Kellyanne Conway recommends Republicans embrace contraceptives to secure votes
Conway publicly mocked abortions but also pushed Republicans to create a cohesive narrative around contraceptives when campaigning in 2024
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The right for reproductive healthcare, including contraceptives and abortions, is a political issue for conservatives who are strategising how to win over voters – a majority of which agree that Americans have a right to access it.
Despite the ban on abortions having real-life health consequences for millions in the US, and a potential ban on contraceptives sparking fears of similar outcomes, conservative political consultant Kellyanne Conway is advising Republicans to get friendlier with contraceptives all while she mocks abortions.
In December, Ms Conway held a meeting with GOP members and staff in Congress as well as campaigns to advise them to advocate for birth control in order to ease voters’ fears about limiting access to contraception, according to Politico.
Ms Conway said the strategy would undermine Democrats’ narrative that Republicans are attacking women’s health choices, Fox News reported.
It arrives after polling conducted by Independent Women’s Voices and KA Consulting shows that eight in 10 pro-life people agreed that access to contraception was more important than ever.
But within the same month, Ms Conway mocked abortions by characterising Democrats as people who “wake up every morning and they look at the calendar on the iPhone and it says January 6, 2021… and then they get into an electric vehicle and go get an abortion.”
The conflicting rhetoric around reproductive healthcare shows how Republicans are separating the issues of abortion and contraceptives in an attempt to secure support from voters concerned about their future access to birth control.
Ms Conway told Fox News, "When [Democrats] say, ‘We’re for women, and we’re for women’s health,’ what they really mean is abortion. It’s all a euphemism for abortion.”
But others disagree, believing the two issues to be closely intertwined.
A spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told The Daily Beast that no “fancy marketing will change this fundamental truth: House Republicans have consistently pushed legislation to crack down on both abortion and contraception access in their assault on women’s reproductive freedoms.”
Senate Republicans blocked a bill last year that would have codified the right to contraceptives, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a history of trying to block access to birth control and House Republicans introduced appropriations to a spending bill that would cut funding to Title X – a family planning program that provides subsidised contraception access to low-income people.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments