NARAL Applauds Joe Biden's Selection of Senator Kamala Harris As Running Mate

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- NARAL Pro-Choice America issued the following statement on Aug. 11 by President Ilyse Hogue:

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NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement today after Vice President Joe Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate in the 2020 presidential race:

"Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Joe Biden not only form a historic ticket, but will also be the perfect ticket to beat Trump in November. Sen. Harris is a tremendous leader who throughout her career has understood how central the freedom to make our own decisions about our own families is to surviving and thriving in this country.

Especially during a pandemic and unprecedented economic and social uncertainty, voters want leadership that focuses on fact-driven policy--not an administration consumed with pushing its own ideological agenda. Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris' commitment to our fundamental rights will be critical to turning out the vote. As a Black woman who has broken barrier after barrier in her career, we know that Sen. Harris brings tremendous strength to this campaign and will galvanize voters who are gravely concerned about the crisis in reproductive freedom we face.

Americans are struggling. They are looking for compassion and conviction in their leaders, instead of the cruelty and cronyism that has defined the Trump administration. Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris have shown that they listen to women and families and support policies to help us get ahead--not to grind an ideological ax that is about maintaining control. With our rights and our freedoms under relentless assault by Donald Trump and Mike Pence, our 2.5 million members are ready to mobilize and fight for a better future by electing Biden and Sen. Harris in November."

Sen. Harris has earned a 100% voting record in NARAL Pro-Choice America's Congressional Record on Choice every year she has served in the U.S. Senate. She has cosponsored critical legislation to protect and advance reproductive freedom, including the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) to protect our right to access abortion care free from medically unnecessary restrictions and bans, the Global HER Act to expand access to reproductive healthcare internationally by permanently ending the global gag rule, and the EACH Woman Act to block racist bans on abortion coverage like the Hyde Amendment once and for all.

NARAL Pro-Choice America was proud to endorse Vice President Biden last month, and his decision to run alongside Sen. Harris further underscores how deeply he understands what's at stake when it comes to our fundamental rights and what it will take to win this November. Vice President Biden has outlined his commitment to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom and vowed to safeguard Roe v. Wade, only appoint judges who will respect Roe, support the end of racist and discriminatory abortion coverage bans like the Hyde Amendment, and use executive action to protect and expand access to abortion and contraception, including reversing Trump's global and domestic gag rules. These commitments are critical given the threat Donald Trump poses to reproductive freedom and the values our nation holds dear.

Trump, Pence, and their enablers have worked tirelessly over the last four years to attack reproductive freedom and deploy disinformation to advance their radical ideological agenda and undermine our democracy. Trump was elected thanks in part to a boost from the Radical Right and he has held up his end of the bargain by pushing policies to roll back abortion access and stacking the federal judiciary with judges hostile to reproductive freedom and social progress--including Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

With an eye to anti-choice, anti-freedom extremists' rampant use of disinformation about abortion to mislead and rile up voters, NARAL has done groundbreaking work to inoculate against and counter these attacks on reproductive freedom. And with our fundamental rights on the line, NARAL has embarked on its largest-ever electoral program for the 2020 election to reach 3.6 million voters in key states. NARAL plans to invest $34.7 million toward an integrated organizing, communications, digital, and political program designed to win races up and down the ballot, from statehouses to the White House. Key to NARAL's strategy is reaching, persuading, and mobilizing key voter segments including soft-partisan persuadable women voters, and low-propensity, reproductive freedom voters who are motivated by Trump and Republicans' commitment to ending Roe v. Wade, criminalizing abortion, and punishing women.

Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, joined other leading progressive organizations and leaders to counter the prevalence of sexism and misogyny in the lead-up to the announcement of the Democratic vice presidential nominee. That included a joint letter calling on media outlets to be intentional in their coverage of the Democratic nominee for vice president to avoid perpetuating racist and sexist tropes and stereotypes. NARAL also contributed to a newly released media guide from Ultraviolet that provides guidance to reporters on how to avoid sexist coverage.

The stakes are high--but NARAL Pro-Choice America was made for this moment. We know that abortion is front and center in 2020: 77% of Americans support the legal right to abortion and polling confirms reproductive freedom is a major issue for Democratic and Independent voters. Along with our 2.5 million members across every state and every congressional district in the country, we are mobilizing to make sure Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris take back the White House this November, and to help elect candidates up and down the ballot who will fight to ensure that every body can make their own decisions about their lives and their futures, free from political interference.

