Responding to reports from outlets like The Christian Post and NBC News about her working at the front desk of a Planned Parenthood from January 1989 to February 1991, former Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) said in a recent statement that the job "has no bearing" on her support for President Trump's pro-life agenda.
"I personally do not support abortion," said Chavez-DeRemer. "If confirmed, I would not use my position as secretary to facilitate abortion access in Labor Department programs. My job will be to implement President Trump's agenda."
Though the nominee says her voting record in the House was 100% pro-life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has given Chavez-DeRemer a "B" for voting against pro-life policies on multiple occasions, including opposing bills codifying the Hyde Amendment, banning the FDA from removing safety regulations from abortion pills or sending them through the mail, and restoring Risk Evaluation and Mitigation System (REMS) safety requirements for mifepristone to their previous 2016 status — before the Obama administration took the first step towards weakening them.
Noah Brandt, vice president of communications at Live Action, calls this lack of detail a big problem.
"Just saying, 'I'm personally pro-life' – that is a little bit scary," he submits. "You can be personally anti-slavery but not want the government to make slavery illegal, the same way you can be personally pro-life and not want the government to make abortion illegal."
He thinks Chavez-DeRemer needs to be asked more about this issue.
"We need more information," says Brandt. "The Labor Department has influence over the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which the Biden administration turned in all sorts of ways to be pro-abortion and influence policy to encourage abortion."
Live Action explains that FMLA currently includes "incapacity related to pregnancy," which — under a pro-abortion Labor secretary — could easily be manipulated to include abortion. Additionally, the Biden administration warped PWFA to include protections for abortion with new rules in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that allow abortion to be listed as a medical condition for which employees can request workplace accommodations.
With that in mind, Brandt reiterates that Chavez-DeRemer's "sketchy" position on this topic "is something that every pro-life American should be concerned about."
As AFN has reported, conservatives also suspect the pro-labor congresswoman opposes Trump's "America First" agenda, but in that area, it is believed that the president chose Chavez-DeRemer to please the labor unions that publicly refused to endorse Kamala Harris for president.
