Planned Parenthood Condemns Trump Administration’s Blatant Attempt to Disenfranchise People of Color

Washington, DC — In a blatant attempt to disenfranchise Americans, Donald Trump signed an executive order today creating a commission to investigate his widely disproven claims of voter fraud in an attempt to undermine integrity of U.S. elections. Instead of working to strengthen the Voting Rights Act and end the strategic suppression of people of color’s right to vote, President Trump has created a commission that will look for any excuse to further hinder turnout at the polls. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who will reportedly co-chair the commission with Vice President Mike Pence, has a long history of falsely claiming that voter fraud is rampant and attempting to keep eligible Kansas voters off the rolls. He was also a key architect of Arizona’s “show your papers” law which relied on racial profiling and was found to be largely unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood joins voter rights advocates in condemning this executive order and stands against the discriminatory tactics, like implementing voter ID laws and limiting early voting, that this commission could use to target communities of color.

Statement by Dawn Laguens, of Planned Parenthood Federation of America:

This executive order is a clear attempt to push a voter suppression agenda under the guise of protecting our elections. We see through this administration’s ruse and we won’t stand by while they target people of color’s constitutional right to participate in our democracy. Planned Parenthood is committed to protecting voters’ rights because voting is one of the most important tools we have to advocate for our fundamental human rights — including reproductive health care, immigration reform, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice. Suppressing people’s access to the polls is a direct attack on their ability to fight back against oppressive and dangerous policies that control their bodies and health.