Where Male Presidential Candidates Stand on Reproductive Rights

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Supporting reproductive rights goes beyond saying you stand with Planned Parenthood or support Roe v. Wade.

Reproductive rights aren’t only about abortion, they’re about everything. If your school only teaches abstinence, you probably aren’t getting a quality education about sexual health. If you can’t afford contraception, it’s difficult to plan your career. If you can’t get an abortion, it’s almost impossible to pull yourself out of poverty. Which means that reproductive rights are about everyone.

Let’s start with the man who’s leading opinion polls, former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has a mixed record on reproductive rights: He’s been in public life since before Roe v. Wade was decided, and said at the time that the decision went too far because he didn’t think “that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.” He’s voted for so-called “partial birth” abortion bans, even though he’s conceded that he shouldn’t force his anti-choice views on others. Biden’s official website does not mention anything about women’s reproductive rights, rather, his section on health care simply states that he plans to “build upon the Affordable Care Act” and name-checks the opioid crisis and mental health as priorities. (I reached out to Biden's camp about the candidate's current stance on reproductive rights, but did not receive a response.)

Comparatively, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is outspoken in his support for reproductive rights. The Independent is championing Medicare for All, the expansion of government-run senior health care to the whole population, and his campaign says that under this plan, “all comprehensive reproductive health care would be covered as a right.” Right now, abortion is carved out from government-run coverage under Medicaid, meaning that poor women who rely on Medicaid have to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket for abortions. Through his policy director, Sanders told me that he believes “we must fight back against any efforts to undermine a woman’s right to choose at the state, federal, and local level.”

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is one of the rare male candidates with a track record of showing up for reproductive rights. In 2013, he co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have limited the restrictions states can place on abortion providers, but that bill didn’t make it out of committee. In 2014 he called on Congress to reinstate the ACA’s contraception mandate, which was hollowed out by the Supreme Court that year. When asked about his position as a presidential candidate, a spokeswoman for Booker pointed to his support for the Affordable Care Act, which provides coverage for women’s health screenings and contraception, and noted that Booker is a “staunch defender of Roe” who “has stood with Planned Parenthood.”

https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a27409131/male-presidential-candidates-2020-reproductive-rights/