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“PANTS ON FIRE”: CONGRESSIONAL GOP CLAIM THAT REPUBLICANS WOULD NOT JAIL DOCTORS FOR PROVIDING ABORTIONS THOROUGHLY DEBUNKED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 6, 2022
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“PANTS ON FIRE”: CONGRESSIONAL GOP CLAIM THAT REPUBLICANS WOULD NOT JAIL DOCTORS FOR PROVIDING ABORTIONS THOROUGHLY DEBUNKED

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  In a new fact check, Politifact rates the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s talking point that “Republicans DO NOT want to throw doctors” in jail as “pants on fire.” Republicans in Congress’ attempt to spin their extreme, unpopular agenda is running into the dangerous fact that their policy agenda would impose cruel measures that punish those who seek and provide reproductive health care.

Politifact: “Do Republicans want to throw doctors who break abortion laws in jail? Their plans say yes“

  • The day after the leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent lawmakers and candidates suggested talking points on abortion.
  • The May 3rd guidance advised Republicans to show compassion for pregnant women, criticize Democratic positions, and emphasize “the facts” about Republican policies. One of those facts was: “Republicans DO NOT want to throw doctors and women in jail. Mothers should be held harmless under the law.”
  • Sen. Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, himself co-sponsored a bill in Congress, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would impose a prison sentence of up to five years. The proposal was sponsored or co-sponsored by 44 other Republican members of the U.S. Senate.
  • In a memo to Republican candidates and lawmakers, the National Republican Senatorial Committee said that Republicans do not want to throw doctors in jail for violating abortion laws. Many Republican-controlled states have penalties for people who perform illegal abortions that include prison sentences, including a maximum of life imprisonment. In the U.S. Senate, a proposal with a potential prison sentence was co-sponsored by nearly the entire Republican caucus.
  • We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

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