Where do they stand on Women's Issues?

Women’s issues have suddenly become extra important for the candidates. Why? Because a large portion of undecided voters are women, so where the candidates stand on areas that impact women's lives may just be the deciding factors of the election.

Separate fact from rumor. Learn what each candidate has said publicly and what their voting records indicate.

Abortion

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics. The 1974 Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision did little to settle debates over the topic, and now that the Supreme Court is dominated by conservative justices, some believe a reversal of the decision is imminent.

John McCain’s stance

• Is staunchly anti-abortion and believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned. He has publicly stated that the abortion question should be returned to the individual states.
• He believes that life, and as a result human rights, begin at conception. On August 16, in a speech before a congregation in Lake Forest, CA, McCain told the crowd, "I will be a pro-life president, and this presidency will have pro-life policies."
• The National Abortion Rights Action League says, "Senator McCain has cast 119 votes on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues, 115 of which were anti-choice." He voted for and was a cosponsor of "the Federal Abortion Ban, a law that criminalizes some abortion services, with no exception to protect a woman's health, and carries up to a two-year prison sentence for doctors."
• However, the Boston Globe is frequently cited as the source of a comment attributed to McCain back in January 2000; reportedly he would consider abortion in the case of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger.
• His running mate, Sarah Palin, is a passionate pro-lifer who has said on more than one occasion that she does not believe in abortion even in the case of rape or incest. She is unclear regarding her position if the life of the mother were at stake.
• Palin has also publicly stated that Roe v. Wade is a wrong decision and one that she would like to see overturned.

Barack Obama’s stance

• A pro-choice advocate, Barack Obama has said that if he is elected he will make preserving a woman's right to choose a priority and will oppose any constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade.
• He has stated a stage can restrict late-term abortions.
• His running mate Joe Biden is a Catholic who is personally opposed to abortion yet supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose. During an interview in September on NBC’s Meet the Press, Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at conception.... [but] for me to impose that judgment on others is inappropriate in a pluralistic society."
• Biden supports the ban on partial-birth or late-term abortions and is opposed to public funding for abortion.

Contraception

The Guttmacher institute estimates that a typical woman who wants to have two children will need to use contraception for at least 20 years. However, insurance coverage for contraceptives lags behind coverage for many other basic benefits such as maternity care and other prescription drugs.

McCain’s stance

• In 2003, John McCain voted against legislation that would have required insurance coverage of prescription birth control.
• In 2007, McCain's press secretary stated that Senator McCain has a record of voting against using government money to finance the distribution of condoms.

Obama’s stance

• Barack Obama supports contraception and has stated that contraception has to be part of the educational process.
• Where sex education is involved, Obama favors a comprehensive approach that focuses on abstinence, but also provides age-appropriate sex education to reduce the risk of teen pregnancy.
• Obama is an original co-sponsor of the 2007 Prevention First Act which proposed a number of legislative changes intended to benefit women, including expanding access to contraception, ending insurance discrimination against contraception, and improving awareness about emergency contraception.

Domestic Violence

Violence against women is a serious, widespread social problem in this country. Nearly one in three American women report being physically or sexually abused

by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, and 30% of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year.

McCain’s stance

• On several occasions John McCain has touted himself as an enthusiastic supporter of legislation combating domestic violence. John McCain 's support of legislation combating domestic violence, most specifically the 1994 Violence against Women Act (VAWA) which provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, provided for automatic and mandatory restitution of those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted. But his claims are disputed by various sources including Heather Tirado Gilligan and Nikki Jones, writing for the Huffington Post, who state that "McCain voted against funding for VAWA as recently as 2007. It was McCain's second vote against VAWA, as he opposed the first version of this landmark legislation in 1994."
• PolitiFact.org clarifies the issue: "On Aug. 25, 1994...a crime bill that included the Violence Against Women Act....McCain opposed....but he opposed it not because of the Violence Against Women provisions, but because it included extra spending that McCain considered unrelated to crime and it had a provision that would have banned so-called assault weapons."
• Although John McCain has supported VAWA legislation, his voting records indicate his ongoing opposition to financing VAWA. Momocrats notes, "McCain has repeatedly voted against funding to fight and prevent domestic violence, including a $9 million increase for the Office of Violence Against Women. McCain even opposed authorizing grants to aid children who have witnessed domestic violence." They substantiate their statements by citing the legislation that McCain voted down.

