These Voter Guides Will Tell You Where Candidates Stand On Reproductive Rights
Planned Parenthood is mobilizing and informing voters with two guides that let them learn candidates stances on a multitude of issues.
Planned Parenthood is mobilizing and informing voters with down-the-ballot guides, so they can learn candidates’ stances on a multitude of issues — including reproductive rights.
The nonprofit organization in October released two types of voter guides: a national guide, and guides for youth voters who live in key battleground states.
The national guide allows voters to type in their addresses and see state and federal races they can vote on in the upcoming November election. It also shows candidates’ stances and voting records on reproductive rights issues.
For example, the guide’s section on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he was “instrumental” in the creation of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded birth control and reproductive health access to millions around the country. It also says he left the Senate in 2009 “with a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood Action Fund.”
The youth voter guide will be available in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Maine, Minnesota, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Colorado. Voters can type in their addresses and see which federal and state races they can vote on, as well as candidates’ stances on issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, education, and abortion.
"We knew the way to make sure that young voters have access to equal information about how and when and who to vote for, we have to include cross-movement issues," Planned Parenthood Director of Constituency Campaigns Amanda Matos told CNN.
The youth guide will also allow voters to create a mock-up voter ballot to help understand how to fill out an actual ballot when they go to vote.
The organization's voting guides come as the country prepares for a contentious battle over who will fill the vacant seat in the Supreme Court left by late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett, who President Trump has nominated to take over the SCOTUS seat, has a record of opposing reproductive rights. During Barrett’s time in the federal appeals court, she’s considered two abortion cases and ruled against abortion rights in both.
Her confirmation to the Supreme Court, which would further solidify a conservative 6-3 majority and could put landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion nationwide, at stake.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has vowed to protect Roe v. Wade if he’s elected president. During the first and only vice presidential debate on Wednesday, Mike Pence emphasized his “pro-life” views and evades a question on Roe v. Wade by talking about Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general who the Trump administration ordered to be killed earlier this year.