Abortion Coming to the Center of the American Political Vortex


WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision not to block the Texas law that sharply restricts abortions put the issue at the forefront of American politics on Thursday, reshaping the dynamics of the midterm elections in California this month, Virginia in November, and next year. Control of congress and state houses.

Republicans hailed court’s 5 to 4 decision, explained one-paragraph midnight decision, in a stupendous victory, allowed a near complete ban on abortion in the country’s second-largest state.

For Democrats, it was a nightmare come true: a conservative Supreme Court led by three appointees of former President Donald J. Trump, the highly gerrymandered, Republican-controlled state legislature for half a century has ruled Roe v. He had let him get over Wade. an old resolution recognizing abortion as a constitutional right.

Suddenly, supporters of abortion rights found themselves grappling not only with the political and political failures that had gotten to this point, but also with the prospect that other Republican-controlled legislatures could quickly enact counterfeit laws. On Thursday, GOP lawmakers Arkansas, Florida and South Dakota promised to do so in subsequent legislative sessions.

Yet Democrats have also embraced the opportunity to push an issue they believe to be a political winner to the center of the national debate. Democrats say that after years of playing the defense, Texas legislation will test whether the reality of the abortion ban can motivate voters to support them.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada, a Democrat who will be re-elected in 2022, said people in her state are fighting to protect women’s reproductive freedom and will vote accordingly. “If a Republican is going to go to Washington to take back these freedoms, I’m going to make that a problem,” he said in an interview. “I think you should not underestimate the impact this issue has on Nevadas.”

Republicans resisted Texas law as an example for the country to follow. Lt. from Texas “This law will save the lives of thousands of unborn babies in Texas and become a national model,” said Governor Dan Patrick. “I pray that all other states follow our lead in defending life.”

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2024said he directed his office to “make sure we have the strongest pro-life laws on the books.”

The court’s decision, which does not address the essence of Texas law, creates a new urgency for President Biden and Congressional Democrats to do more than make public statements pledging to defend women’s reproductive rights.

“The weather on this issue has gotten a lot hotter and now I definitely expect Congress to get involved in these fights,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, president of the Democratic Governors Association. “Our voters expect us to do more than any of us.”

Still, Senate Democrats don’t have the votes to remove the filibuster that would be needed to change federal abortion law in the equally divided chamber.

In Washington on Thursday, Democratic leaders made a dutiful effort to demonstrate their determination to step back if Texas law could be repeated elsewhere, or to respond if the Supreme Court reinstates abortion rights. Rules for a Mississippi law that aims to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancyDecisions two months before and after Roe allow.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to vote About the Women’s Health Protection Act, which will effectively transform abortion rights into federal law.

And Mr. Biden Promised “all government effort” In response to the Texas law, he instructed the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to identify possible federal measures to help ensure women in the state have access to safe and legal abortion.

“Our land’s highest court will allow the suffering of millions of women in Texas who need critical reproductive care while the courts examine procedural complexities,” Mr Biden said. “The impact of last night’s decision will be immediate and an immediate response is needed.”

“We will not stand by and allow our country to go back to the days of abortion in the back streets,” said Vice President Kamala Harris.

The first election that could test Democrats’ capacity to mobilize voters on abortion rights will be held on September 14 in California, where voters will decide the fate of Governor Gavin Newsom. who is facing a recall effort. Mr. Newsom warned on Twitter If the recall is successful, the Texas abortion ban “could be the future of CA”.

In Virginia, the Democratic candidates for three statewide offices and the House of Delegates jumped to the point on Thursday. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe, who ran for reinstatement in November, said the fight for abortion rights will help motivate Democratic voters who may be apathetic after the party took full control of the state government in 2019 and helped Mr Biden win the state. last year.

“We are a democratic state. There are more Democrats,” said Mr McAuliffe. “But it’s an off-year, and motivating Democrats to come out is always the biggest challenge.”

