Fox Information host Mike Johnson confronts about entry to contraception

Newly elected Home Speaker Mike Johnson confronted Fox Information anchor Shannon Brehm on Sunday about his historical past of opposing ladies’s reproductive well being care and entry to contraception.

With the Supreme Court docket Dobbs v. Ladies’s Well being Jackson The choice was overturned Roe v. Wade In 2022, because it dominated that there was no constitutional proper to abortion, bringing the difficulty again to the state degree, questions on entry to contraception in the US grew. Extra just lately, with Johnson’s election as Speaker of the Home, critics have pointed to his far-right conservative views and described him as an “extremist” on the subject of social points akin to LGBTQ+ rights and girls’s rights.

Johnson has lengthy opposed abortion as a former senior adviser to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) – the conservative authorized pressure behind the case that struck down Roe— which is now main the hassle to limit abortion tablets nationwide. On this position, he labored to shut abortion clinics and defended anti-abortion legal guidelines in his residence state of Louisiana.

Throughout his look on Fox Information SundayBrehm famous that Johnson has been accused of “dramatically departing” from People on contraception, with 92 % of People saying it’s morally acceptable, based on a 2022 Gallup ballot.

“You supported a ban that may not solely criminalize abortion, however IVF remedies and customary types of contraception, and also you voted towards entry to contraception,” Brehm mentioned, citing Emily’s Checklist, a political motion committee geared toward electing ladies who assist abortion rights. . “Is that an correct evaluation of the place you stand? As a result of that does not sit nicely with the American individuals.”

Johnson then reiterated his place in his response, saying: “I’m pro-life. I’ve mentioned very clearly that I’m a Bible-believing Christian. I consider within the sanctity of each human life.”

Nonetheless, when requested by Brehm if he had voted towards fertility remedies and entry to contraception, Johnson mentioned: “I do not suppose so. I am unsure what they’re speaking about. I actually do not keep in mind any of these.” “.

Regardless of Johnson’s response, his previous efforts to implement anti-abortion legal guidelines and limit entry to contraception stay necessary to critics as he voted towards the Proper to Contraception Act, which might defend entry to contraception. It was handed within the Home of Representatives in July 2022.

Moreover, he co-sponsored the Deliberate Parenthood Defunding Act of 2023, which might limit federal funding to Deliberate Parenthood, its associates, or its clinics for one yr. This invoice was launched in January 2023.

Newsweek I reached out to Johnson through e-mail for additional remark.

Though it isn’t clear how a lot funding Deliberate Parenthood may lose at every clinic, the group notes that reducing funding may cut back entry to contraception as a result of it supplies many different providers associated to ladies’s reproductive care.

Shortly after Johnson took workplace as speaker, Deliberate Parenthood issued a press release condemning his efforts to limit reproductive well being care and abortion rights.

“Mike Johnson has a protracted and disastrous file of attacking abortion rights and the total vary of sexual and reproductive well being care providers. And Home Republicans, together with those that declare to be moderates, know precisely what they’re doing by electing him president: They’re absolutely dedicated,” Alexis McGill Johnson mentioned. , Deliberate Parenthood Fund president and CEO, mentioned in a press release: “Embracing extremism and plan to ban abortion nationwide.”

“We’d like them to do the job they have been despatched to Congress to do: govern and fund the federal government, together with sexual and reproductive well being care packages,” McGill-Johnson added. “As a substitute, they selected one other harmful, out-of-touch politician to switch him.” “They’re main their chaotic and dysfunctional marketing campaign to remove our rights. Our communities deserve higher.”

This comes after Emily’s Checklist introduced on Friday in a press launch initially obtained by Punchbowl Information that it was placing Johnson “on discover” for 2024 “together with 23 of his excessive Republican supporters” citing Johnson’s “radical anti-abortion file.” The record consists of Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mike Garcia of California, and George Santos of New York.

Newsweek I’ve reached out to Deliberate Parenthood and EMILYs Checklist for added remark.