Hassan: GOP’s Abortion Stance Raises Question of if They’ll Listen on Need to ‘Lower the Price of Gas by Standing up to Big Oil’

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) said there will be “real concern about how out of touch the Republicans are” on abortion, “which raises the issues for voters, if they won’t listen to you on this, are they going to listen to you on anything, on the need to lower the cost of prescription drugs and stand up to big pharma, or lower the price of gas by standing up to big oil?”

Hassan stated, “Well, you know, the right of people to make their own personal decisions, their right to bodily autonomy is foundational to everything else. And as we talk about the ways we come together to address the challenges we need to address, including lowering people’s prices, helping people afford things like prescription drugs or child care, they need to know that they have representation in Washington that is actually listening to them. And what we see in my race and what I think we’re seeing around the country on this issue, is candidates for Senate who are wildly out of step with where their constituents are. That is certainly the case of the opponents that I have on the Republican side, when it comes to this issue of a woman’s fundamental right to make her own choices, to chart her own path, including her own economic path.”

She continued, “So, I think what you’re going to see is, all around the country, this real concern about how out of touch the Republicans are on this fundamental and key issue, which raises the issues for voters, if they won’t listen to you on this, are they going to listen to you on anything, on the need to lower the cost of prescription drugs and stand up to big pharma, or lower the price of gas by standing up to big oil? This is about a fundamental right of protecting our freedom and recognizing that if the Republican Party is willing to go after a woman’s fundamental freedom, if they are willing to roll back the rights of half of the population, will they be willing to stand up for anyone’s freedom? And what that does to our democracy is of critical concern to my constituents, and I think Americans everywhere.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett