In the months leading up to the 2022 US midterm elections, hundreds of thousands of Facebook users in swing states were targeted with advertisements asking them to sign the Women\u2019s Bill of Rights \u2013 a relatively innocuous-sounding initiative presented as a crusade for women\u2019s empowerment. \u201cThe Real Fight For Women\u201d, read one version featuring a woman looking down at a cityscape and flexing her biceps. \u201cWe know what a woman is,\u201d proclaimed another, its text hovering over a closeup of the Statue of Liberty.
But the Women\u2019s Bill of Rights is a weapon in a war against gender equity being waged by a conservative non-profit women\u2019s group. Independent Women\u2019s Voice, or IWV, lobbies against the equal rights amendment,\u2002criticizes public school curriculum and opposes government-funded parental leave. Recently, they have turned their resources to fighting transgender rights. And, according to documents shared with the Guardian by watchdog True North Research, IWV budgeted nearly $6m to promote anti-trans messaging in 10 swing states in advance of last year\u2019s midterms.
\u201cDo not be fooled by their name,\u201d said Alyssa Bowen, senior researcher and managing editor at True North. \u201cThis group is a tool of the right to advance an extremist agenda.\u201d
When Facebook users follow a link to sign the Women\u2019s Bill of Rights, they are taken to a website that promotes traditional gender roles and characterizes transgender people as a threat to women\u2019s success and safety. The page includes a copy of the bill itself, which insists \u201cmales and females possess unique and immutable biological differences\u201d and \u201cbiological differences \u2026 warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces in order to ensure safety\u201d.
To researchers and policy experts, these bullet points are thinly veiled attempts to stoke anti-LGBTQ+ fears and erase legal protections for transgender people. \u201cThe Women\u2019s Bill of Rights does nothing for women,\u201d said Gillian Branstetter of the American Civil Liberties Union. \u201cAll they do is seek to target trans people. They\u2019re trying not only to suggest that trans people are a threat to women, but that they are the only threat to women.\u201d
The documents show this messaging has significant fiscal backing. The \u201cWomen\u2019s Bill of Rights Proposal\u201d indicates that in order to promote women\u2019s rights as a midterm issue in states with \u201ctossups or tight races\u201d, as much as $575,000 per state was allotted for marketing in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, though the documents do not show how much of this total was actually spent. When asked to confirm, Heather R Higgins, IWV\u2019s CEO, said they \u201cdon\u2019t discuss specifics with the media on non-reportable education and advocacy expenses\u201d.
Another document uncovered by True North \u2013 authored by the Independent Women\u2019s Law Center, a project of IWV\u2019s sister organization, the Independent Women\u2019s Forum \u2013 states that focusing on issues other than abortion separates the Independent Women brand from other conservative women\u2019s groups, enabling it to more successfully \u201cconvince moderates\u201d to support initiatives like abolishing the equal rights amendment by voting Republican.
That disclosure adds important context to IWV promotional materials rolled out in advance of the midterms that challenge their claims to abortion neutrality. These include a website for \u201cabortion facts\u201d that downplays the fall of Roe, and social media ads that encourage voters to worry about crime and inflation rather than reproductive rights. Another difficulty is their association with Erin Hawley, an attorney who is fighting to bar access to medication abortion and worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom in Dobbs v Jackson\u2019s Women\u2019s Health, the lawsuit that overturned Roe. Hawley was formerly an Independent Women\u2019s Law Center fellow. She is also the wife of Senator Josh Hawley, who has been accused of transphobia and has a track record of supporting anti-choice legislation.
IWV denies any intention to draw eyes away from abortion. \u201cThere is no connection whatsoever between abortion and WBOR,\u201d said Higgins. \u201cFar from being a distraction, supporting WBOR is the first test of whether anyone from across the political spectrum is serious about whether they stand with women,\u201d she said, claiming the bill has bipartisan support.
True North argues that IWV\u2019s campaign to present trans rights as threatening to cis women could be part of a through-line strategy to distract voters from the fallout of last summer\u2019s supreme court ruling against the constitutional right to abortion.
