Portrait of Hillary Clinton
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Hillary Clinton on Abortion Rights

Reproductive Rights Advocate (strong)

Hillary Clinton's position is strongly supportive of abortion access, framing it as essential to women's health and well-being. She has repeatedly stated her commitment to defending women's right to make their own healthcare decisions, which includes access to safe and legal abortion.

Her stated goals include protecting Roe v. Wade and actively opposing federal and state laws that hinder this access, such as seeking to repeal the Hyde Amendment. She has emphasized that reproductive health care is a fundamental issue that is also economic and about justice, not just a 'women's issue.'

Historically, Hillary Clinton often coupled her support for legality with the phrase that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” which she repeated in 2008, though later campaign rhetoric focused more on an unequivocal defense of the right itself and access to care.

Timeline

  1. Made a landmark statement at the UN Fourth World Congress on Women in Beijing, declaring that “human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights,” linking reproductive healthcare to broader human rights.
  2. Stated her goal was to ensure abortion was “safe, legal and rare, and by rare, I mean rare.” She also expressed that abortion should not be diminished as a moral issue and acknowledged the wrenching nature of the decision.
  3. When questioned during her presidential run, Clinton appeared to shift emphasis away from the 'rare' component towards an unequivocal defense of the right.
  4. As presumptive nominee, Clinton strongly defended abortion access at a Planned Parenthood event, calling for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment to ensure access 'not just in theory, but in reality.'
  5. In a presidential debate, she stated, “I will defend Planned Parenthood. I will defend Roe v. Wade. And I will defend women's rights to make their own healthcare decisions,” including refusing to back down on late-term procedures.

Actions Taken

  1. Advocacy/Statement
    Argued in an op-ed that New Hampshire's Executive Council should fund Planned Parenthood and promised to make women's right to make health decisions permanent if elected president.
  2. Policy Goal
    Called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding for most abortions.

Related Positions

  • planned-parenthood-funding Hillary Clinton explicitly pledges to defend and fund Planned Parenthood health centers, viewing them as critical providers of reproductive healthcare services.
  • affordable-care-act She supports defending the ACA, which includes provisions for affordable preventive health care for women, such as no-cost contraception.

Criticism

Opponents of abortion / Pro-life groups

Critics suggest that calling abortion a 'fundamental constitutional right' is incompatible with the stated goal of making it 'rare,' particularly given the definition of fundamental rights.

Donald Trump (during 2016 campaign)

Trump accused her of supporting taking 'the baby out of the womb of the mother' in the ninth month, a characterization Clinton and others disputed as a misrepresentation of late-term abortion medical procedures.