The Washington Sun: White House Officials Told the DOJ to Delay Action on Abortion Ahead of the Midterms - Reproductive Freedom for All®

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

Reproductive Freedom for All®

Donate

Menu

Close

ICYMI

The Washington Sun: White House Officials Told the DOJ to Delay Action on Abortion Ahead of the Midterms

This morning, The Washington Sun reported that senior White House officials told the Justice Department to slow-walk abortion-related actions until after the midterm elections. While Republicans know that attacking abortion now could cost them votes in November, they won’t hold back after the election and could even invoke the Comstock Act. As one source noted, “Once the midterms are over and it’s truly lame-duck time, we’ve heard the gloves will be off.” 

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:

“Republicans in the Trump administration are planning to ban abortion and are lying to voters about it because they know it’s a liability in an election year. But after the midterms, they will use every lever of government and won’t stop short of a national ban.”

Check out some highlights from The Washington Sun:

  • In a series of discussions, senior White House officials, led by White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, directly delivered the message to Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to a senior administration official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Wiles suggested that an aggressive approach on abortion would generate unwanted attention, something the officials worried could alienate voters ahead of the November elections.
  • But administration officials have also informed anti-abortion leaders, who have aggressively pressed the administration to move quickly to restrict abortion access, that any action on abortion would take place after the midterm elections, multiple sources told The Sun.
  • “Once the midterms are over and it’s truly lame-duck time, we’ve heard the gloves will be off,” one conservative in touch with the administration, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said. “We have heard we have friends, and there are definitely people who are staunch pro-lifers.”
  • The DOJ has consistently asked federal judges to pause ongoing lawsuits that seek to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone until the Food and Drug Administration completes a review of the drug’s safety and effectiveness. A departure from that strategy would create unfavorable headlines just before voters head to the polls, the White House officials made clear to Blanche.
  • A source familiar with the matter said DOJ officials have told some anti-abortion leaders that any action on enforcing the Comstock Act — which would bar the mailing of abortion drugs — would take place after the election. The DOJ is “actively working on it,” the source said.
  • Blanche, in his July confirmation hearings, said he opposed abortion pills being available via mail and committed to enforcing the Comstock Act, a series of 1873 federal laws that prohibit the shipment of “every article or thing designed, adapted or intended for producing abortion.” Politico also reported that during an August call with faith leaders, Blanche said the administration was working to ensure abortion was banned “in every single state.”

Recent research from Reproductive Freedom for All found that battleground voters rank a politician’s support for a national abortion ban among their top dealbreakers, on par with raising taxes on middle-class families and cutting Medicaid. This comes as Republicans are ratcheting up anti-abortion extremism—from launching several lawsuits to ban access to medication abortion to nominating anti-abortion extremists across the administration, attacking shield laws, and using every lever of government to enact a backdoor abortion ban.

###

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.