Yesterday, NARAL Pro-Choice America released the first of what would be several reports analyzing how the potential GOP presidential candidates threaten women’s access to reproductive services. As Julie Rovner notes, “For the first time, many, if not most of the candidates have come out not just for the defunding of Planned Parenthood (which is at least arguably about abortion). Some have also voted against — and spoken out against — any kind of federal funding for contraception,” which the overwhelming majority of women support (and many) rely on. Below is a small compilation of their records:
– MICHELE BACHMANN: Bachmann has cast 12 “anti-choice” votes during her time in Congress: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, prohibiting the District of Columbia from using local revenue to provide abortion services for low income women, and blocked the Food and Drug Administration from using funds for testing, approving or regulating the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. In the Minnesota state Senate in 2001, she co-sponsored a constitutional amendment to block public funding of any organization associated with an organization that provides, counsels or refers for abortion.
– RICK SANTORUM: As a member of the House of Representatives, Santorum cast 27 “anti-choice” votes on reproductive-rights related issues; in the Senate he cast 72 out of 74 “anti-choice” votes. “He has voted for ‘personhood’ rights of an embryo, in favor of the Federal Abortion Ban and in favor of two Supreme Court and six lower court justice nominees with outspoken anti-abortion rights positions.”
– MITT ROMNEY: Romney’s record is mixed, as the former Massachusetts governor has shifted to his current anti-aboriton position. “In 2005 he vetoed a measure that would have increased access to emergency contraception by allowing pharmacists to dispense the pill without a prescription. From 1998 to 2006, the state used ‘abstinence-only’ funds for public service announcements, not classroom courses.”
– TIM PAWLENTY: While in Congress, “Pawlenty co-sponsored a bill that criminalized some abortion services and carried a 15-year prison sentence for doctors. As governor, he signed into law a measure that prohibits organizations receiving state funds from referring women for abortion services.” He has also signed several pro-choice measures, including “a bill ensuring access to emergency contraception for rape victims, a bill improving access to family-planning services for low-income women and a bill expanding Medicaid to cover more pregnant low-income women in Minnesota.”
– JON HUNTSMAN: As governor, “Huntsman signed into law measures that established a state fund to defend abortion restrictions in court, criminalized some abortion services and required minors seeking abortions to notify their parents even if they come from purportedly ‘violent, abusive, or neglectful homes.’” Huntsman also enacted pro-choice reforms: “a bill that promotes sexually transmitted disease prevention by establishing a public education campaign and a bill that ensures that sexual assault victims receive information on and access to emergency contraception.”
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