Election day is almost a year away, although this may seem like a long wait it’s going to be here before you know it. Just as a refresher, there are twenty-seven presidential candidates as of October 22, 2019. This is a record-breaking number of candidates, but the downside is not many people have the time to investigate every candidate. Something that is very important for a candidate to discuss is women’s topics. Women make up 50.8% of the United States population but their representation in politics is minimal. This past year was a huge year for women in congress with a record number of women in the House of Representatives. Recently the topic of Roe v. Wade has made another appearance in the Supreme Court. Several states in the south have been passing legislation to prevent women’s clinics from being able to operate. It is crucial that each presidential candidate comments on their views about women’s reproductive health because it affects 50% of the population. Not only is this topic about abortions this is also tied to women’s health care such as birth control or even maternity leave. So, in case you don’t have the time, or you are too scared to look, this is a small recap of where your presidential candidates stand on women’s specific issues:
Michael Bennet: Being Colorado’s Senator, Bennet has records of how he has voted on women’s reproductive health. Bennet supports women’s reproductive rights-based on his work with banning anti-abortion legislation. He also supports insurance companies providing coverage on birth control because he believes that birth control is a preventative action and should, therefore, be covered.
Joe Biden: Vice President Biden has been known as a devote catholic his entire life. Being a democrat, the party’s view on women’s rights to reproductive health contradicts with his faith. Although Biden firmly believes in his church’s faith, he has reported that he is not qualified to tell a woman what to do with her body. Biden believes that this topic has no purpose to be a federal issue and that we shouldn’t be forcing religions to accept any policy about the topic in general. Although Biden is pro-life, he does agree that women have a right to privacy and should be able to make their own decisions about healthcare, including birth control.
Steve Bullock: Governor Bullock is a little more extreme than what we have seen so far. Bullock supports reproductive rights even late until the late trimester. Bullock also supports Title X funding from the government which works as preventive care for not only pregnancy, also cancer screening, and mammograms. Bullock, however, does not support mandatory and non-mandatory coverage plans on abortions because he believes that the proposal could leave women uninsured for unforeseen events.
Pete Buttigieg: Although Buttigieg has never voted on this topic he has stated that he supports women’s decisions for their own bodies. He believes that it is the government’s right to federally protect women’s rights.
Corey Booker: Booker has historically been extremely pro-choice. Booker states that he supports federal funding to family clinics and says that this isn’t a religious discussion. However, Booker got into some heat about a policy he voted against called post-viability exception that protects the women’s choice to terminate her pregnancy after the 2nd trimester. Ever since this scandal, democrats have been indecisive of Booker’s dedication to women’s rights.
Julian Castro: Never being a part of the legislative branch, Castro doesn’t have much background to search through. As he has started his campaign, he has shown base-level support for women’s rights but has no plan on how to support or uphold them.
Bill de Blasio: One of Blasio’s big points is to stop the process of defunding Planned Parenthood. Although Blasio has no plan, he is the only candidate to mention a women’s clinic as part of her right to healthcare.
John Delaney: Delaney, like Biden, is also a Catholic. He states that although he is Catholic, there should be a separation of church and state especially when it comes to a women’s right to choose. Something unique about Delaney is he supports churches giving out birth control. This is something I had never heard of before. He states that religious groups should cover women’s healthcare insurance. Delaney doesn’t specify why. He also states that the government should fund abortions because if it doesn’t then it is considered discrimination on poor or lower-class women.
Tulsi Gabbard: Gabbard, for the most part, agrees with the other candidates that it is a women’s right to choose. Gabbard, being a woman herself, it is quite shocking that she really doesn’t bring any regards to women’s topics. Gabbard used to be pro-life but has recently changed her views since joining the political arena.
Kirsten Gillibrand: Gillibrand has done tons of work regarding women’s rights. She has voted for and protected just about every court case and piece of legislation that regards women’s rights. Gillibrand has even financially supported Emily’s List (a company that supports electing women that are pro-choice). She has also voted yes on expanding research on embryonic stem cell research. Gillibrand signs a bill that requires pharmacies to fulfill contraception prescriptions.
Mike Gravel: Gravel doesn’t have much of a stance on women’s issues except for his 16 pro-choice votes with NARAL. The questionable issue is that Gravel missed seven other pro-choice votes. This questions Gravel’s dedication to women-specific issues.
Kamala Harris: Harris has a 100% voting record with NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League), this isn’t unexpected from Harris being a woman and all. Like most of the other candidates, she supports women’s rights and healthcare.
John Hickenlooper: Hickenlooper doesn’t have much about women’s topics in his history. Mostly just showing support for women’s healthcare programs.
Larry Hogan: Hogan historically has never supported women’s healthcare topics. He is notably pro-life until 1992 when he changed his political stance and voted to not overturn pro-choice laws. Still, Hogan personally does not support women’s choice but says his ideas have no effect because it’s legal nationwide.
Jay Inslee: Inslee has voted quite a lot on women’s health care topics and has always voted in favor of women’s rights. Inslee’s only defining factor is he believes that family planning clinics should be funded by taxpayers.
Amy Klobuchar: Klobuchar, like most candidates, supports women’s rights to choose. Although, she takes an interesting approach of balancing both sides on the political spectrum. Klobuchar states that terminations should be legal, safe, and rare.
Wayne Messam: Messam had the least to comment on women’s rights stating that it should just be up to women to decide.
Seth Moulton: Moulton states that women’s rights are constitutional rights. He, like the other candidates, has voted for women’s rights and continues to support plans that ensure said rights.
Beto O`Rourke: O`Rourke supports all the same ideas and plans as the other candidates. He is less extreme than most by only supporting women’s right to choose only until the second trimester.
Tim Ryan: Ryan has a 100% NARAL record of voting pro-life. Ryan states he is not pro-choice personally, but that a woman should have the option. Ironically, Ryan supports embryonic stem research.
Bernie Sanders: Sanders being a socialist democrat has a little different stance on women’s issues. Sanders is more focused on pregnancy prevention but still votes pro-choice and for women’s rights to healthcare.
Eric Swalwell: Swalwell is like most candidates, he supports women’s rights and women’s choice.
Elizabeth Warren: Like Delaney, Warren also supports churches providing birth control. Being a woman herself she clearly is going to support more women’s rights topics than your average male candidate. Warren has a good track record with support on an array of issues related to women, from housing to education.
Marianne Williamson: Williamson is unique because being democratic one would believe she is pro-choice, but she takes a different approach. Williamson says that women’s healthcare issues are moral issues, not government issues.
Andrew Yang: Yang doesn’t have much to say on the topic other than doctors should make the call on women’s health not legislators. Yang does support women’s rights.
Joe Sestak: Sestak’s big point is to secure funding to women related topics such as healthcare and prevention programs.
Tom Steyer: Styer had little to nothing to say on women’s rights, he just stated that women’s rights are not just the label of Planned Parenthood.
These are your 2020 presidential candidates and their positions on women’s specific topics. Some candidates are clearly more invested than others. The candidates who are the front runners in the upcoming election have more to say than those who are still growing in popularity. What do you think about this representation? Should candidates express more political stances on women’s topics? I guess only time will tell.