Anti-choice leaders “overwhelmingly say they will unequivocally support Trump.” Not surprising.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2016

Over the weekend, The Hill reported on the fact that anti-choice leaders “overwhelmingly say they will unequivocally support Trump” if he is the GOP nominee. Really, it’s no surprise, given that the anti-choice movement has supported legislation that imposes various types of punishment on women who choose to have an abortion. The anti-choice movement’s attempt to distance itself from Donald Trump couldn’t be more hypocritical when you consider the legislation they’ve backed over the years. See for yourself:

1. Anti-choice support for mandatory, medically unnecessary ultrasounds for women who choose abortion:

SHOT: “The President Of The Susan B. Anthony List … Condemned Trump’s Remarks Wednesday.” [Daily Beast, 3/30/16]

CHASER: SBA List President: Mandatory Ultrasounds Are “A Matter Of Giving A Woman More Information That She Needs To Make A Decision”

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Marjorie, your thoughts about why it would be important for the congress — for the legislature in any state to require this ultrasound before an abortion?

MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, PRESIDENT, SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST: Really, this
is a matter of giving a woman more information that she needs to make a decision that’s fully informed. [MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews, 2/21/12]

2. Anti-choice support for banning abortion, even in cases where the life of the mother is at risk:

SHOT: March For Life President: “No Pro-Lifer Would Ever Want To Punish A Woman Who Has Chosen Abortion.” From the Times:

Jeanne Mancini, the president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said efforts to punish individual women were “completely out of touch with the pro-life movement.”

“No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen abortion,” she said. “We invite a woman who has gone down this route to consider paths to healing, not punishment.” [New York Times, 1/30/16]

CHASER: March For Life: “There Is No Justification In The Law Of God Or Man For The Intentional Killing Of Even One Innocent Born Or Preborn Human … NO EXCEPTION! NO COMPROMISE!” From the March to Life website (emphasis original):

Although a pregnant mother and/or her preborn child may die, there is no justification in the law of God or man for the intentional killing of even one innocent born or preborn human in existence at fertilization. NO EXCEPTION! NO COMPROMISE! [March for Life, accessed 4/1/16]

3. Anti-choice support for mandatory waiting periods, which make it “increasingly difficult for women to obtain safe abortion care”:

SHOT: “National Right to Life Has Long Opposed The Imposition Of Penalties On The Woman.” [Twitter, 3/30/16]

CHASER: National Right To Life: Mandatory Delay “Gives The Mother Time To Reflect.” From Reuters:

[T]he waiting period combined with other new abortion restrictions in Arkansas require women to make four separate visits to get a medication or nonsurgical abortion, commonly performed in early pregnancy.

“This doesn’t stop an abortion,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of the National Right to Life Committee’s state legislation department. “This just gives the mother time to reflect.” [Reuters, 5/13/15]

4. Anti-choice support for legislation that requires doctors to tell patients a lie about abortion causing breast cancer:

SHOT: Americans United For Life Acting President, Mr. Clarke Forsythe: “Trump Is Wrong … [Pro-Life Leaders] Oppose Prosecution Of Women Who Abort.” Mr. Clarke Forsythe, currently the acting president of Americans United for Life, wrote in National Review:

Trump’s comment has undermined the long, hard work of pro-life leaders over the past four decades — leaders who, in the face of false charges by abortion-rights advocates, have sought to make clear that they oppose prosecution of women who abort and that that opposition is far from arbitrary but rests on the uniform state policy before Roe. [National Review, 4/1/16]

CHASER: Americans United For Life Lawyers Drafted Texas Legislation Requiring Doctors To Lie About Breast Cancer And Abortion.

The Times reported in 2012 that AUL had helped draft a Texas law “requiring doctors to tell patients” that there was, supposedly, a link between abortion and breast cancer risk. “The National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have rejected that claim…found no link between abortion and a higher rate of cancer.” [New York Times, 11/2/12]

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