If the applause of abortion activists is any indication, the new Biden administration will focus its efforts on abortion access – and expanding it.
Even before the inauguration of the new President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, abortion activists and groups celebrated the incoming administration. From NARAL Pro-Choice America to Planned Parenthood, abortion supporters are welcoming Biden and Harris to the White House as “sexual and reproductive health champions.” They made their comments both on social media and to the media.
As president of the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson has hinted that she will have influence in the new administration.
“We have a ton of work to do to undo the harm over the last four years, but knowing we have champions there who understand what needs to happen in the first 100 days is tremendously exciting,” she told NBC News for a piece published on January 18.
And, she added to Elle on December 31, her organization “is committed to partnering with the Biden-Harris administration to ensure sexual and reproductive health doesn’t take a backseat.”
In particular, she is hoping to make headway on abortion, she told TIME in a piece published on December 30.
“We have been working for quite some time with our coalition partners in sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice to come up with what we call the Reproductive Blueprint First Priorities,” she revealed. “And key among them are on day one, an Executive Order that will demonstrate the Administration’s commitment to sexual and reproductive health care.”
She later added, “We need to engage with our congressional champions, as well as the administration and think about how do we go beyond Roe to fulfill the promise to safe, legal abortion for all.”
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McGill Johnson wasn’t alone in assuming that the new administration would back abortion.
“Tomorrow is just the beginning in the fight for true reproductive freedom,” NARAL predicted the day before the inauguration.
NARAL was responding to a tweet by Catholics for Choice, which similarly declared, “Tomorrow we will begin re-building our nation and breaking down the oppressive barriers caused by Trump-era policies” in a tweet on January 19.
At the same time, the group failed to add that the phrase “Catholics for Choice” or “pro-choice Catholics” is somewhat of an oxymoron. The Catholic Church takes abortion so seriously that obtaining an abortion – and helping someone else obtain an abortion – are grounds for automatic excommunication. This is one of the reasons why Catholic leadership has expressed concern about Biden, a self-described Catholic, supporting abortion policy.
NARAL continued with a slew of tweets on the eve of the inauguration.
“We can’t wait for our new president to end the Global Gag Rule, restore funding to #TitleX, make birth control more accessible again, and finally end the racist, discriminatory Hyde Amendment,” it added, referring to policies that would, among other things, force taxpayers to fund abortion.
“Who else is counting down the hours?” the group wanted to know.
Planned Parenthood Action, the political arm of Planned Parenthood, cheered the day before the inauguration: “Joe Biden is headed to D.C.! Bringing a new energy. With restored accountability, justice, and compassion.”
McGill Johnson also chimed in on social media.
The day before the inauguration, she celebrated, “Sexual and reproductive health champions Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are headed to the White House — where they belong! Who's ready to get to work?!”
The Guttmacher Institute, a “reproductive health” research organization, added on January 19, “In the first 100 days, the #BidenHarris administration must center sexual & reproductive health, rights & justice in its actions, and focus on helping as many people as possible achieve reproductive autonomy.”
Emily’s List, which supports Democratic female candidates who back abortion, shared a photo the day before the inauguration of Harris and Biden holding raised hands, with the caption reading, “24 hours.”
On January 16, several leaders of abortion organizations came together to participate in an “Inauguration Welcome Event” hosted by the Biden Inaugural Committee. Representatives from groups like Emily’s List, the National Organization for Women (NOW), Planned Parenthood, and NARAL spoke.
“The inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris closes a chapter, one of the darkest in this nation’s history,” Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL insisted. “But even more, it portends such a bright future.”
Nevermind the future of the unborn baby.
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