NARAL Puts VP Pence and Sen. Thom Tillis on Blast for Visiting Anti-Choice, Anti-Science Fake Women’s Health Center in North Carolina - Reproductive Freedom for All

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

Press Release

NARAL Puts VP Pence and Sen. Thom Tillis on Blast for Visiting Anti-Choice, Anti-Science Fake Women’s Health Center in North Carolina

For Immediate Release: September 3, 2020

Contact: [email protected]

New Ads Expose Anti-Choice Politicians’ “Pro-Life” Hypocrisy

Washington, DC — Today Vice President Mike Pence and Republican Senator Thom Tillis will tour a fake women’s health center in Raleigh, North Carolina as part of a larger campaign tour Pence is headlining with anti-choice extremist organization Susan B. Anthony List. On the same day, NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation released a five-figure digital ad buy in North Carolina exposing anti-choice politicians like Vice President Pence and Sen. Tillis who claim to value the “sanctity of life” but expose the depths of their hypocrisy by blatantly ignoring a public health emergency in the name of advancing their unpopular and radical anti-choice agenda.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response:

“Mike Pence and Trump-cheerleader Senator Thom Tillis are putting their hypocrisy and recklessness on full display in Raleigh today. In the midst of an ongoing public health crisis, Pence and Tillis are sending a simple message to North Carolinians and Americans across the country: that their extremist ideology takes precedence over science, medical expertise, and people’s health and safety. As countless Americans suffer as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Republican leaders’ botched handling of the crisis, these politicians’ blatant ‘pro-life’ hypocrisy is truly something to behold.”

As reported in CNN, the fake women’s health center they plan to visit openly promotes medical disinformation about abortion on its website, including the false claim that abortion causes breast cancer– a claim that has been debunked by medical experts such as the American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG.)

These fake clinics (often referred to as “crisis pregnancy centers”) masquerade as legitimate reproductive healthcare centers yet are actually just anti-choice organizations that intentionally lie to, shame, and mislead women seeking an abortion in order to block them from accessing abortion care. They frequently push health disinformation to dissuade women from having an abortion, and have been repeatedly denounced by experts such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Vice President Pence and Sen. Thom Tillis’ unrelenting attempts to advance their extreme anti-choice ideology while turning a blind eye to health, safety, and science is wildly unpopular in North Carolina and across the country. NARAL released new polling from battleground states illustrating that an overwhelming number of North Carolinians and Americans support reproductive freedom, and spotlighting how out-of-touch Trump, Pence, and Tillis are with voters. The poll shows that:

  • A large majority (80%) of voters in North Carolina agree that any decision about pregnancy should be made by the woman with the support of the people she loves and trusts — including 83% of independent voters and 63% of Republicans. Among Black voters, 96% agree.

  • Even a majority of voters who supported Trump in 2016 support reproductive freedom: 65% agree that decisions about pregnancy should be made by the woman with the support of people she loves and trusts.

  • Just 11% of voters in North Carolina say they would only consider voting for a candidate who supports banning abortion in the November election.

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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.”