In this moment, the future of our rights, our bodily autonomy, our freedom feels uncertain.
The National Women’s Law Center will be vigilantly defending against attacks on our rights and for opportunities to expand them.
5 Things You Need to Know About Mike Pence’s Anti-Abortion Record
1. Mike Pence started the defund Planned Parenthood craziness in Congress with bills designed to make it harder to access care at Planned Parenthood.
He’s so into blocking Planned Parenthood’s funds that he even said he would shut down the government to make it happen. In fact, as Governor of Indiana he was able to cut funding for Planned Parenthood which may have contributed to an HIV outbreak in the state.
2. Mike Pence backed many extreme anti-abortion bills during his time in Congress.
Some of these anti-choice bills aimed to limit access to abortion by making it difficult if not impossible for minors to obtain an abortion, by implementing offensive sex-selective abortion bans based on harmful stereotypes about Asian women, and by promoting “personhood” I don’t even know where to begin.
3. Periods for Pence is a thing because then Governor of Indiana Mike Pence signed into law one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
The slew of restrictions would place additional obstacles in the path of women who wish to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal anomaly. In fact, this bill was so extreme that even some anti-abortion politicians in Indiana’s legislature opposed it.
4. As Governor of Indiana Mike Pence also signed a law that prohibits the use of telemedicine for medication abortion.
Telemedicine has a proven track record as a safe and effective method of increasing access to medication abortion across the state. This is particularly important for many communities that face additional barriers to care, such as rural individuals, individuals with pre-existing medical conditions, those experiencing intimate partner violence, sexual assault survivors, and low-income individuals. IT’S NECESSARY. Many people prefer medication abortion to surgical procedures, not that Pence cares.
5. To top it all off Mike Pence gave his seal of approval as Governor of Indiana to a law that would prohibit insurance policies from covering abortions without a separate rider except in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or the woman’s life is in danger.
I have no words. Except, that this man’s policies are horrifying.
The reality is Mike Pence is really, really anti-abortion, and he has done everything in his power to get rid of access to safe, legal abortion. It’s scary to see someone so dead set on making it impossible for people to exercise their constitutional rights as Vice President.
And it’s not just his record on abortion that is terrifying. We can’t forget Pence signed into law SB 101, Indiana’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” a law infamous for sanctioning LGBTQ discrimination, but it can also be used to undermine protections against sex discrimination and target reproductive rights. In fact, when the law came under fire, Pence tried to defend it by pointing to Hobby Lobby. In other words, he implied, there is no need to worry this isn’t about discriminating against LGBTQ folks, it’s about discriminating against women. We know his record on LGBTQ issues too, and there’s no denying that Pence is happy to discriminate across the board.
I could go on about his awful record, but you get the point. Just know, we and many others are watching and we will keep fighting against harmful policies like these!
