The GOP’s complicated contraceptive dance

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Oct 13, 2023 View in browser   By Sophie Gardner POLITICO illustration/Photo by iStock Hi Rulers! On this day in 1908, suffragette Margaret Travers Symons became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons, when she rushed into the chamber and yelled, “attend to the women’s questions!” Any feedback or tips? Send them to sgardner@politico.com. Let’s get to it: The GOP is managing an emerging internal struggle: differing opinions on contraception. For years, many anti-abortion groups have condemned contraception – often for religious reasons or because they believe it to be a form of abortion. But in recent months, that rhetoric has been heating up, getting air-time in the most conservative factions of the GOP — and stirring up fears that access to contraception might not be safe. At a Turning Point USA women’s summit held in June, podcast host Alex Clark encouraged women to stop taking their hormonal birth control, because, she said, “it is completely altering your personality” and that “many birth control pills are actually abortifacients.” The same month, Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely claimed that the “Plan B pill kills a baby in the womb once a woman is already pregnant.” And in his concurring opinion to the Dobbs decision, Clarence Thomas suggested that the court reconsider other cases, including Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 case that granted married couples the right to buy and use contraceptives. But that’s not the opinion of the majority of the party, says Courtney Joslin, resident fellow at the R Street Institute, a center-right think tank. And she’s worried about the optics of having a fringe minority getting attention for denouncing contraception. “Some of these people speaking on this issue [against contraceptives], who are conservatives or Republicans, are sort of inferring that they're representing the majority of conservatives and Republicans on this issue, when time and time again, survey data shows that's not true,” Joslin tells Women Rule. Birth control is overwhelmingly supported within the GOP, with a 2022 FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll showing that 93 percent of Republicans support birth control pills in “all or most cases.” A slightly smaller number of Republicans support other forms of contraception, with 82 percent supporting IUDs and 62 percent supporting “emergency contraception like Plan B.” Some of those numbers are actually higher than the general public, of which 89 percent support birth control pills, 81 percent support IUDs and 70 percent support emergency contraception. But those numbers also show that contraception is overwhelmingly popular across party lines. “Republicans criticizing contraception could lose voters next year,” says Joslin. “The right has struggled to keep suburban women voters in recent elections, and even with current economic concerns that may keep people looking to Republicans for answers, being anything but proactive on contraception may make the GOP’s women voter problem worse.” Things get a little more complex when you look to Congress. In July 2022, Senate Republicans blocked the Democrat-led Right to Contraception Act – which would have enshrined the right to contraception into federal law. The act passed in the House of Representatives, which was then controlled by Democrats — with only eight Republicans voting for it. Now, House Republicans have introduced their own bill that they say is intended to expand access to contraception, called the OTC (Orally‐​Taken Contraceptive) Act. The Act would require the FDA to send guidance to manufacturers on how to submit successful applications to get their own over-the-counter birth control pills approved. The act was co-sponsored by Greene, among other Republican women, perhaps because it specifically aims to expand access to over-the-counter hormonal birth control, and not Plan B, which she has condemned as an abortifacient. That’s inaccurate, according to the FDA. Mary T. Jacobson, OB-GYN and chief medical officer at Hello Alpha, tells Women Rule “bottom line is that emergency contraceptive pills do not stop or harm an ongoing pregnancy.” The FDA has already approved an over-the-counter hormonal birth control pill, called Opill. Joslin says the OTC Act could encourage other manufacturers to submit applications – meaning more choices on pharmacy store shelves. “What we don't want to see is women switching to a method just because it's more readily available to them, even if they don't really like side effects that come with it,” Joslin says. But critics of the act say that it’s just meant to draw attention away from Republicans’ unpopular abortion position — and that there are more effective ways to support contraception access — like supporting the Right to Contraception Act, which has been reintroduced in the House and Senate (and blocked by Republicans again in the Senate), and the Affordability is Access Act, which would require most private health insurance plans to cover over-the-counter birth control without out-of-pocket costs to the patient. “This bill is sort of a thinly veiled attempt to hide the ball,” Karen Stone, vice president of public policy and government relations at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, tells Women Rule. “It really doesn't move the ball forward in any meaningful way.” POLITICO Special Report Alex Wong/Getty Images “Conservatives target Ohio to end their losing streak on abortion votes,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein for POLITICO: “Anti-abortion groups are banking on Ohio to end the movement’s run of state-level losses and create a blueprint for battles in 2024 and beyond.” In four weeks, voters in the Buckeye State will decide whether to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution or be the first to reject an abortion-rights measure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.” “Why Katie Porter sounds like a Republican on Iran and Hamas,” by Lara Korte for POLITICO: “‘There are lost lives in Gaza and there are lost lives in Israel,” she said Sunday at a forum alongside [Barbara] Lee and [Adam] Schiff. “And it’s because the United States has allowed terrorism to flourish, and it’s refused to take a strong enough stance against Iran, who is backing Hamas and Hezbollah.’ “It’s a talking point more often seen among centrists and Republicans (including former President Donald Trump), but Porter has good reason for embracing it. Orange County has the second-largest concentration of Iranian Americans in the country behind Los Angeles County. For years, Porter has been pushing for the federal government to take stronger action against the regime, especially its treatment of women.” Number of the Week Read more here. MUST READS Justin Sullivan/Getty Images “Abortion opponents are trying to deter people from traveling out of state for care,” by Shefali Luthra for the 19th: “In places with total bans, some abortion opponents are trying to find ways to limit residents’ ability to leave their states to access abortion, relying on novel legal strategies and targeting those who assist pregnant people in traveling for care — moves controversial even within the anti-abortion movement. ” “How a Radio Station Is Empowering Women in a Rural Heartland,” by Karan Deep Singh for the New York Times.“ “North Carolina was a critical abortion access point. Now, procedures have dropped by 30 percent,” by Shefali Luthra for the 19th: “Abortions performed in North Carolina, once a critical access point for abortion in the South, dropped by 31 percent this past July, after the state began enforcing its 12-week abortion ban this summer, per data from the nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute.” “More than 90 percent of people killed by Afghanistan quake were women and children, UN says,” by Riazat Butt for the Associated Press. Quote of the Week Read more here. on the move Philanthropy Roundtable announced that its board of directors has chosen Christie Herrera as the organization’s next president and CEO. As EMILY’s List looks for a new president to replace now-Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Jessica Mackler will serve as interim president. She currently is SVP of campaigns. … Paige Jones is now a senior policy associate at CRD Associates. She previously was a health legislative assistant for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).   Follow us on Twitter Sophie Gardner @sophie_gardnerj   Follow us

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