'Disingenuous at best': Gretchen Whitmer hits Kristi Noem, other GOP officials over contraception bill
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer criticized Republican leaders on Sunday after South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said her fellow GOP lawmakers support access to birth control, but Senate Republicans blocked contraception legislation last week.
“When the U.S. Senate puts forward policy to ensure that they have an opportunity to enshrine access to contraception and Republicans vote against it and kill that bill, it is very much at risk here in this moment," Whitmer told CNN on Sunday morning.
The Right to Contraception Act, introduced by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sought to codify people's right to use and protect health care providers' right to distribute contraceptives. The vote required 60 votes but failed by a count of 51-39, with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joining Democrats in voting yes.
Noem appeared on CNN just ahead of Whitmer and, when asked about the failed bill, Noem said birth control should "absolutely" be available.
Whitmer called responses by Republicans like Noem, “disingenuous at best and an outright lie at worst.”
“We all know the truth here," Whitmer told CNN.
The Michigan governor, a surrogate for President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, pointed to former President Donald Trump's Supreme Court appointees. The three justices were crucial in overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, two years ago.
“We know that there are women in many states who cannot access fundamental health care," Whitmer continued, saying that along with abortion, other reproductive decisions are at stake. She mentioned IVF "and now" contraception.
Noem earlier Sunday morning said she was not opposed to contraception access, but that Senate Democrats' bill was "far-reaching."
“I think that bill was a joke," she said.
Several Republican senators bashed the bill as unnecessary.
"There is no threat to access to contraception, which is legal in every state and required by law to be offered at no cost by health insurers, and it's disgusting that Democrats are fearmongering on this important issue to score cheap political points," a group of 21 GOP senators, led by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote in a joint statement Wednesday.
Republicans in Congress have also put forward their own bills related to contraception, pushing back on claims by Democrats that the GOP wants to take away access to birth control.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced legislation that she said differs from Democrats by excluding access to Plan B. The emergency contraception pill is used to stop a pregnancy from happening and is not the same medication as the abortion pill.
“We will have an alternative that will make very clear that Republicans are for contraception,” Senate GOP Whip John Thune said, R-S.D., CNN reported.
Contributing: Rachel Barber, Paste BN, and Nicole Fallert, Paste BN