Kyrsten Sinema, Staunch Champion Of Abortion Rights, Except For All The Ways She's Not!

Hey Ruben Gallego, u up?

When Kyrsten Sinema won the Democratic primary nomination for Senate in 2018, she received the full endorsement from Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said, "Kyrsten Sinema is the leader Arizona needs, and Planned Parenthood Action Fund is proud to stand with her and endorse her candidacy for U.S. Senate. She has tirelessly fought for Planned Parenthood patients’ access to the full range of reproductive health care during her tenure in the House, and she will continue to champion women in the Senate."

Cut to five years later: Sinema's up for re-election in 2024 and almost every major abortion rights group has severed ties with her. Much has changed since 2018 — including Sinema's party affiliation. However Sinema's position on abortion has mostly remained the same, and that's the whole problem. Back in summer 2018, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett weren't yet on the Supreme Court and Roe v Wad  e still existed. It was sufficient for then-Democrat Sinema to say, "A person should be able to make personal health decisions with her family and her doctor without a politician in Washington telling her what to do."

Just a few years later, it was no longer enough to declare that you'll boldly maintain the status quo. Conservatives held a six-three majority on the Supreme Court. The clock was ticking for Roe . Emily's List, which had congratulated Sinema on her 2018 victory, yanked its endorsement after Sinema's January 2022 speech confirming that she'd never, ever vote to kill the filibuster — not for voting rights, abortion rights, or really anything she'd previously claimed to support.

PREVIOUSLY:

 Kyrsten Sinema, Still Useless 

 Emily’s List, NARAL Tell Filibuster-Lover Kyrsten Sinema To Eff Off, But Politely 

 Kyrsten Sinema May Talk Like A Jerk, Act Like A Jerk But Don’t Be Fooled, She Really Is A Jerk 

After the Samuel Alito Supreme Court overturned Roe in June 2022,   Sinema tweeted, "A woman’s health care decisions should be between her, her family, and her doctor. Today's decision overturning Roe v. Wade endangers the health and wellbeing of women in Arizona and across America."

Hey, that's all true! What are you — a sitting US senator — gonna do about it? We know she has nothing but contempt for activism, but here's where she can deliver on all her "I get stuff done!" bluster.

"Throughout my time in Congress," she went on, "I’ve always supported women’s access to health care, and I’ll continue working with anyone to protect women’s ability to make decisions about their futures."

So: nothing. She planned to do absolutely nothing. When a Pima County judge ruled that a near-total abortion ban from 1901 was back in effect, she tweeted this cut-and-paste homily:  "A woman’s health care decisions should be between her, her family, and her doctor. Today’s decision removes basic rights Arizona women have relied upon for over a century and endangers their health, safety, and well-being."

She tediously added, "I’ll continue working with anyone to advance commonsense proposals ensuring women in Arizona and across the country can access the health care they need and have the ability to make their own decisions about their future."

This was infuriating because it demonstrated how clueless she was to actual conditions on the ground: Republicans were actively passing extreme abortion bans in states against the clear will of their constituents. None of her Republican besties in the Senate were going to help her preserve abortion rights. Oh, we're being unfair — it wasn't exactly "none." Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins — two whole Republicans! — cosponsored "The Reproductive Freedom for All Act" with Sinema and Democrat Tim Kaine, who's hardly an abortion rights champion. It was a meaningless gesture when Sinema still backs the filibuster, which would require at least 10 Republicans supporting the bill.

NARAL Pro-Choice America president Mini Timmaraju dismissed "The Reproductive Freedom for All Act" as "just another political stunt that would not actually address the abortion rights and access crisis that has pushed care out of reach for millions of people already." She added, "Unless these senators are willing to end the filibuster to pass this measure, there's no reason to take it seriously."

The "compromise" bill didn't actually codify Roe , and as 15 pro-choice groups including the ACLU, NARAL, Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), and Planned Parenthood Federation of America pointed out, the bill did "not expressly prohibit pre-viability abortion bans, leaving states able to continue to pass abortion bans that are denying people access to essential healthcare across the country."

Sinema insists she's "always supported women’s access to health care," but she also voted to confirm 95 of Donald Trump's right-wing zealot anti-abortion judges, including Michael Liburdi who now sits on the US District Court of Arizona. (Republicans in "red" states have refused to return blue slips for some of Biden's judicial nominees.)

Given her record and overall fecklessness on abortion rights, it's not a shock that Emily's List, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America are done with Sinema. “Given our endorsement criteria, Sen. Sinema is ineligible for our support,” said Ryan Sitzlein, senior national political director at NARAL. These groups spent a combined $3 million to help elect Sinema in 2018, and maybe Sinema assumes her hedge fund friends can make up the difference. However, PACs can't vote for her. She'll need active support from the very people she's let down or outright abandoned.

A 2022 exit poll in Arizona showed that 62 percent of voters want abortion to remain legal, and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs carried that group by more than 50 percentage points. Voters who demand their reproductive freedom and won't settle for banal platitudes aren't likely to choose Sinema.

[ The 19th ]

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