EMILYs List Statement on New Hampshire GOP Senate Candidate Comparing Abortion to Slavery, 9/11
For Immediate Release
January 10, 2020
EMILYs List Statement on New Hampshire GOP Senate Candidate Comparing Abortion to Slavery, 9/11
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List President Stephanie Schriock issued the following statement in response to comments made by New Hampshire Republican Senate candidate, Bill O’Brien, comparing abortion to slavery and the 9/11 attacks. At a meeting in Milford, O’Brien “called the number of abortions performed each day ‘a national tragedy’ that was ‘on par with the national tragedy of slavery that Republicans ended through the Civil War. It's on par with that,’” according to NH Patch. O’Brien also said, “Both the Sept. 11 attacks and the ongoing abortions in our country involve mass murder, though they differ in magnitude. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, directly killed 2,977 people. Since Roe vs. Wade was decided, there have been over 60 million unborn children who lost their lives through abortion.” When pressed on those comments, O’Brien doubled down and bragged about his past efforts to defund Planned Parenthood as New Hampshire House speaker.
“Bill O'Brien's comments are offensive and inappropriate, but they're also just another example of his extreme position to restrict women's access to reproductive care. New Hampshire women deserve a senator who is going to expand their ability to get safe and affordable health care, and Bill O'Brien's record shows he would fight to roll back women's access to health care and rubber stamp judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.”
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $600 million to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 150 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and nearly 1,100 women to state and local office. Nearly 40 percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. During the historic 2017-2018 cycle, EMILYs List raised a record-breaking $110 million and launched a record independent expenditure campaign. We helped elect 34 new women to the House, including 24 red-to-blue victories; enough seats to have delivered the U.S. House majority alone. Since the 2016 election, more than 50,000 women have reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state and national offices.
