Press Release
NARAL President Responds to HHS Secretary Proclaiming Department is “Department of Life”
The Agency Behind Putting Kids In Cages Calling Itself “Department of Life” Is Really Rich
For Immediate Release: January 24, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
In response to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s shocking and wildly out-of-step proclamation that HHS is the “Department of Life” and an official email sent to the entire federal agency boosting the extremist March for Life, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement:
“It is really rich for an agency that was a primary architect of putting children in cages at the border to call themselves the ‘Department of Life.’ This is just another in a long line of dark and dystopian moves from Donald Trump and the anti-choice movement attacking our reproductive freedoms. Let’s be clear, Donald Trump and his cronies ignore science, facts, and reason to mobilize the entire federal government to gut our constitutional right to access abortion and spread their dangerous disinformation. There is no limit to the depths Trump will sink to in order to attack women and score political points with his fringe, radical base. Once again, it’s abundantly clear that the Trump administration is desperate and eager to deceive in order to deflect attention from the scandals the president is embroiled in. And women and families will pay the price.”
HHS has been a central architect of policies that tear families apart and lock children in cages. Just this week, the Trump administration announced a new policy to discriminate against pregnant women seeking to travel to the United States, disproportionately affecting vulnerable women of color. In addition to gunning for an end to Roe v. Wade and the right to access abortion, the Trump-Pence administration is also determined to take birth control away from women and grant a free pass for anyone involved in patient care to put their personal beliefs above a patient’s health and safety.
While 77% of Americans support Roe v. Wade, every year the March for Life reminds us that a small but vocal minority remains obsessed with undermining the will of the pro-choice majority.
Trump is once again seeking to deflect his mounting political challenges amidst impeachment by seeking refuge in the arms of a movement hell-bent on criminalizing abortion and punishing women and doctors.
For more on the disinformation pushed by the anti-choice movement, including its efforts to co-opt feminism, check out NARAL’s Medium post: “The Anti-Choice Propaganda Playbook: Five Tactics To Look Out For in 2020.”
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”