Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Beto O’Rourke for Texas Governor
For Immediate Release: Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Beto O’Rourke for Texas Governor
As Texas’ “trigger ban” goes into effect, nation’s leading reproductive freedom advocacy group endorses Beto O’Rourke
Washington, DC — Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced its endorsement of former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) in his bid for governor. This endorsement comes on the same day that Texas’ “trigger ban,” which was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott and will further eviscerate abortion rights and access in the state, goes into effect. O’Rourke represented Texas’ 16th Congressional District until 2019. O’Rourke’s opponent, anti-choice extremist Gov. Abbott, also signed SB 8—a vigilante-enforced ban on abortion—into law, effectively cutting off access to abortion in the state even before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Governor Greg Abbott has built a career on attacking reproductive freedom and enacting devastating bans on abortion care, all while ignoring crisis after crisis in Texas. When he signed the state’s vigilante-enforced ban on abortion and the ‘trigger ban’ into law, he threw his constituents under the bus in his single-minded pursuit of power. Texans know that Greg Abbott has no business inserting himself into their personal decisions. We cannot let Gov. Abbott continue to wreck Texans’ lives. We need Beto O’Rourke, a proven champion for reproductive freedom who has repeatedly shown he will fight for abortion access and our most fundamental freedoms, and will put Texas—not his own ambitions—first.”
Beto O’Rourke, candidate for governor, said:
“Greg Abbott has outlawed abortion beginning at conception with no exception for rape or incest. We are partnering with pro-choice Texans across this state to overcome the most extreme abortion ban in America and fight for a woman’s freedom to make her own decisions about her own body, health care, and future.”
Beto O’Rourke has been a bold champion in the fight for reproductive freedom. As a U.S. representative, he consistently voted to protect and expand access to abortion and contraceptive care, cosponsoring the Protect Access to Birth Control Act, the Women’s Health Protection Act, and the EACH Woman Act. O’Rourke is running to unseat Governor Greg Abbott, who has signed some of the country’s most extreme anti-choice legislation—including the state’s “trigger ban” and its vigilante-enforced ban on abortion (SB 8). In addition, Gov. Abbott signed a law to ban and restrict medication abortion care, a safe, effective, and FDA-approved option for ending an early pregnancy.
The devastating impact of Texas’ extremist laws has been compounded by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe. Texas and 13 other states are currently enforcing extreme or total bans on abortion. The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; and people with disabilities.
These endorsements come as NARAL Pro-Choice America is ramping up its work to elect candidates up and down the ballot during a critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List announced a partnership in May to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot across the country. Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.