Marco Rubio Tells Women What to Do with Their Bodies and Their Lives
For Immediate Release: Jan. 19, 2016
Washington, DC – In an advertisement touting his extreme anti-abortion stance, Marco Rubio says he doesn’t “want to tell anybody what to do with their bodies or their lives.” Yet, Rubio continues to push policies that leave women without a full range of reproductive health care choices, inserting himself in private decisions that should be left up to a woman and her doctor — not a politician.
Quote from Dawn Laguens, Vice President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund:
"Rubio should take his own advice — and stop telling women what to do with their bodies and their lives. Yet he continues to push an invasive agenda to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape and incest, cut insurance coverage of birth control, and eliminate access to care at Planned Parenthood. As poll after poll shows, this is not what the American people want.”
This is just the latest of a long line of attacks made by Rubio against the basic reproductive health care millions of women across the country rely on.
BACKGROUND: Marco Rubio Tells Women What to Do With Their Bodies and Lives
Marco Rubio opposes safe and legal abortion: Rubio said he is adamantly against abortion, and “even if 100 percent of my constituents were for it,” he would still be against it. [Republican Majority Campaign,9/6/09]
Doesn’t support exceptions for rape or incest: “Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was quick to clarify Thursday night that he did not support rape and incest exemptions in abortion bans after GOP debate host Megyn Kelly asked about his stance on the issue. He laid out his explicit opposition, noting that "future generations will look back and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies." [International Business Times,8/6/15]
Rubio only supports legislation that includes exceptions for rape and incest, because he’ll “support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions”: On MSNBC’s Meet the Press, he told host Chuck Todd, “I'll support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions. So, that means a 20-week abortion ban. At five months, you will recognize a child as a human being in an ultrasound image. And I'll support that. That doesn't obviously cover the whole gamut. But it reduces the number of abortions. I'll support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions. And there are those that have that exception. What I've never done is said I require that it must have or not have exceptions.”[Meet the Press,8/9/15]
Marco Rubio wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision: Rubio has called Roe v. Wade “devastating” [SBA List Speech, 2/1/12, accessed via YouTube,posted 2/3/12]
As a State Representative, Marco Rubio voted for mandatory ultrasound legislation: When Marco Rubio first ran for Senate in 2010, he highlighted his anti-abortion record as a state legislator. His campaign website stated: “I supported various pieces of pro-life legislation that, among other things, would require doctors to perform ultrasounds before performing abortions.” Rubio was referring to his vote on a state House bill that would have required all women seeking an abortion to undergo an invasive and unnecessary mandatory ultrasound.Women who are victims of rape, incest, domestic violence, and human trafficking would have been required to present a police report or other court documentation in order to bypass the ultrasound viewing requirement. [Politifact, 6/22/10; HB 257, 4/2/08; Free Republic,5/7/10]
Rubio introduced a bill that would allow any employer to refuse birth control coverage by claiming a religious objection: Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill that would allow any employer to refuse to cover birth control by claiming to have a religious objection, [Editorial, New York Times,2/11/12; Religious Freedom Restoration Act, S. 2043,1/30/12]
Rubio’s response to question about employees who could lose birth control coverage? Workers can “pay for it themselves” or “work elsewhere”:McClatchy DC reports that Rubio said, "If an employee wants birth control, that worker could simply pay for it themselves or just choose to work elsewhere.” [McClatchy DC,2/5/12]
Rubio voted for the Blunt Amendment and was co-sponsor of the bill: Senator Rubio is listed as a co-sponsor for the Blunt Amendment, to allow employers to opt out of contraception coverage. [Roll Call 24, S.Amdt. 1520 to S.Amdt. 1730 to S. 1813,3/1/12]
Supported the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision; won’t stand up for a woman’s access to no co-pay birth control: Rubio supported the Hobby Lobby decision that would give employers a permission slip to deny their employees access to birth control coverage, returning women to the days of paying up to $600 a year for birth control. Rubio didn’t just praise the decision, in his statement he also called for the Affordable Care Act “to be entirely repealed and replaced.” Rubio would not only let businesses deny their female employees birth control coverage based on their religious beliefs, he would also also deny millions of women the preventive healthcare services that are now covered by the Affordable Care Act. [Tampa Bay Times,6/30/14]
Marco Rubio has voted FIVE times to defund Planned Parenthood. [Roll Call Vote 60, H. Con. Res. 36,4/14/11; Roll Call Vote 36, H.R. 1, 3/9/11; Roll Call Vote 262, S. 1881, 8/3/15; S. Amdt 2669 to H.J. Res. 61, Roll Call Vote 270, 9/24/15; H.R. 3762, Roll Call Vote 329, 12/3/15]
Said the right to life is a “fundamental one that trumps virtually every other right”: While speaking at the Susan B. Anthony List gala in 2012 about his anti-abortion views, Rubio said: “The right to life is a fundamental one that trumps virtually any other right that I can imagine.” [YouTube at 1:05, 2/1/12]
Said the rights of a mother “end where the rights of their unborn children begin”: “Rubio told the audience on Wednesday that he ‘won't dance around the issue.’ Rubio said that the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, Roe V. Wade, is wrong. ‘The rights of a mother end where the rights of their unborn children begin,’ Rubio said. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 5/14/09]