Democrats should use billboards to spotlight 'horrible' votes on women's rights | Opinion
At this point, I’m willing to bet you’ve heard about former President Trump Donald calling Milwaukee a “horrible city” last week. You probably saw parts of the internet lose their collective minds over it or the inability of House Republicans get on the same page on whether or not he said it, and if he did say it, what he was referencing. Maybe you watched Mayor Cavalier Johnson go on MSNBC and defend Milwaukee or gandered at one of the ten billboards Democrats put up around Milwaukee reminding everyone of what Trump said.
But did you know that on that same day, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic-led bill to codify broad federal protections for in vitro fertilization?
The Protect and Expand Nationwide Access to Fertility Bill would have established a statutory right for patients to access IVF, protect providers from legal liability, ensure service members and veterans have access to the procedure and require more health insurers to cover fertility care. Besides Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted to support the bill (Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, didn’t vote), every Republican voted against it.
Southern Baptists vote to formally oppose IVF at annual meeting
To be fair, ahead of the vote, Senate Republicans moved to express their support for IVF. However, their concept of “supporting IVF” was advancing a narrower bill that would cut off Medicaid funding for states that ban IVF instead of barring states from banning IVF.
What's unclear is how coincidental this outcome is with news that the Southern Baptist Congregation, the national’s second largest faith group and with strong ties to the GOP, voted to oppose IVF the day before during its annual meeting the day before. Delegates also urged the denomination's members “to advocate for the government to restrain actions inconsistent with the dignity and value of every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings.”
Guns and crowds are a dangerous mix. Milwaukee will have both for Republican National Convention.
This happened only a week after the Senate failed to pass the “Right to Contraception Act,” a straightforward bill that would protect an individual’s right to access contraception and a health care provider’s right to provide it. It would have prohibited any laws that impede access to birth control, something the US Supreme Court ruled on in Griswold v. Connecticut of 1965. This is the same case that in 2022 Justice Clarence Thomas said was one that should be reassessed in his opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
The bill needed 60 votes to pass but only received 51, with 38 Republicans voting against it and nine Republicans abstained from voting. Both of these bills were attempting to do what was never done with Roe v Wade, codify rights we assume we have into federal law so that states can’t override it with restrictions and nothing would change if the Supreme Court struck down its own precedents, again.
Large majorities of Americans support birth control, IVF
What I can’t wrap my head around is Republicans' adherence to this plot line considering how wildly popular both IVF and contraception are. An April Pew Research Center survey found that Americans overwhelmingly feel people having access to IVF is a good thing: Seven-in-ten adults said IVF access is a good thing. Just 8% say it is a bad thing, while 22% are unsure.
Meanwhile, Pew reported June 6 that 79% of registered voters said widespread access to birth control is good for society. Gallup said in June 2023 that 88% of Americans said birth control is morally acceptable and liberal pollster Navigator found that four in five Americans support Congress passing legislation to protect contraception access.
It makes sense that it’s popular considering 90% of women have used contraception at one point in their lives.
The only thing that makes sense to me as to why Republicans would not get on board with either of these bills is because they believe their base (re: Southern Baptist Congregation) is paying attention and that the average person is not.
Maybe the average person is being distracted by whether or not our former president insulted our city and if that’s the case, Democrats are spending billboard money on the wrong message.
Kristin Brey is the "My Take" columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump called Milwaukee horrible. Internet freaked out over wrong thing
