The Quickie: GOP Senate Hopefuls Flip-Flop on Abortion

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: More GOP candidate flip-flopping on abortion and your weekly state fights round up.

ICYMI GOP SENATE CANDIDATES CONTINUE TO FLIP FLOP ON ABORTION: With the hopes of getting elected this November, GOP Senate candidates in key states are trying to hide from their anti-abortion records. They’re using a softer, more neutral tone to manipulate voters. The most alarming shifts come from the most conservative candidates who understand the majority of Americans support access to abortion and that their out-of-touch positions could cost them at the ballot box. These candidates may go to great lengths to convince people their stance has changed, but none can be trusted to support our fundamental rights if elected. In case you missed it, the New York Times broke down past and current statements from Republican Senate candidates, in seven closely-watched states, who have flip-flopped on abortion. 

Planned Parenthood Votes breaks down the highlights here. 

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: Tennessee’s governor signed a new attack on abortion rights, while in Indiana, abortion providers are fighting in court to expand the medical exemptions in the state’s ban.  

• Texas: The Texas Republican Party is considering a platform that calls for giving full legal rights to embryos, and could lead to treating abortion as murder under state law. The proposal calls for new legislation to solidify fetal personhood ideology into law, define abortion care as homicide, and criminalize IVF. 
• Indiana: This week abortion providers asked an Indiana trial judge for a preliminary injunction expanding the medical exemptions and blocking the hospital-only requirement in Indiana’s near-total abortion ban. Indiana law currently allows for abortion only in rare circumstances, including when the health or life of the woman is at risk, but only at a hospital, making it extremely difficult to access even when a person fits the exemptions. 
• Tennessee: Tennessee became the second state in the nation to sign a law criminalizing people who help minors travel out-of-state for abortion without parental consent. The law, set to take effect July 1, is the first since Idaho’s version briefly took effect last spring, only to be blocked in court months later.