Anti-Abortion Measures In Trump's BBB Just As Hideously Unpopular As Everything Else In It
No one wants this.
You know, there was a time when I used to argue with a lot of people who believed the only way things would ever really get better was for things to get so bad they were intolerable, thereby causing people to rise up and start a revolution, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t have to explain this to you — I mean, we’ve all been at that potluck at one time or another.
Looking at what’s in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, I’m starting to hope those people standing next to the pile of unsettlingly flavorless carob chip zucchini bread were not entirely wrong, because if it passes, that just may be the only light at the end of the tunnel.
There’s already been a lot of talk about the horrible things this bill will do to Medicare and SNAP and income inequality writ large, not to mention financially decimating rural hospitals. The more people of all political persuasions learn about the bill, the more they hate it. But you know what they also really hate? The provisions in the bill to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood and to ban Affordable Care Act plans from covering abortion.
Despite a decades-long attempt to defame Planned Parenthood, it maintains the support of a majority of Americans, and it’s likely that a very big part of that is the fact that they take Medicaid when so many providers do not, meaning that there are probably a whole lot of women out there who might not love abortion but do love being able to get standard medical care, breast exams and other services. According to Data for Progress, 58 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Planned Parenthood, while only 29 percent say they have a negative view. The family planning organization’s own polling shows that over 80 percent of Americans believe that they make a positive impact on the communities they serve.
Additionally, a majority of voters do not want to defund Planned Parenthood.
It’s worth noting that this number is actually very much on the low end. Recent polls from Quinnipiac and KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation) found that 62 percent and 67 percent oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, respectively.
The KFF poll also found that if respondents were asked, “What if you heard that even though no federal payment to Planned Parenthood goes directly to abortion services, cutting off all Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood and other clinics would make it difficult for many lower-income women to access health services, such as treatment for STDs, cancer screenings, and birth control?” opposition to defunding went up to 80 percent.
This is a pretty important thing given that the Data for Progress survey also determined that swing voters/persuadable voters were mostly in favor of federal funding.
Given that the Supreme Court just gave permission for states to defund Planned Parenthood, this will greatly impact the ability of those who don’t lose their Medicaid to find a doctor who will actually accept it.
A majority of voters is also opposed to the provision that would penalize ACA plans for covering abortion.
Even 39 percent of Republicans oppose that one. It’s not very popular! Probably why they had to shove it in a bill with so many other wildly unpopular provisions.
The Data For Progress poll also showed that majorities oppose pretty much every damn thing the Trump administration is doing when it comes to abortion. Although I will say that the fact that only 53 percent of all voters oppose lifting the requirement for hospitals to provide emergency abortions under EMTALA is rather disturbing. If you ask me, what that shows is that people don’t really understand what that means, because I don’t think too many Americans would be on Team “Nah, just let the bitch die.”
Democrats have a tendency to vastly overcorrect when they think a particular issue has hurt them in some way or didn’t have the effect they intended it to have. We keep hearing that they are “backing off” on abortion after losing the last election (up until the Dobbs anniversary last week, anyway), despite the fact that actual abortion-related measures did very well. Part of the reason it didn’t cause Trump to lose the last election is because he said he was going to “leave it to the states” and people believed him.
With his bill, he’s going after abortion access and looking to make it increasingly difficult not only for people to get an abortion, but to get health care, period, on a national level.
Now, I happen to think we should keep pushing for abortion rights because it is the right thing to do. But those who have secretly replaced their own internal moral compasses with the whims of polls and focus groups can rest easy knowing that it’s still a winning issue.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
The misogyny that predominates among too much of the far-Reich does not yet prevail in America, writ large.
Nor shall it EVER.
As he and his goons create nationless babies on the daily.