Reproductive Equity Now: Donald Trump Poses Existential Threat to Abortion Rights
Trump proudly claims responsibility for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, believes women should be “punished” for accessing abortion care
BOSTON (April 8, 2024) – Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after Donald Trump posted a video laying out his “stance” on abortion rights. In the video, Trump once again proudly claimed responsibility for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, inaccurately and dangerously said abortion involves “execution after birth,” and said that "abortion should be left to the states."
“Donald Trump is a known liar who will stop at nothing to win back the presidency, including making false promises about abortion rights. He poses an existential threat to abortion access, and has continuously shown us that he will do everything in his power to ban access to basic health care nationwide," said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. "Donald Trump proudly packed the U.S. Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe v. Wade, unleashing an unprecedented public health emergency for millions across our country. He has said that women should be punished for obtaining abortion care, signaled his support for a 15-week national abortion ban, and continues to use dangerous rhetoric that points at his true position on abortion restrictions in all 50 states. As Maya Angelou said, ‘When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.’
“Now, Donald Trump is running from the political backlash of his wildly unpopular stance on abortion rights. He knows that every time abortion is put on the ballot, abortion wins," Hart Holder continued. "We cannot be complacent to the threat Donald Trump poses to our reproductive health care access, especially in protected states like ours, and we will not leave behind folks who live in states that have banned abortion. It is more important than ever that we turn out to vote this Election Day and cast our ballots for reproductive equity champions up and down the ballot. From the Oval Office to state legislatures to city councils and school committees, this election will have long and lasting implications for our reproductive freedom nationwide.”
In 2016, Trump said during an MSNBC town hall that there should be a punishment for women who access abortion care. In March of this year, on a radio talk show, Trump signaled his support for a 15-week national abortion ban. And on numerous occasions, including in this morning’s Trump campaign video, Donald Trump has proudly claimed credit for “killing Roe v. Wade.”
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, 21 states have banned or severely restricted abortion access nationwide. A year after the fall of Roe, one in three women of reproductive age lived in a state with no abortion access.
During his presidency in 2017, the Trump Administration announced rules barring health care providers who receive Title X funding from providing referrals to people seeking abortions and forcing them to withhold medically-necessary information from patients. Title X is the federal family planning program providing low-income people access to affordable birth control, along with other critical health services. As a result of the Trump-era “gag rule,” at least 1,300 health centers stopped taking Title X funds, and the Title X program went from seeing 4 million patients in 2017 to 1.5 million patients in 2020, a decrease of over 60 percent.
During Trump’s presidential term, the Washington Post fact-checkers documented 30,573 false or misleading claims, an average of about 21 per day.
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