08-04-2022, 04:53 AM
The US Supreme Court’s decision to scrap Roe v Wade has created an interesting problem for the Republicans. For 50 years, opposition to abortions has been an easy way to fire up the religious right without ever having to do anything in Congress. While it was the law of the land, Roe v Wade meant that Congress was unable to pass any laws against abortion that would withstand legal challenge. Like a bloke whose friends are holding him back physically from getting into a punch on, the Republicans were free to yell out threats to get rid of abortion without the risk of losing the fight.
For 50 years, women have been confident that Roe v Wade would continue to guarantee the right to an abortion. That meant it was difficult to motivate women to vote to preserve that right. While Republicans dreamt of reversing Roe v Wade by installing a conservative President with a compliant Republican majority in the Senate so religious conservatives could control the Supreme Court, female Democratic voters were apathetic. Sure enough, Hillary couldn’t turn them out by stressing that Trump would pack the court with religious conservatives and that’s exactly what happened.
Now, the Republicans are living the saying, “Be careful what you wish for because your wish might come true.”
Women now realise the only way to avoid The Handmaids Tale coming to life is to vote Democrat at Federal and State levels. Sure, women of the religious right will no doubt continue to fight to ban abortions completely, but the less religious conservative women and independents may change their votes. Even Donald Trump warned that the reversal of Roe v Wade may work against the GOP.
A vote in ruby-red Kansas has brought this into sharp relief. That State’s constitution guarantees the right to abortion and the GOP proposed an amendment to abolish that guarantee. The GOP controlled legislature would then have been able to join the other Red States in banning abortion (although the GOP tried to deny that this was what they wanted to do). They ran this vote together with the Democratic and Republican primaries which should have helped them pass the amendment as independent voters were left out and Democratic voters don’t turn out in big numbers for primaries. But the amendment was voted down by nearly 60% of voters.
Opinion polls suggest the reversal of Roe v Wade is quite unpopular. If the Democrats can harness this sentiment, the widely expected loss of the House and Senate in the midterms in November might not eventuate.
For 50 years, women have been confident that Roe v Wade would continue to guarantee the right to an abortion. That meant it was difficult to motivate women to vote to preserve that right. While Republicans dreamt of reversing Roe v Wade by installing a conservative President with a compliant Republican majority in the Senate so religious conservatives could control the Supreme Court, female Democratic voters were apathetic. Sure enough, Hillary couldn’t turn them out by stressing that Trump would pack the court with religious conservatives and that’s exactly what happened.
Now, the Republicans are living the saying, “Be careful what you wish for because your wish might come true.”
Women now realise the only way to avoid The Handmaids Tale coming to life is to vote Democrat at Federal and State levels. Sure, women of the religious right will no doubt continue to fight to ban abortions completely, but the less religious conservative women and independents may change their votes. Even Donald Trump warned that the reversal of Roe v Wade may work against the GOP.
A vote in ruby-red Kansas has brought this into sharp relief. That State’s constitution guarantees the right to abortion and the GOP proposed an amendment to abolish that guarantee. The GOP controlled legislature would then have been able to join the other Red States in banning abortion (although the GOP tried to deny that this was what they wanted to do). They ran this vote together with the Democratic and Republican primaries which should have helped them pass the amendment as independent voters were left out and Democratic voters don’t turn out in big numbers for primaries. But the amendment was voted down by nearly 60% of voters.
Opinion polls suggest the reversal of Roe v Wade is quite unpopular. If the Democrats can harness this sentiment, the widely expected loss of the House and Senate in the midterms in November might not eventuate.