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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fired back at Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s criticism of his party on Sunday, saying she has been fighting for “decades” for abortion rights in Congress and that anyone who says otherwise is “unaware” of that fight.
During an appearance on “Face the Nation,” Pelosi was asked to respond to Newsom, who blamed his own party for being too passive on the abortion issue after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion threatened to overturn Roe v. Wade.
ROE V. WADE: WHAT IS IT AND WHAT THE LEAKED SUPREME COURT DRAFT COULD SIGNAL
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference in Oakland, Calif., on Oct. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
“Where is the Democratic Party?” Newsom said at Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles on Wednesday. “Why aren’t we calling this out? This is a concerted, coordinated effort, and, yes they’re winning. We need to stand up. Where’s the counter-offensive?”
Pelosi pushed back against the comments Sunday, saying, “We have been fighting against the Republicans in the Congress constantly.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. On Monday, Pelosi announced that proxy voting will remain in place for House members through at least May 14. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Because the fact is they’re not just anti a woman’s right to choose in terms of terminating a pregnancy, but in terms of access to contraception and family planning and the rest, both domestically and globally,” Pelosi continued. “This is a constant fight that we’ve had for generations – decades, I should say, in my case, in the Congress.
“We had been bipartisan early on, support for a woman’s right to choose, until the politics have changed, and that’s what happened to the court,” she said. “The science hasn’t changed, but the court changed, and therefore they’re deciding that it will be different.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
“I have no idea why anybody would make that statement unless they were unaware of the fight that has been going on,” she added, referring to Newsom.
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The abortion debate is once again sweeping the nation in reaction to the leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which, if published as the majority opinion, would overturn landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade.
California is making plans to become an abortion “sanctuary,” where reproductive rights would be expansively protected and patients could travel from other states for services. One proposal seeks to guarantee a right to an abortion in the state constitution.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.