When abortion is not available or severely restricted as Iowa wants to do (3 minutes)

Email from the Christina Bohannan campaign:

I wanted to make sure you saw this New York Times article about my race in case you missed it. It explains how my opponent, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, knows her extreme anti-abortion stance threatens her re-election, so she is trying to hide it.

This article shows my opponent’s true colors. Miller-Meeks has been in lockstep with Marjorie Taylor Greene in sponsoring one national abortion ban after another. She even voted against a bill that would guarantee women the right to contraception. But she knows her positions make her vulnerable here: Iowa Republicans recently passed a 6-week abortion ban in the state, and people in my district are angry. So Miller-Meeks believes her only hope is to cover up her record – including by sponsoring a purely political bill that pretends to expand access to birth control but actually does nothing to protect women’s freedoms.

This article tells the story that we’re hearing and seeing on the ground: this district is competitive, Miller-Meeks is vulnerable, and abortion is a losing issue for her. But the Republicans will do everything they can to distract and deflect our voters, so I need your help to inform them of the truth.

I don’t want my daughter to live in a world where she’ll have fewer rights than I did. I’m sure there are a lot of mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends who feel the same. Miller-Meeks won’t tell people the truth about her anti-woman agenda, so l have to do it. I need your help to shine a light on IA-01 and ensure women have the rights and freedoms we deserve. Will you consider donating $50, $100, or $150 today?

Thank you,

Christina

We applaud candidate Bohannan for calling out Miller-Meeks on the Miller-Meeks anti-abortion stand early in this campaign. As with most Republican women in the US House, Miller-Meeks is doing all she can do to ignore or sidestep the abortion issue. Currently in Iowa severe restrictions are suspended for a short period while awaiting an Iowa Supreme Court decision. 

However,  at a national level MAGA Republicans are pushing hard for a national ban on abortion. You can be sure Miller-Meeks (and all the Iowa representatives) will back such a proposal.

Miller-Meeks chooses to deflect from her radical abortion position by taking some credit for the Orally Taken Contraceptives Act a couple of months ago. This is a maneuver by elected Republican women and presidential candidate Nikki Haley to soften the impact of their extreme anti-abortion stance. However, as Annie Karni wrote in the NYT article cited in Bohannan’s email above (also can be seen here) 

Abortion rights groups have dismissed the bill as a stunt aimed at masking Republicans’ drive to crack down on both abortion and contraceptive access.

“The legislation is not a genuine attempt to expand birth control,” said Karen Stone, the vice president of public policy at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “They’re posturing to save face with voters, all while failing to support existing legislation that would actually help people access over-the-counter birth control.”

The legislation adopts the language of abortion opponents, suggesting that pregnancy begins at the point of fertilization rather than when a fertilized egg is implanted in the uterus. Oral contraception is defined in the bill as a drug that “is used to prevent fertilization.”

“The language is kowtowing to the anti-abortion lobby and part of an orchestrated effort to redefine pregnancy based on religious ideology,” said Dana Singiser, the co-founder of the nonprofit Contraception Access Initiative. “This is the latest in a long line of bills that Republicans throw out there that purport to be pro-contraception bills. When you peel back the layers of the onion, there’s always a catch.”

A little addendum to this is that MAGA Republicans are looking for a new catch phrase now that their “pro-life” meme is now starting to smell like an unrefrigerated fish after a week. Young people in particular say it stinks.  

Also this week, Miller-Meeks supported Speaker McCarthy’s unilateral declaration to pursue impeachment against President Biden. They have no charges. This is a total fishing expedition in the dark with no moon process that she is endorsing. Said another way Miller-Meeks is 100% in favor of using government resources and time and congressional time and resources to play games. And we are paying her for this.

Meanwhile, once again MAGA Republicans are trying to ruin America’s economy by shutting down the government and blaming it on Biden. Want to bet what Miller-Meeks will do on this?

Bohannan won’t play these games.

It is time to put someone in office who will use the office to help the average Iowan like you and me. Christina Bohannan is ready today. If you remember in the last election our two previous congress members – Dave Loebsack and Jim Leach – agreed that Bohannan is the best choice.