10/13/2024
THE DEMOCRAT PLATFOR - Relating To The Sanctity of Human Life, Born and Unborn.
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
Trump’s Supreme Court appointees overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating a fundamental
constitutional right and denying women across the nation the right to choose. The extreme
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act of overturning Roe , which had been the law of the land for nearly half a century, has
already had devastating consequences nationwide.
Over the past two years, more than 20 states have imposed extreme and dangerous
abortion bans – many of which include no exception even for r**e or in**st – that put the
health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and
threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that
they are trained to provide. Laws that limit access to contraception and to fertility
treatments like IVF. Laws that were first adopted in the 1800s.
More than one in three women of reproductive age, and more than half of Black women and
40 percent of Latinas, now live under an abortion ban. Today, our daughters have fewer
rights than their grandmothers.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are fighting back to restore
reproductive freedom for every woman in every state. President Biden signed three
executive orders and a presidential memorandum to stand up for reproductive rights. The
Administration is protecting access to abortion, including by creating a new path for
pharmacies to dispense FDA-approved medication abortion and defending access in court.
It is expanding reproductive health care for service members, veterans, and their family
members. The Administration is defending access to emergency medical care, including
clarifying that federal law on emergency care preempts state abortion bans, educating
patients on their rights, making it easier for patients who have been denied emergency care
to file a complaint, and ensuring hospitals meet their legal obligations to offer care. It is
challenging threats from Republicans to prosecute people who help women travel to a
different state for abortion care, and helping states expand access under Medicaid for
women who travel from states with bans. We are safeguarding patients’ and providers’
privacy, including by strengthening HIPAA protections, cracking down on the illegal sharing
of personal information, strengthening consumer data protections, and issuing guidance to
protect student privacy in this area. And we are ensuring access to accurate information and
legal resources, including by launching ReproductiveRights.gov and convening more than
200 lawyers and advocates to support abortion-related legal defense services.
The contrast between President Biden and Trump is stark. Trump handpicked Supreme
Court justices he knew would overturn Roe, saying it would be overturned “automatically.”
He’s said that he’s “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe, and he continues to
brag about it. Trump is responsible for the more than twenty state bans that are now in
effect as a result. He has said women should be punished for getting an abortion, and that
states should be able to punish doctors who provide them. If he returns to the White House,
Trump will ban abortion nationwide. And his allies plan to ban medication abortion
nationwide, without Congress or the courts, by enforcing a law from the 1800s, including
prosecuting women and doctors for sending or receiving medication abortion in the mail.
Nine in 10 women have used contraception, and Democrats are also working to expand
access to birth control. Under President Biden’s leadership, the FDA approved the first
over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive, making birth control easier than ever to access.
President Biden has also built on the Affordable Care Act to make a broader range of
contraceptives available to women at no cost through their health insurance. The
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Administration has boosted access to free and low-cost services through the Title X family
planning program, and expanded access to birth control for service members and through
the VA.
Trump’s record on contraception could not be more different. Trump undermined access to
contraception as president, decreasing access for millions by sabotaging the Title X family
planning grant program and weakening the ACA’s coverage mandate. His allies have
published plans to further attack access to contraception through executive action,
including by further undermining women’s insurance coverage for birth control and reducing
access to condoms and emergency contraception.
The Supreme Court’s elimination of the protections of Roe has also had devastating
consequences for families who have suffered the heartbreak of infertility. Each year, tens of
thousands of Americans start or grow their families with the help of in vitro fertilization. IVF
is enormously popular, enjoying the support of the vast majority of Americans. Yet Trump’s
overturning Roe opened the door to laws that rip away access to this vital care – as we saw
when Alabama families had treatments halted earlier this year. President Biden has
responded to attacks on reproductive care by expanding IVF access for service members,
veterans, and federal employees. Meanwhile, Trump has refused to commit to vetoing the
Life at Conception Act, a national abortion ban that threatens IVF access nationwide, and his
allies are openly attacking IVF.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the
reproductive rights Trump ripped away. With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national
legislation to make Roe the law of the land again. We will strengthen access to
contraception so every woman who needs it is able to get and afford it. We will protect a
woman’s right to access IVF. We will repeal the Hyde Amendment. And in his second term,
President Biden will continue to support access to FDA-approved medication abortion,
appoint leaders at the FDA who respect science, and appoint judges who uphold
fundamental freedoms
