly extreme Republican Party that couldn’t be more out of touch with the needs of its constituents — not to mention the 77% of Americans who support Roe v. Wade and the legal right to abortion.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response:
“This bill tells us everything we need to know about where Senator Blunt’s priorities lie. As millions of Americans struggle in the midst of a still-raging pandemic, extreme anti-choice Republicans remain hell-bent on denying people the fundamental freedom to determine their own lives, destinies, and futures.
The reality is that abortion later in pregnancy has been intentionally weaponized by anti-choice politicians like Roy Blunt trying to mask their own out-of-touch agenda. Blunt and his fellow ideological extremists in Congress know their opposition to reproductive freedom is unpopular, so they resort to inflammatory rhetoric that has no basis in reality or science in order to manipulate people. And that’s exactly what they are doing with this cruel and unconstitutional bill.”
The title and premise of Graham’s bill are predicated on medically inaccurate disinformation and misleading claims about abortion later in pregnancy, part of a broader playbook by the anti-choice movement to elevate inflammatory rhetoric around abortion care.
Less than 2% of abortion care takes place later in pregnancy, and almost always because something has gone wrong, such as a risk to the pregnant person’s health or a lethal fetal diagnosis. People also face a web of barriers, including restrictions, travel distance to a clinic, or not being able to afford care, all of which can push abortion care out of reach or later into pregnancy.
Missouri already has severe restrictions on reproductive freedom, which include subjecting people to mandatory biased counseling before they can access abortion care and restricting access to abortion care for people with low incomes. These restrictions disproportionately harm BIPOC, low-income, and rural communities, and are part of a coordinated effort by the Radical Right to maintain white patriarchal control at all costs.
A recent media analysis conducted by Global Strategy Group found that coverage of abortion in top-tier print outlets often parrots disinformation-based rhetoric, using medically inaccurate or inflammatory language without sufficient context or explanation, excludes the voices of medical experts and pregnant people, and lacks proper context on public opinion of abortion (that the majority of Americans support reproductive freedom). Visit Tell the Whole Story for resources on ensuring fair, accurate, and inclusive coverage.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.