Ahead of Tonight’s GOP Debate, Here’s What You Need To Know
WASHINGTON – Tonight, Republican presidential candidates will take the stage for the second Republican debate. During the first debate, we saw candidate after candidate double down on their unpopular stances on banning abortion and restricting access. Tonight, we can expect more of the same. Tonight’s debate comes as extremist Republicans threaten to shut down the government over their demands to further restrict access to abortion and other types of reproductive health care. Recent polling shows that a majority of Americans believe access to abortion is at risk in this country and are concerned about the threat to access in their own state. Sixty-four percent of those same respondents also worry that Republicans, if in a position to do so, would pass a federal abortion ban. Ahead of tonight’s GOP debate, here’s what you need to know:
Abortion bans continue to be extremely unpopular.
Americans overwhelmingly oppose passing a national ban on abortion, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of Independents.
At the same time, 64 percent of Americans believe that if Republicans take back the White House and both chambers of Congress, they are likely to pass a nationwide ban.
Amid efforts in some states to codify abortion rights in state constitutions, two in three Americans say they would vote to protect the right to abortion in their state’s constitution if their state held a vote on the issue.
61% of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last June.
Nearly 70% of Americans say that the right to an abortion is at risk nationally in America regardless of whether they live in a state that has enacted new restrictions since Roe was overturned or not.
There’s no such thing as a “national consensus” when it comes to abortion bans.
A majority of Americans (8 in 10) say that the decision to have an abortion should be between the pregnant person and their doctor.
70 percent of voters oppose “one-size-fits-all” abortion bans, and nearly 60 percent of voters agree that abortion bans are dangerous.
While some candidates have been claiming that a 15-week ban is a “compromise,” in reality, 74% of Americans do not believe that a 15-week ban is a compromise, and 73% of Americans, including a majority of Trump supporters, think things have gone too far.
Exceptions don’t actually work — and they’re designed that way.
Exceptions in abortion laws are designed to be difficult to understand, navigate, and obtain. They operate as a political tool and do not provide real assistance to a pregnant person who needs to access care in a state where abortion is banned.
Exceptions for rape and incest are rare and require survivors to meet a variety of requirements in order to obtain an abortion. One such requirement is reporting an assault to law enforcement which evidence shows few survivors do for a variety of reasons.
A recent TIME Magazine piece illustrated the problem with exceptions clearly. A Mississippi 10-year-old was raped and became pregnant but was denied abortion care under Mississippi’s law, which includes exceptions for rape. Victims must file a police report, but even if they do, “there appears to be no clear process for granting an exception.”
Extreme anti-abortion politicians are working to criminalize people who seek abortion care and those who help them access abortion care. That’s not only wrong, but also exceedingly unpopular.
Nearly 3 in 4 Americans oppose prosecuting patients who receive abortions.
A majority of Americans also oppose prosecuting doctors who perform abortions.
Just last week, a Nebraska mother was sentenced to two years in jail for helping her daughter obtain abortion pills, a safe and effective method of ending a pregnancy.
If you are interested in speaking with storytellers with Free & Just about the real-life impacts of abortion bans, please reach out to zoe@freeandjust.us
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