The reaction to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s ‘yes’ vote, in favor of moving the anti-Planned Parenthood bill, is ricocheting around Alaska and social media. Alaskans who support abortion rights feel burned while conservatives aren’t giving Murkowski much credit.
Lisa Jamieson is a supporter of Planned Parenthood. Jamieson says she used to think of Murkowski as overtly pro-choice, and to say she feels disappointed now is an understatement.
“It’s really very upsetting to me. I feel like – I don’t know how to say it. I feel like she sold her soul,” said Jamieson, a licensed clinical social worker. “I just don’t think she’s being true to the values that she’s always consistently espoused over the years.”
Murkowski says she believes Planned Parenthood does important work, but she says she was appalled by secret video tapes showing officials in the organization talking about harvesting fetal tissue for research. Murkowski says she voted to take up the defunding bill because she wanted to amend it to call for an investigation.
“Let’s make clear for the record what it it is that’s actually happening here,” Murkowski said, after the vote yesterday. “Because if there has been nothing unlawful then do we really want to jeopardize the access to care that some 21,000 people in Alaska have access to? No, I don’t want to.”
See Full Story at Alaska Public Media
