September 20, 2022

“What’s Plan B?” Asks Man Who Wants to Ban Plan B

Michigan Republican Matt DePerno wants to treat emergency contraception “like fentanyl.”

Matt DePerno

Scott Hasse/ZUMA Press Wire

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

On Tuesday, the progressive news site Heartland Signal posted audio of Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno stating that Plan B “should be banned” in the state.

DePerno, a Trump loyalist who rose from obscurity by flogging conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, is challenging Democratic incumbent Dana Nessel in a state where reproductive rights are literally on the ballot. After some legal wrangling, residents will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to “establish a new individual right to reproductive freedom” in the state. The Republican nominee for governor, Tudor Dixon, opposes abortion, with exceptions only if the life of the mother is at stake; in August, she told a reporter that carrying a pregnancy to term was “healing” for rape victims.

According to Heartland Signal, DePerno was roped into a secretly recorded conversation with a Democratic activist while at a conservative conference in Texas last month. They spoke briefly about the state’s abortion laws, before the activist asked about banning the emergency contraception medication known as Plan B. At that point, DePerno had a surprising question for the person he was talking to: “What’s Plan B?”

Upon learning that “Plan B” was a name for the morning-after pill, DePerno quickly assented. Yes, he would support banning it. But it wouldn’t be as simple as signing a piece of paper; the government would have to show initiative. “You gotta figure out how you ban the pill from the state,” he said, adding that “you have to stop it at the border; it’d be no different than like fentanyl…And it should be banned.”

There you have it: The man who wants to be the chief law enforcement officer for 10 million people thinks Plan B should be treated like fentanyl. It is not necessarily surprising, at this point, that a Republican seeking a powerful office has not really taken the time to educate himself about the extremely famous thing that he explicitly wants to ban. But it’s always striking to see such blind confidence in action. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this in the Michigan attorney general race.

At a debate in February before the primary, the three Republican candidates, including DePerno, were asked if they believed the landmark Supreme Court ruling protecting adults’ right to contraception, Griswold v. Connecticut, should be overturned. Two of the candidates—a  former state speaker of the house, and a sitting state representative—said that they didn’t know what Griswold was, but opposed the ruling after it was explained to them. DePerno (who answered last) likewise said that the decision about whether to ban the sale of contraception should be left up to the states.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate