Where does
Stand on Abortion?
Bernie Sanders opposes legislation that would protect babies after five months of pregnancy, a point by which science shows they are capable of feeling pain.1 He has voted more than five times against bills that would protect babies from partial-birth or late-term abortions.2 Sanders does not believe any restrictions on abortion should be in place3 and that women should be permitted to get an abortion up until birth.
On February 25, 2019, Bernie Sanders helped block a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.4 This bill would ensure babies who survive an abortion are given the same medical attention a baby born at the same age would receive.
Bernie Sanders is an opponent of the Hyde Amendment,5 having voted against it several times, and wants to repeal it as soon as possible. He also plans to have “Medicare for All,” which would include taxpayer funding of abortion.6
Bernie opposes the Mexico City policy and the Helms Amendment, which forbids the use of U.S. aid money to fund abortions. At CNN’s climate town hall, he called the Mexico City policy “totally absurd” in response to a question about “the need to curb population growth.” In his answer he stressed the importance of ending it to make abortion available, especially in “poorer countries.” 7 Bernie has also said that he would permanently repeal the Helms Amendment if elected 8 and restoring funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which operates in over 150 countries and provides abortion worldwide.9
Bernie Sanders has promised to use an abortion litmus test and only nominate judges who like him, believe abortion is a “constitutional right.” He also promises to “codify Roe v. Wade in legislative statute,” embedding it in our federal law and overriding existent state laws protecting life. He would block future state laws regulating abortion by requiring “preclearance” for state abortion laws.11
The right to an abortion is a fundamental right.
Our administration will codify abortion rights into federal law, pass Medicare for All which repeals the Hyde Amendment, and only appoint judges who will defend #RoevWade.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 22, 2020
In addition to his promises to fund abortion under Medicare for all, to “significantly expand funding for Planned Parenthood” [and] Title X,” Sanders wants to withhold Title X funding from pregnancy centers that do not support or provide abortion and reverse laws that “put undue and unnecessary burdens and regulations on doctors who provide abortion services.” Many of these laws exist to protect women from malpractice and abortionist who put profits before patient safety. 12
It is outrageous that right-wing politicians in states like Texas and Ohio are using this crisis to risk women’s health and safety by denying their right to abortion and other reproductive health care. Instead, we should be expanding access with things like telemedicine.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 24, 2020
In response to COVID-19, and the closure of non-essential services–including abortion clinics in some states–Bernie Sanders tweeted that “access” to telemedicine abortion should be expanded. This wold require the suspension of the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), which protects women from side effects like hemorrhaging and even death.13