Obama’s stance

• Barack Obama was the chief sponsor of the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), which provides that employers may not discharge or discriminate against an employee who is a victim of domestic violence or who has a family or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, for taking up to a total of 12 workweeks of leave from work during any 12-month period to address the domestic violence. VESSA was signed into law in August 2003.
• Obama co-sponsored and helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which provides funding and support to communities, nonprofit organizations, and police to combat domestic violence, teen pregnancy, sexual assault, and stalking. The bill establishes a sexual assault services program and provides education grants to prevent domestic violence. VAWA was signed into law in January 2006.
• Over the past decade, Joe Biden has played a major role in developing anti-crime legislation. He authored the landmark anti-domestic violence law, VAWA, which eventually passed into law in 1994.
• Biden broadened the scope of the bill when it was up for reauthorization in 2000. As a result of his efforts, the new version included authorization of $3.3 billion over five years which included funding for shelter services for battered women and their children, a grant program for civil legal services for women and protection for battered immigrant women (which wasn’t previously provided). The new act also took the major step of recognizing dating violence.

Equal Pay

Evidence shows that women make approximately 77 cents to every dollar earned by a man. Still, this is a remarkable improvement: between 1960 and 1980, the figure was 60 cents to every dollar.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act has become fundamental in the fight for equal pay for women. Lilly Ledbetter had worked at Goodyear for 19 years when she discovered she was being paid significantly less than every single one of her male counterparts. A jury agreed that she had been paid unfairly, and awarded her $223,776 in back pay, and over $3 million in punitive damages, but a judge cut that to only $300,000 because of a 1991 law that limited a company's liability for damages — even when found guilty of willful wage discrimination. In turn, the U.S. Supreme Court took away every penny awarded to Lilly Ledbetter, saying incredibly that the 180 day filing limit had begun way back when the very first paycheck showed lesser pay. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Play Act sought to overturn the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company by providing workers with a reasonable time frame in which to file a claim. In April, the Senate Republican leadership orchestrated a filibuster of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, preventing this critical bill from going to the floor of the senate for an up-or-down vote.

McCain’s stance

• John McCain has gone on record as saying, "I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it." But he’s also publicly opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would provide workers with a reasonable time frame in which to file a claim of gender discrimination.
• Yet he also publicly stated that he is opposed to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, stating, "I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation...opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems. This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

Obama’s stance

• Barack Obama's record as both a State Senator and US Senator indicates his ongoing support for the rights of women to be paid the same as men for equal work.
• During his time in the Illinois State Senate, he cosponsored and voted for the Illinois Equal Pay Act, which provided 330,000 more women protection from pay discrimination.
• In the U.S. Senate, Obama was part of the bipartisan group that introduced the Fair Pay Restoration.

Teen Pregnancy

With 750,000 teenage girls getting pregnant every year, the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world – that’s twice as high as in England or Canada.

McCain’s stance

• John McCain does not provide any position statement on pregnancy prevention at his website JohnMcCain.com but NARAL says that "Senator McCain has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion."
• Planned Parenthood notes that in 2005, McCain voted against allocating $100 million to “expand access to preventive health care services that reduce unintended pregnancy (including teen pregnancy), reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care.”
• In 2006, McCain voted against legislation to overturn the “global gag rule” which bars foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if the organization (even if using its own, non-U.S. funds) provides abortion services or information or advocates for pro-choice laws and policies in its own country.

Obama’s stance

• Barack Obama supports a comprehensive approach to sex education that focuses on abstinence but also recognizes the need for age-appropriate education to reduce the risk of teen pregnancy. He has said that information on and the availability of contraception has to be part of the education process.
• In July of 2007, Senator Obama introduced the Communities of Color Teen Pregnancy Prevention Act of 2007, which would help prevent teen pregnancies in minority communities. With this initiative he hoped to increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both safe sex methods and abstinence as the only fool-proof way of avoiding pregnancy and an STD. The act would also improve awareness about emergency contraception like the morning after pill.

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Sources: On the Issues, USA Today, NY Times, BarackObama.com, JohnMcCain.com, Women’s Issues in the 2008 Race, Time Magazine, National Abortion Rights Action League, Boston Globe, Allan Guttmacher Institute, Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Huffington Post, Momocrats, Politifact.org