Republicans are taking aim on contraception — and they’d rather you didn’t know

The fall of Roe v Wade in 2022 sparked fears that access to contraception could soon follow. A look into their legislative votes suggests that those fears are not unfounded.

We previously reported that Republicans standing for re-election this year keep changing what they say about abortion on their public websites. Many would rather the public didn’t bring up their voting records on contraception, either.

Despite prominent Republicans’ claims to the contrary, “Republicans have a long history of attacking contraception,” says Dana Singiser, cofounder of the nonprofit Contraceptive Access Initiative. And since the Dobbs decision, “it is getting harder and harder for Republicans to actually hide their long-standing opposition to contraception.”

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion on Dobbs that the court “should reconsider” its long-standing rulings, including the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision, which granted married couples the right to use contraceptives without government oversight. (The Eisenstadt v. Baird decision seven years later granted unmarried couples the same right.)

“If that’s not a direct threat, I don’t know what is,” Ms Singiser says.

In the wake of Justice Thomas’ opinion, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn called the Griswold decision on contraception “constitutionally unsound” and Republican Sen. Mike Braun voiced his opinion that the issue of contraceptive access should be left to the states.

Since then, Democrats have campaigned on protecting abortion and contraception — and they have repeatedly won elections.

President Biden recently announced new steps that the administration is taking to reduce barriers to contraceptive access. On X/Twitter, Mr Biden accused