In response to House Republicans plotting to limit access to contraception, DNC National Press Secretary ⁨Emilia Rowland⁩ released the following statement:

“This week House Republicans have the chance to listen to the American people’s clear, overwhelming, and bipartisan demand that Congress protect their right to contraception. House Republicans’ history of opposing contraception access opened the door to MAGA extremists’ plans to rip away birth control and contraceptives that millions of Americans rely on. As November approaches, voters will be reminded that extremist Republicans are hellbent on stripping away access to basic rights and subjecting women to a reality where we have less freedom than our mothers and grandmothers had decades ago.”

Despite Republican’s efforts to rip away Americans’ reproductive rights, House Democrats took action today in their fight to pass legislation protecting the right to contraception.

New York Times: “House Democrats on Tuesday plan to go on the offensive on reproductive rights, with an announcement that they will seek to force a vote on legislation to codify the right to birth control access nationwide.”

Ms. Magazine.: “In the wake of growing Republican restrictions on reproductive rights, Democrats in many states are introducing bills to protect access to contraception. In response, Republicans are blocking these bills, going on record as opposed to contraception.”

In the latest salvo in MAGA Republicans’ anti-freedom crusade, the extreme House GOP is trying to take away access to contraception from millions of Americans.

Politico: “As president, Trump enacted several policies that made it more difficult for people, particularly the working class and the poor, to obtain contraception — from allowing more employers to opt out of birth control coverage in their workers’ health insurance to imposing restrictions on the Title X family planning program that triggered a mass exodus of clinics.

“Conservative allies want to reimpose those policies and go further if he wins in November. Their ‘Project 2025’ blueprint includes proposals to require coverage of natural family planning methods and remove requirements that insurance cover certain emergency contraception.

“Taken together, the policies highlight the many ways a second Trump administration could hamper access to contraception, short of a blanket ban. The impact would also be much greater now that roughly one-third of states prohibit nearly all abortions…

“As part of their 2025 wish list, conservatives want to overhaul which forms of birth control insurance companies must cover for patients at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. For instance, they have drafted plans to allow insurers to drop coverage of emergency contraception, such as Plan B pills, which some on the right believe are abortifacients because they make it harder for fertilized eggs to implant in the uterus…”

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions: “Just last week, 195 House Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act. And now they have blocked action in the Senate as well. The evidence of where Republicans actually stand on birth control is overwhelming. ‘They aren’t standing for women. They aren’t standing for families. They aren’t standing for a right nearly all Americans support,’ added Senator Murray.”

Republicans are already advancing dangerous legislation that could target access to contraception in states like Oklahoma, Louisiana, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

The Oklahoman: “An Oklahoma bill seeks to place further restrictions on abortion in the state, prompting questions from lawmakers about whether the bill would ban emergency contraceptives, like ‘the morning-after pill’ and IUDs.

“Authored by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, the bill would allow lawsuits for those who help women obtain abortions and would allow the state to identify women who obtain them. It also targets contraceptives that induce an abortion or prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.”

Associated Press: “Louisiana lawmakers advance bill to reclassify abortion drugs, worrying doctors” 

Associated Press: “Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, vetoed bills from the Democratic-controlled Legislature that would have protected the right to contraception.”

Associated Press: “In Wisconsin, Democrats introduced a bill that was intended to protect contraception access last year, but it never got so much as a hearing in either the GOP-controlled state Assembly or state Senate before the two-year session ended in March. Senate Democrats tried to pull the bill from committee in February and force a floor vote, but all the chamber’s 22 Republicans voted against the move.”

Extremist MAGA Republicans are out of touch with the American people, voting to strip away access to contraception despite bipartisan support.

New York Times: “Republican Opposition to Birth Control Bill Could Alienate Voters, Poll Finds”

“A majority of voters support the Right to Contraception Act across party, racial and gender lines, according to the poll. About 94 percent of Democrats support it, and 68 percent of Republican voters favor it.”

Associated Press: “Voters already have shown they broadly support abortion rights, even in conservative states such as Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio where they have sided with abortion rights advocates on ballot measures over the past two years.”

White House Fact Sheet: “This week, the Republican Study Committee, which represents 100% of House Republican leadership and nearly 80% of their members, released a budget that—among its many other anti-choice restrictions—endorses a national abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape or incest.” 

“…Guts funding for contraception—which is supported by the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle—for low-income and uninsured women. This would further erode access to essential health care, from cancer screening to primary care, at a time when state abortion bans have already forced health clinics that provide contraception and other critical health services to close.”

TIME: “So far, congressional Republicans have indeed declined to protect contraception access. Despite polling showing that 80% of Americans say protecting this access is ‘deeply important’ to them, nearly every Republican in the House voted against a 2022 bill to protect it. And 126 House Republicans are cosponsors of the Life Begins at Conception Act, which would imbue a fertilized egg with full “personhood” rights even before implantation, which means before a pregnancy has actually begun. Critics say such a law could outlaw in vitro fertilization – and, if some in the anti-abortion movement succeed in redefining some forms of contraception as abortion, several forms of contraception, too.”

The Hill: “Polling consistently shows there is broad bipartisan support for birth control. According to the annual Gallup values and beliefs poll released last year, 88 percent of Americans said birth control was morally acceptable.”

MAGA Republicans can claim to support contraception access all they want — their voting record begs to differ. 

New York Times: “One month after the Supreme Court struck down the right to an abortion, Democrats who then controlled the House pushed through a bill aimed to ensure access to contraception nationwide. All but eight Republicans opposed it.”

Washington Post: “Republicans who voted with Democrats Thursday included Mace, retiring Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) and Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), and Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.).

“Republican Reps. Bob Gibbs (Ohio) and Mike Kelly (Pa.) voted present — neither for or against the legislation.”

Denver Post: “As a Republican primary candidate, Ken Buck took absolutist positions on abortion and ‘personhood’ — declaring that if elected to the U.S. Senate he would sponsor a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and backing a proposed state law that would outlaw some common forms of birth control.

Now, faced with televised attacks from incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet over those strident views, Buck is painstakingly trying to modify positions that may not match the beliefs of the unaffiliated moderates who will ultimately decide the contest. 

‘This isn’t how I looked at the personhood amendment,’ Buck said. ‘I’m not in favor of banning common forms of birth control.’” 

WWNYTV: “North country congresswoman Elise Stefanik voted Thursday against a bill guaranteeing a right to use contraceptives.

‘I am proudly pro-life and have helped to expand access to over-the-counter FDA approved contraception. Additionally, I am a cosponsor of legislation to support FDA-approved contraception to protect women’s health.’”

Utica Observer-Dispatch: “[Tenney] doesn’t support abortion in general, but said there are some instances in which she thinks it should be allowed. She also believes in the use of contraceptives.”