Contentious 2024 Election Topic Likely to Incite Voters More Than Any Other
In my college rowing days at UCLA, like many female athletes, I relied on birth control to maintain my menstrual cycle's consistency during our competitive season, ensuring I was at my best. This right, fought for by my mom and enjoyed by millions of Americans for nearly six decades, is now hanging by a thread, threatened by the radical agendas of ex-president Trump, MAGA Republicans, and their right-wing partners.
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court two years ago, we've seen a tidal wave of extreme measures imposing full-on abortion bans in certain states and onerous restrictions in others. But it doesn't stop there – these same right-wing fanatics have escalated their decades-long crusade against access to contraception.
Trump, oblivious to the fact that "Make America Pure Again" may not resonate with the 90% of adults who view contraception favorably, has once again flip-flopped on reproductive freedom, creating confusion around his stance on birth control and the threat posed by the Republican Party.
In a recent television interview, Trump stated he was considering restricting access to birth control and leaving it to the states. However, shortly after, he began twisting the truth.
Via social media, Trump asserted that neither he nor the Republican Party supported imposing restrictions on or banning birth control. Such claims are clearly false.
As a presidential candidate in 2016 and again now in 2024, Trump has advocated for dismantling the Affordable Care Act, affecting millions of women who receive birth control with no out-of-pocket costs through the ACA. Although he failed to overturn the ACA, Trump did weaken the ACA's contraception mandate by issuing rules that enabled employers to omit contraception coverage in their health plans.
During the Trump Administration, hundreds of millions of dollars were slashed from teen pregnancy prevention programs, Title X funds used for reproductive health services and increasing access to birth control for low-income Americans were cut, and international clinics providing contraception and STD testing were targeted. And true to form, Trump appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court who played a crucial role in overturning Roe v. Wade – yet another blow to Americans' reproductive liberties.
While President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have reversed most of Trump's actions and expanded access to contraception, a potential second Trump term, especially if the Republicans control Congress, could result in additional constraints, even based on the 1873 "Pro Chastity" era Comstock Act.
The Comstock Act criminalized sending anything "obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy," anything with "immoral use" – a term extended to contraception by the GOP. Policies targeting birth control are part of the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025, seen by many in the Republican Party as a blueprint for Trump's second term.
Trump's campaign team has tried to distance themselves from the project, but former Trump Administration officials are deeply involved, including former senior adviser Stephen Miller and former Trump Health and Human Services Department official Roger Severino, key architects of Project 2025. The plans call for intensifying the attack on birth control through executive action, including threatening access to IUDs and emergency contraception.
Severino, author of the health care section of the document, has downplayed efforts to restrict access to contraception following Trump's comments, saying, "The idea that there's a formal organized movement to ban contraception across America is just plain dumb."
However, right-wing groups allied with Trump and involved in Project 2025 have been consistently working to restrict and even ban certain forms of birth control. Organizations such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which spent $52 million supporting Trump's re-election in 2020 and millions backing Republican candidates, have made it clear that they expect the president to restore anti-choice policies overturned by Biden and expand upon them in a second term.
In defiance of Trump's assertions, Severino and others have, over the past two years, worked in more than 20 states to spread dangerous misinformation andblock measures aimed at codifying the right to contraception and access to contraceptives, including IUDs, emergency contraception, hormonal birth control, the morning-after pill, and other forms of contraception.
In Wisconsin, a lawmaker claimed that birth control contributes to infidelity, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and goes against nature. Not long before these comments, Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin rejected a state version of the Right to Birth Control Act, aiming to safeguard the right and access to various contraceptive methods, such as condoms, oral contraceptives, IUDs, and emergency contraception.
Democrats, along with reproductive rights organizations, have been pushing back against these state initiatives. They have introduced versions of the Right to Birth Control Act in 12 states nationwide, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans have been attempting to enhance their "anti-woman" image. Recently, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer challenged their facade by bringing the Right to Birth Control to a vote. This measure aimed to enshrine the right to access diverse contraceptive options without government meddling. Despite earning backing from merely two Republicans, the bill ultimately failed, but it compelled the Republicans who opposed it to clarify their stance on comprehensive birth control access. However, Republicans understand that the stakes are significant. Even former Trump Advisor Kellyanne Conway has alerted congressional Republicans about the persuasive effect of birth control as a rallying point for the 2024 electorate.
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Democrats need to effectively interlink reproductive rights—including abortion, birth control, and fertility treatment (like IVF)−with their broader message concerning the preservation of crucial rights and liberties that underpin our democracy.
With the strong backing for birth control across the political divide, and initiatives to secure the right to abortion and protect IVF, these topics are projected to catalyze support for reproductive freedom and Democrats ahead of the 2024 presidential and down-ballot elections.
In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, voters have expressed their opinions distinctively at the polls, indicating a mandate that reproductive freedom is an integral part of American values. Trump and the Republican Party's true intentions have become clear: they cannot be trusted to advocate for the broad acceptance of birth control.
From now until November, we need to pressure politicians to openly express their full views on reproductive rights, including abortion, IVF, and birth control. The results of the autumn election will shape the future of reproductive rights and personal autonomy for generations to come. Will we be the ones who relinquish these fundamental liberties we've enjoyed for decades?
We cannot let our country take a step backward.
