Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Responds to Outcome of South Carolina’s U.S. Senate Race
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
South Carolina — Today, NARAL-endorsed candidate Jaime Harrison narrowly lost his bid to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response:
“Though we’re disappointed in today’s results, NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud to have backed Jaime Harrison in his bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham. Over the course of this race, Jaime recognized exactly what was at stake for women and families when it comes to reproductive freedom, and he vocally championed our fundamental rights. Make no mistake: Though this race may be over, NARAL will never stop fighting to defeat anti-choice, anti-freedom politicians like Lindsey Graham. We will be watching Sen. Graham, and will continue to hold him accountable for his out-of-touch agenda.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America Southeast Regional Director Laura Simmons said:
“NARAL Pro-Choice America applauds Jaime Harrison for championing reproductive freedom and standing strong against anti-choice, anti-freedom Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. While we are disappointed with the outcome of this race, there’s no question that Graham’s record on reproductive freedom is wildly out of touch with the views of the vast majority of Americans. NARAL and our thousands of members across South Carolina are committed to continuing the fight against Lindsey Graham’s relentless attempts to dismantle our fundamental rights.”
In the 2020 election cycle, NARAL Pro-Choice America ran its largest-ever electoral program designed to reach, persuade, and mobilize key voters in target states across the country who are motivated by Trump and Republicans’ unyielding attacks on reproductive freedom.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is a vocal anti-choice extremist who has co-sponsored anti-choice legislation every Congress since he was elected to the Senate, earning him a 0% score from NARAL in the Congressional Record on Choice.
As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, not only did Graham lead the hearings to illegitimately confirm Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court, he has helped Trump to stack the federal judiciary with dozens of judges hostile to Roe v. Wade and determined to gut or overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
In South Carolina, 71% of women live in counties with no abortion clinic. With Roe in the crosshairs, the stakes for women and families are higher than ever. South Carolina already has some of the most severe restrictions on reproductive freedom in the United States, which include forcing a pregnant person to wait 24 hours before they can receive abortion care and subjecting people to mandatory biased counseling. These restrictions disproportionately harm BIPOC, low-income, and rural communities, and are part of a coordinated effort by the Radical Right to maintain white patriarchal control at all costs.
Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.