McCain Blocks Access to Birth Control

McCain has a track record of not supporting legislation that would alleviate the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancy.
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McCain’s voting record shows that he approves of insurance coverage of Viagra for men but voted against requiring insurance companies to also pay for prescription birth control for women.
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McCain voted for the prohibition of federally funded family-planning clinics that give women full information about their reproductive health options.
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McCain Blocks Sex Education

McCain believes pregnancy prevention can be realized through abstinence and so voted against funding teen pregnancy prevention programs.  He also voted against funding education that would ensure that abstinence programs are medically sound.
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McCain voted to reduce by 30% funding of HIV/AIDS prevention. Instead he was for funding of “abstinence-only” programs that have already proven they do not work.
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McCain voted to divert $75 million of the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant so that “abstinence-only” programs which censor information about birth control could be established.
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Judicial Appointments

Sen. McCain has taken extreme far-right positions on reproductive issues, and his agenda would fail to fully protect women’s rights. McCain believes that Roe v. Wade was decided incorrectly and supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. He promises to appoint strongly conservative judges like John Roberts and Samuel Alito—judges who will fail to protect women’s rights.

McCain has pledged to appoint “clones of Alito and Roberts” to the Supreme Court.  In his address on his judicial philosophy, he declared that “Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito meet [my] standards in every respect.” McCain has also promised to appoint “strict constructionists,” a code phrase to describe conservative judges.

McCain is likely to appoint justices who oppose a woman’s right to choose. McCain says, “I happen to view life to begin at conception, and that is a moral belief I have. And, therefore, I think that Roe v. Wade was not only a bad decision but a flawed decision.”  He has publicly taken the position that he “believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned.”

Women’s Right to Choose
There is a common misperception that McCain supports a women’s right to choose whether to become a parent.  In fact, McCain has an “unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women,” according to the Associated Press.  In a January 2000 interview on “Meet the Press,” McCain supported a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions.  As McCain says, “I’ve got a consistent zero from NARAL throughout all those years.”  He has voted against women’s reproductive rights in 123 out of 128 opportunities, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

NARAL adds, “Sen. McCain has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion.”  McCain has repeatedly opposed federal funding for abortion, even when the life of the woman is threatened or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. He opposes giving military women and dependents stationed overseas access to abortion services, even when they are privately funded.  He opposes letting federal employees choose health plans that cover abortions. He opposes allowing the District of Columbia to use locally raised funds to help poor women obtain abortions.

McCain has even supported limits on access to contraceptives. In 2003, he opposed legislation to expand access to emergency contraceptives.  He has voted to end the Title X program, our nation’s largest family planning program, against requirements that sex education programs be medically accurate, and against contraceptive services for women in developing countries.