Hobby Lobby Illustrates Broader Problem For Wehby -- Oregonians Are Learning She Won't Protect Women's Basic Healthcare & the Right To Choose

Press Release

Monica Wehby's carefully crafted façade as a so-called moderate when it comes to women's health issues is slowly and steadily deteriorating. Since the Supreme Court's horribly misguided Hobby Lobby ruling, which jeopardizes birth control coverage that millions of women rely on, voters have learned that Wehby can't be trusted to protect women's fundamental health care rights, or a woman's right to choose.

Oregon might be the most pro-choice state in the country, and Wehby, who is anti-choice, will unquestionably pay a political price in November for her positions on women's health issues. The real differences between Sen. Merkley and Wehby on women's health issues have never been clearer.

HOBBY LOBBY

When the Supreme Court's most conservative members decided Hobby Lobby, manufacturing a reason to allow companies' CEOs to make decisions about their women employees' health coverage, Sen. Merkley immediately condemned the ruling as a "tremendous blow" to women's access to fundamental health care. But Monica Wehby, who refused three times in a single interview to take a position on the Hobby Lobby case back in May, embraced the Court's decision, saying through a spokesman that "she didn't see a problem with the ruling."

In the days that followed, Wehby went even further, defending the decision by the Court's right wing to Oregon's political press corps, and misleading Oregonians about the implications of the ruling.

Wehby claimed the ruling would hurt fewer women than you think, because it "doesn't limit basic birth control" and "only limited morning-after pills and some IUDs."

But as the Associated Press had already reported, prior to Wehby's statements, none of what she said was true. The Supreme Court had already clarified that the ruling "applies broadly to the contraceptive coverage requirement… not just the handful of methods the justices considered in their ruling," AP reported.

Wehby also claimed the ruling could only affect a "very limited group of businesses" that are closely held. But that's also not true. In fact 90 percent of American companies are closely held, and those companies employ 52 percent of all private employees.

The truth is, as Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon put it: there are "candidates who support access to women's basic preventive care, like Jeff Merkley, and candidates like Monica Wehby, who would roll back the clock on access."

And while Wehby is working double-time to misinform Oregonians about the effects of the Hobby Lobby ruling, Sen. Merkley is helping lead the charge to pass legislation to correct it and restore women's access to birth control coverage. "[T]he Supreme Court has put contraceptive coverage in jeopardy for millions of women, and this bill will put women back in control of their own health care," Sen. Merkley's said.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES WHO WANT TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE

But, unfortunately for Wehby's political ambitions, it doesn't end with the Hobby Lobby ruling. Monica Wehby is anti-choice, and heaped praise on the right-wing justices who decided the ruling, and, as NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon put it, "the same justices who came to this misguided ruling are the ones she would confirm to the Supreme Court if she were a member of the U.S. Senate."

Monica Wehby described Justice Samuel Alito, the architect of the ruling, as the Supreme Court justice she likes "best of all." And she lauded Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the Court's most conservative justices, as her "ideal" Justice. Scalia believes Roe v. Wade was "wrongly decided" and "can and should be overturned," and both would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade tomorrow if they had to chance.

So while Jeff Merkley is 100 percent pro-choice, Monica Wehby is anti-choice, and she wants to stack the Supreme Court with even more anti-choice justices who want to overturn Roe v. Wade.

A CLEAR CHOICE -- AND A SERIOUS LIABILITY FOR WEHBY

Monica Wehby's entire strategy is to spend the next four months blurring the line between her and Sen. Merkley, and disguising her positions on women's health issues in order to take them off the table for November. But there are clear differences, and for Monica Wehby they present a serious liability going into the November election.

Right now, Oregonians are learning that Monica Wehby simply can't be trusted to protect women's access to basic health care or a woman's right to choose.

For example, while Sen. Merkley is proudly 100 percent pro-choice, Monica Wehby says she feels insulted to be called pro-choice. When conservative radio host Lars Larson described her as pro-choice, Wehby responded, "I am not… That really hurts me when people say that."

While Sen. Merkley forcefully condemned the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling that jeopardized birth control coverage that millions of women rely on, Monica Wehby endorsed it. Then she went further by defending it and spreading misinformation to Oregonians about its implications.

And while Sen. Merkley has the support of NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, Monica Wehby wants to stack the Supreme Court with even more right-wing justices, the same ones that architected Hobby Lobby, and whom would overturn Roe v. Wade if presented the opportunity.

Here in Oregon, we're leaders when it comes to protecting women's access to preventive care and right to make their own health care decisions. Monica Wehby does not share those Oregon values. Sen. Merkley does. The bottom line is Wehby in Washington would bring national Republicans one step closer to controlling the Senate and rolling back women's health care rights back to the 1950s.

The more you know, the clearer the choice.

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