The Senate campaign arm of Democrats facing 2022 has signaled that it will use abortion rights as a stick against Republicans working in states like Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada and North Carolina. Democrats, who are planning to campaign for governor next year, are poised to brand themselves as the last line of defense on abortion rights, especially in states with Republican-controlled legislatures.

“People are now realizing that the war is going to be in the states, and they accept that the only thing standing in the way of Pennsylvania passing Texas’ newly enacted ban was the veto pen of our Democratic governor,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. waiting to enter the race Gov. To replace Tom Wolf. “I gave up on politicians in Washington. I don’t think we can trust them anymore.”

While Republicans have long made ousting Roe a central political goal – as a candidate in 2016, Mr. Trump predicted that his eventual Supreme Court appointees would do so – there was still a palpable sense of shock among Democrats. Despite the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, many Democrats seemed mentally unprepared for Wednesday’s decision.

“You can’t plan for such a blatantly wrong or unconstitutional court decision,” said Conor Lamb, Democratic Representative of Pennsylvania. running for his state’s open Senate seat next year.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who advocates for women’s rights At the heart of the 2020 presidential campaignHe said Democrats can no longer be shy about fighting for abortion rights. “We have to escalate the problem,” he said on Thursday. “We need to explain to the American people that this Texas law and other laws that will be passed in other states will disrupt women’s primary health care.”

More broadly, progressive advocates lamented the failure of Democrats, who failed to match Republicans who placed great emphasis on appointing generations of conservatives by placing themselves in state capitals, key arenas where Democrats failed to protect abortion rights.

“We’re playing a 50-year catch-up game,” said Ben Jealous, a former NAACP CEO and now president of People for the American Way, a progressive organization. “The Court is stepping up with the American people. And the Republicans made the Supreme Court a seawall against democracy.”

Anti-abortion conservatives worried about the pitfalls before them, even as they were euphoric. They remembered Todd Akin, a former Missouri congressman whose 2012 Senate nomination was derailed by his own election. Declaration that women who are victims of what he calls “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant. Democrats used expressions similar to Mr. Akın’s to make the GOP look like it was waging a “war on women”. This tactic admitted the Republicans to be quite effective.

“Every candidate in the country will now be asked about their position on abortion,” said Tom McClusky, president of the March for Life Action, which advocates for laws to restrict abortion rights. “What we want to avoid is events like those that happened in the past.”

Democrats have long believed that public support for legal abortion would prevent it from being legally banned, as Texas did. Even some conservative anti-abortion activists admit that their absolutist position is not shared by the majority of Americans, although some Democrats believe they are too extreme in pledging to abolish all legal restrictions on abortion.

“You may not have the majority agree with me that life starts with conception, but they don’t believe abortion should be legal at any point, it’s all paid for by the taxpayer,” CEO Penny Nance said. Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian organization.

Support for abortion rights has not been a motivating factor for Democrats, for conservative voters against abortion. According to AP/Votecast data, voters who said abortion was the most important issue in the 2020 presidential election supported Mr Trump with 89 percent versus 9 percent against Biden.

But while Republicans have campaigned to restrict abortion rights for generations, Democrats have only recently moved to the left on the issue, from Bill Clinton’s formulation that it should be “safe, legal, and rare” to the arguments of modern Democrats that the choice should belong to women. alone. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Campaigned with anti-abortion candidates as recently as 2017.

While almost all elected Democrats now support abortion rights, few with a national profile have built a political identity around the issue.

There was one who tried Wendy Davis, the former Texas state senator who spoke for more than 11 hours in a failed 2013 effort to block legislation to restrict access to abortion in the state. He went on to run for governor in 2014 and Congress in 2020, but was easily defeated both times.

“We cannot shy away from this because we fear we will be stigmatized as abortion activists,” Ms Davis said on Thursday. “I’m proud to be labeled this way because it’s nothing to be ashamed of. There should be no stigma associated with abortion.”

Nate Cohn, Astead W. Herndon and Jeremy W. Peters contributing reporting.





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