Policy experts are not surprised. \u201cGOP candidates really suffered from headlines about abortion,\u201d said Kelly Baden, vice-president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks policies related to sexual and reproductive health. \u201cIt makes absolute sense that they would rather talk about a 12-year-old being on puberty blockers.\u201d
The connection between anti-trans and anti-choice initiatives, she says, runs deeper than electoral strategy; preventing women from getting abortions and blocking people from accessing gender-affirming care are attacks on bodily autonomy. \u201cThe messaging strategy for both is that [the bans] have to do with our own health and protection. But what they\u2019re saying is that they know better than a family or a physician,\u201d said Baden.
Baden also sees parallels in the \u201cshared tactics\u201d of anti-trans and anti-choice legislative methods. In both cases, \u201cmodel bills are pushed into the hands of state legislators\u201d from outside groups, she explained. Organizations like the National Right to Life Committee and Americans United for Life, for instance, are credited with having drafted many of the abortion trigger bans that went into law shortly after Roe fell.
As of publication, IWV\u2019s Women\u2019s Bill of Rights has been passed in Kansas and Tennessee, and Montana has ratified a similar oppressive bill that defines \u201cbiological gender\u201d.
Branstetter says another commonality is the perpetuation of rigid traditional gender norms, a Republican priority, especially among members of the religious right. \u201cAnti-trans and anti-abortion laws both define women by their reproductive functions,\u201d she said. \u201cThe idea that the issues are not connected is fantastical.\u201d
The effectiveness of the messaging is hard to gauge. The 2022 midterms were a largely unsuccessful election cycle for Republicans, who squandered key races and failed to win the Senate. That performance has been attributed by many \u2013\u2002including Republicans \u2013 to\u2002losing the votes of women and young people who support abortion.
The chair of the New Hampshire Democratic party, Ray Buckley, doesn\u2019t think swing voters in his state are so easily distracted. \u201cOur independent women are more progressive than that,\u201d he said.
Last fall, far-right New Hampshire Republican candidate Karoline Leavitt sent out mailers spotlighting her crusade against trans athletes in women\u2019s sports. She lost to Democrat Chris Pappas by more than seven points. \u201cIf that was their goal in New Hampshire, they failed,\u201d said Buckley.
In Colorado, former Trump aide Stephen Miller\u2019s political non-profit sent anti-transgender brochures to Latino voters. Democratic strategists there believe such messaging pushed voters away. \u201cI think they\u2019re just weirding people out,\u201d said the state party chair, Shad Murib.
Both New Hampshire and Colorado were targeted states in IWV\u2019s Women\u2019s Bill of Rights proposal. Looking to 2024, Buckley and Murib expect to see more anti-transgender vitriol, but doubt it will win over moderates and independents. \u201cIf they want to distract from [abortion], there are plenty of things we can talk about, but they picked another wedge issue, and Colorado is just not going to bite,\u201d said Murib, pointing to voters\u2019 concerns about employment, drought and housing.
Others aren\u2019t so sure. Bowen emphasizes the outsized influence that scare tactics can have on voters. \u201cThe GOP is manufacturing fear of the LGBTQ+ community to try to drive fleeing moderates back to Trump\u2019s party to aid the 2024 elections,\u201d she said. Higgins confirmed that \u201cadvancing WBOR remains a top priority for Independent Women\u2019s Voice\u201d.
Baden believes tactics to block access to both abortion and gender-affirming care will intensify as the next election cycle approaches, with young people as a key messaging strategy. She points to Idaho\u2019s recently enacted travel ban for minors seeking abortions out of state. \u201cThey start with minors because they think they have both an easier messaging win and easier legal avenues,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we\u2019ll see more of those kinds of bills next year, but \u2026 that is just a testing ground for them.\u201d
Branstetter, too, sees restrictions for young people as the beginning of a larger escalation. \u201cThey\u2019re dropping the pretense that this was about young people,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably stepping into a legislative session and an election where outright bans on gender transitions for anyone of any age are on the table.\u201d
For her, that prospect is yet another reason to see abortion and transgender rights as two sides of the same coin. Both impact historically marginalized groups, both employ technologies that help people break free of gender norms, and both save lives. Said Branstetter, \u201cTheir goal is to make people so scared of trans freedom that you\u2019ll sacrifice your own \u2026 [but] trans rights are women\u2019s rights.\u201d
The Guardian contacted Republican party leadership in each of the 10 states identified in the Women\u2019s Bill of Rights Proposal, but received no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n