Senate Democrats must stand their ground on abortion rights
The stakes couldn’t be any higher for women. Trump and his right-wing administration are trying to make abortion inaccessible and illegal. If we want to protect access to reproductive health care, we must do it now.
Trump’s platform of misogyny and hate has unleashed a new wave of extreme attacks on reproductive health care. As soon as Trump won the election, emboldened anti-choice Republicans introduced legislation to cut off access to abortion nationwide. Recently, Trump signed an executive order that will strip women in countries around the world of their health care. He also nominated a judge with an abysmal record on reproductive rights to the Supreme Court.
Enough is enough. We can’t just sit back and wait until the next extreme anti-woman attack. Senate Democrats must lead now by fiercely defending women’s reproductive rights and blocking all attempts to restrict access to abortion, without hesitation or compromise.
Here’s what’s at stake. Right-wing Republicans want to:
- Shut down Planned Parenthood. Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the Affordable Care Act repeal process. That process has already begun.
- Outlaw abortion nationwide. Right-wing extremists in Congress have introduced an unconstitutional six-week abortion ban that would essentially outlaw abortion. This is a dangerous political tactic that puts women’s lives at risk.
- Force women to carry all pregnancies to term. Republicans have introduced a nationwide 20-week abortion ban that would force women to carry medically complex and sometimes life-endangering pregnancies to term. Women and their doctors should have all medical options available to them.
- Strip women in countries around the world of their health care. When Trump reinstated the “global gag rule,” he not only cut off women’s access to safe abortion, but also to family planning services and HIV/AIDS prevention in countries that receive U.S. foreign aid.4
- Confirm anti-choice Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Gorsuch has a hostile record on reproductive rights. He ruled to give employers the power to deny female employees insurance coverage for their birth control.
- End access to abortion for low-income women. Republicans in the House passed H.R. 7, a bill that will make the Hyde Amendment permanent so that low-income women will never be able to access abortion through taxpayer funded health insurance programs like Medicaid and drastically restrict access to private health insurance plans that include abortion coverage.
While we can’t stop Trump from issuing executive orders, we can certainly stop Republicans from passing anti-choice legislation and block Trump’s anti-choice Supreme Court nominee by forcing Senate Democrats to hold the line.
Senate Democrats must build a firewall against anti-woman attacks and back legislation that will protect and expand access to abortion.
Immediately after Trump reinstated the “global gag rule,” Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire introduced a bipartisan bill to reverse it. The Global Health Empowerment and Rights Act will permanently revoke the “global gag rule” by lifting all abortion related restrictions on U.S. foreign aid.
Recently, progressive champion Rep. Barbara Lee reintroduced the EACH Woman Act, a bill that would end the Hyde Amendment and ensure that all women — wherever they live and however they’re insured — are able to get coverage for the full range of reproductive health services, including abortion.8
Undoing abortion restrictions won’t happen overnight, and certainly not in this Congress. But building momentum can start now and make a big difference.
Tell Senate Democrats to stand their ground on reproductive health care.
Originally published at act.credoaction.com.
