Laura Gillen, a former Hempstead town supervisor running in the Democratic primary to represent New York’s 4th Congressional District, slammed incumbent U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park) and warned voters that D’Esposito’s public stance on reproductive freedoms cannot be trusted.
Gillen said D’Esposito admitted he would back a national abortion ban while on the campaign trail in 2022, supported the overturn of Roe v. Wade and endorsed Donald Trump days after the Alabama Supreme Court in-vitro fertilization ruling.
She attacked D’Esposito’s track record, saying the legislator has accomplished close to nothing while in congress.
“The one thing [D’Esposito] did find time to do is repeatedly vote for Draconian anti-abortion legislation, so it’s clear that [he] is a just another cog in the GOP wheel,” said Gillen.
Meanwhile, D’Esposito maintains that he is against a national abortion ban.
“Democrats’ misleading smear campaign cannot distort the fact that I’ve been fighting on Capitol Hill since day one to ensure women are empowered to make their own individual healthcare decisions by opposing any attempt to institute a nationwide abortion ban and advancing legislation that supports women’s access to important fertility resources like IVF treatments,” the congressmansaid in a statement.
These comments come in the wake of a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that ruled that frozen embyros can be considered children under state law. Embryos had previously been considered property by the courts, not “unborn children,” as they are described in the new ruling.
The ruling could prevent patients from freezing, donating or destroying unused embyros, which would greatly affect individuals’ access to IVF treatments.
Jessica Mackler, the interim president of EMILYs List, said the IVF ruling harms every couple with fertility issues and single woman with the desire for children.
“When Anthony D’Esposito claims he supports IVF, he’s lying,” warned Mackler. “His actions and inactions speak louder than his words.”
EMILYs List is a group that works to get pro-choice Democratic candidates elected to office, and is endorsing Gillen.
Gillen said that opponents’ claims that Democrats use abortion rights as a talking point are “insensitive” and “ridiculous.”
“I had a fetal death where I had to have an abortion procedure when I was 18 weeks pregnant … so if I was not able to have it, it would put my ability to have future children at risk, it would’ve put my life at risk, so this is personal to me,” said Gillen. “I also have two daughters and the fact that my daughters might have less rights than my 82-year-old mother enjoyed most of her life is something that is frightening to me.”
D’Esposito continues to say that he is against a national abortion ban. Most recently, he signed on to a pro-IVF nonbinding resolution. The resolution calls on representatives to pass legislature protecting IVF.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called this resolution a “feeble attempt to cover up [the Republican] Party’s anti-abortion, anti-choice track record.”