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We Have Her Back

August 6, 2020

To: News Division Heads, Editors in Chiefs, Bureau Chiefs, Political Directors, Editors, Producers, Reporters, and Anchors

From: Fatima Goss Graves (National Women's Law Center), Ilyse Hogue (NARAL) Valerie Jarrett, Alexis McGill Johnson and Melanie Newman (Planned Parenthood), Debra Ness (National Partnership for Women and Families), Cecile Richards (Supermajority), Jess Morales Rocketto, Hilary Rosen, Stephanie Shriock and Christina Reynolds (Emily's List), Tina Tchen (TimesUp)

Re: NEWS COVERAGE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

We are reaching out now because we are about to embark on a historic moment - once again - having a woman on a Presidential Campaign ticket. While you have already done significant reporting on the process, we know you are actively preparing for coverage about the specific Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.

Given how few women have reached this point, the sometimes disappointing coverage of the process to date and the double standards we've seen in the public and media expectations of women leaders over the years- and even more so for Black and Brown women leaders - we wanted to respectfully share some thoughts with you about the media's role in the scrutiny and coverage of women and women of color candidates in general, and the vice-presidential candidate in particular.

We do this today without knowing who Joe Biden's choice will be, as it allows you to consider your coverage in the context of these important societal issues without the additional considerations that a specific candidate's personal story may bring.

Our country - and your newsrooms - have learned a lot since the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests for racial equality that his death spurred. For the first time in too many years, there was a national conversation about what real systemic racism means and how it insidiously creeps into stereotypes and tropes that are common in our everyday lives. We know from public reporting that many of your newsrooms had internal conversations about your coverage, your diversity and your editorial judgments. Good and thoughtful questions were raised, often by your own journalists, about how you could produce news coverage that took systemic bias out of the equation. And each of you took action. While there's still work to do, that action included being more careful about the choice of narratives for stories, including more Black people and people of color on the front lines of reporting and behind the scenes producing and editing. In short, the times and the experience made you, the most powerful people in media, stop and think about your role in perpetuating inequality and the opportunity you had to promote equality and simple justice with your reporting of the news.

We are calling on you to do this same with this next historic moment. A woman VP candidate, and possibly a Black or Brown woman candidate, requires the same kind of internal consideration about systemic inequality as you undertook earlier this year. Anything less than full engagement in this thoughtful oversight would be a huge step backwards for the progress you have pledged to make to expand diversity of thought and opportunity in your newsrooms and in your coverage.

Women have been subject to stereotypes and tropes about qualifications, leadership, looks, relationships and experience. Those stereotypes are often amplified and weaponized for Black and Brown women. Attempts at legitimate investigations of a candidate have repeatedly turned into misguided stories that perpetuate impressions of women as inadequate leaders, and Black and Brown women as worse. There are multiple ways that media coverage over the years has contributed to the facts of the lack of diversity at the top of society's roles. For example:

* Reporting on a woman's ambition as though the very nature of seeking political office, or any higher job for that matter is not a mission of ambition

* Relationships with partners, staff, colleagues and donors are characterized differently if the woman is not seen as subservient or supportive

* Reporting on whether a woman is liked (a subjective metric at best) as though it is news when the "likeability" of men is never considered a legitimate news story.

* Reporting, even as asides in a story, on a woman's looks, weight, tone of voice, attractiveness and hair is sexist news coverage unless the same analysis is applied to every candidate

* Reporting on questions of electability of women is, in itself, a perpetuation of a stereotype about the ability of women to lead

* Reporting on doubts women may not be qualified leaders even when they have experience equal to or exceeding male leaders

* Reporting on the heritage of Black women or women of color perpetuates a misunderstanding about who is legitimately American

* Reporting on and using pictures of a woman's, particularly black women, show of anger at injustice or any other kind of passion in communication perpetuates racist tropes that suggest unfairly that women are too emotional or irrational in their leadership or worse "hate America"

We are certain that if you pursue thoughtful conversation internally, you will find even more examples of how these stereotypes can seep into coverage, and thereby seep into the public consciousness as voters are seeking to understand those seeking office. We believe it is your job to, not just pay attention to these stereotypes, but to actively work to be anti-racist and antisexist in your coverage (ie: equal) as this political season progresses and this Presidential ticket is introduced. As much as you have the public's trust, you also have great power. We urge you to use it wisely.

We are here to help you with this challenge. We would be happy to meet and continue to engage on these issues. This is a defining election no matter your viewpoint. We intend to collectively and individually monitor coverage and we will call out those we believe take our country backwards with sexist and/or racist coverage.

As we enter another historic moment, we will be watching you. We expect change. We expect a new way of thinking about your role in how she is treated and the equality she deserves relative to the three men running for President and Vice President. Your great institutions, the ideals you serve, and our country, deserve no less.

Thank you.

[Category: Capture] Aug. 11