After accusing Democrats of focusing too narrowly on reproductive healthcare in the 2014 elections, Republicans now can’t seem to focus on anything else.
Family planning will once again be a defining issue in 2016, thanks to the GOP’s relentless attempts to defund Planned Parenthood — a move that would cause up to 25 percent of the organization’s 2.7 million patients to lose access to family planning and reproductive health care, reports the Congressional Budget Office.
Last year, Colorado Republicans walked a fine line on a personhood measure that would have not only banned abortion, but also many forms of birth control. Attacks on family planning were a step too far for Colorado’s moderate electorate, which soundly rejected personhood in previous elections.
Republicans tailored their messages accordingly. In one of the state’s most hotly contested races, Sen. Cory Gardner promoted over-the-counter availability of birth control and tried to walk back previous support for personhood. “The fact that it restricts contraception, it was not the right position,” Gardner told The Denver Post.
Rep. Ken Buck also flip-flopped on his longstanding support for personhood, along with Rep. Mike Coffman, who also used Planned Parenthood’s logo in a campaign ad to increase his appeal to women.
The progressive posturing didn’t last long. It took just 10 months for GOP victors to launch a series of attacks on family planning and reproductive health care services.
Since September, congressional Republicans voted three times to defund Planned Parenthood, launched four congressional investigations into the agency’s use of government money, threatened to shut down the federal government over funding, and ousted their own speaker. Next up: A Benghazi-like investigation likely to last well into 2016.
The GOP’s rage was sparked by heavily edited videos from an anti-abortion group that claimed Planned Parenthood illegally profited from donations of fetal tissue for research.
No federal or state investigations — and there have been plenty — revealed any illegal activity. “Did we find any wrongdoing? The answer was no,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, after a five-hour hearing.
To end further controversy, Planned Parenthood also changed its policy to refuse legal reimbursements for the cost of tissue donation.
Defunding Planned Parenthood won’t change the fact that abortion and fetal tissue research, which contributed to new treatments for Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease, are both legal.
It also won’t reduce any federal funding for abortion, since it’s already prohibited by law.
What defunding Planned Parenthood will do, however, is deny thousands of women access to family planning, prenatal care, breast exams, and screenings for cervical cancer. No woman should be denied care for this highly preventable disease, which can destroy her fertility or take her life.
When all the sound and fury of the GOP primary dies down, some Colorado Republicans may find themselves in a precarious position. How will they explain yet another flip on family planning to voters who believed in their moderate tales?
Coffman is already taking heat for campaigning with Planned Parenthood’s name in 2014 and voting to defund the organization a year later. He claims the organization’s services are easily replaced. But that’s simply not the case.
The anti-abortion-sponsored site offers an eye-opening list of alternate providers for reproductive health care: It includes hundreds of elementary schools, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and even jails, reports RH Reality Check.
Six in 10 Americans oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. In fact, voters rated Planned Parenthood more favorably than any GOP candidate. That’s an issue sure to play out in the 2016 elections, where every candidate asking for a vote should have a clear explanation of where they stand on affordable access to family planning — and a consistent record to prove it.
Lisa Wirthman is a monthly columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @LisaWirthman
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