Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the lobbying arm of the nation’s largest abortion provider, gave Stefanik a 17% on its congressional scorecard, citing her support of the Equality Act and her voting in opposition to the Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act of 2015; that bill would have allowed states to exclude abortion providers from state Medicaid programs.
Cheney, meanwhile, has a 0% rating from Planned Parenthood Action.
Stefanik has also not yet joined a major House pro-life initiative this Congress: signing the discharge petition for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The act would require that babies surviving abortion attempts be given the requisite care that any newborn at that age would receive.
The petition, if it received a majority of signatures in the House (218), would force consideration of the legislation by the entire chamber, putting all members on the record of supporting or opposing the bill.
So far, 209 members - including seven members of New York’s delegation - have signed the petition. Stefanik has not.
In 2015, Stefanik was reportedly among a group of Republican female members who dissuaded party leadership from voting on a major pro-life bill on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
House GOP leaders had planned a vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on Jan. 22, a bill which would ban abortions once an unborn child is determined to feel pain – around 20 weeks into pregnancy. The proposed bill contained exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at stake, but required rape victims to report the rape to law enforcement. That requirement reportedly received some opposition among House Republicans.
Stefanik voted for a “Pain-Capable” bill later in May 2015, and again in 2017.
Stefank has a lifetime score of 48% from Heritage Action for America, while Cheney has an 80% lifetime score from that group.
Cheney has refused to back down from criticizing Trump’s attempts to cast the 2020 election as illegitimate. McCarthy was caught on hot mic by Axios earlier this week saying “I've had it with her.”
Cheney appeared to accept her likely ouster in an opinion piece for the Washington Post published Wednesday, where she wrote that the Republican Party “is at a turning point.”
(Story continues below)
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“Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution,” Cheney wrote, adding, “History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.”
Kate Scanlon served as EWTN News Political Affairs Correspondent through August 2021.