FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2016
[email protected]
In the lead up to tonight’s debate, over 52,000 members of NARAL Pro-Choice America and CREDO Action are calling on debate sponsors and moderators to #AskAboutAbortion during the debate.
The petitions can be found here:
http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/sign/150208_askaboutabortion/
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Abortion_Debate/
Abortion and reproductive health care play a deep and profound role in the economic and physical well being of every woman. Leaving these issues out of the public conversation between the Democratic Party’s pro-choice candidates reinforces the idea that with two pro-choice candidates, there’s nothing more to talk about as far as women’s reproductive health care is concerned. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just as with immigration reform and Wall Street reform that debate moderators demand to know more about, it’s not sufficient to just know a candidate is pro-choice and move on, especially when women’s rights are routinely under fire in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. Voters need to know the candidates’; plans to address the shrinking availability of compassionate, stigma-free abortion services. The 7 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion and the 99 percent of women who use contraception in their lifetime need to know who will fight for our ability to plan our families, and how they plan to do it.
“Reproductive freedom, and access to abortion specifically, are facing a silent crisis in this country. Given the unprecedented attacks on the constitutional right to a legal abortion, voters deserve to hear how the candidates plan to beat back these attacks and expand reproductive freedom for all. It’s not enough to just be pro-choice and voters should have the chance to hear candidates debate their plans on stage,” said Sasha Bruce, Senior Vice President of Campaigns and Strategy for NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“Protecting a woman’s right to safe, legal abortion, is a core progressive value that needs to be discussed in Democratic debates,” said CREDO Senior Campaign Manager Heidi Hess. “Given Republican extremists’; constant attacks on the right to choose, voters deserve to hear how the pro-choice Democratic candidates plan to protect women’s reproductive health care in this country.”
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