The Alito Court didn’t reduce the number of abortions in America. It also appears to have ignited more active support for women’s abortion rights, as further evidenced by the off-year elections in Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky:
In Ohio, a state that voted for Republican Donald Trump by 8 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election, voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, Edison Research projected.
The outcome extended an unbeaten streak for abortion access advocates since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn its 1972 Roe v. Wade ruling and eliminate a nationwide right to end pregnancies.
In Virginia, Democrats won control of both legislative chambers, according to the Associated Press. The result was a rebuke for Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned hard for Republican candidates and sought to unify them around his proposal to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
And in Kentucky, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won a second four-year term, Edison projected, defying the conservative lean of a state that voted for Trump by more than 25 percentage points in 2020 [Joseph Ax, “Abortion Rights Advocates, Democrats Score Wins in US Elections,” Reuters, updated 2023.11.08].
These latest election results are a big, bright memo to Democrats in Red states: don’t let your noisy Trumpist neighbors scare you into submission. Women want their rights, and plenty of men are willing to help protect those rights. Stop apologizing; run on abortion access, and you can win, even in places like Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky.
Run on freedom from government incursion into one’s health and welfare decisions altogether. Unions are on the rise because conservative Reaganista anti-worker government won’t improve your income or your working conditions. Religio-culture wars won’t make the country more safe, secure or prosperous.
When something is defined as a “right,” it’s something that can only be pried from the cold dead hands of most Americans. That’s true for guns and abortion and birth control and marrying who you want and voting. You can regulate somewhat, but you better not go so far that it appears you are taking away a right.
I believe it was a SD politician, maybe Rep. Deutsch from the Watertown area, that stated something to the effect that “women’s health decisions were the concern of the female, her doctor and local politicians.” That alone should be enough to predict that the initiated measure that will be on the ballot next November will pass yet again and allow women’s reproductive health rights in our state.
There’s no mystery here.
5. “Pro-life” is simply code for white people breeding. The extreme white wing of the Republican Party is driving the abolition of women’s rights because they’re wedded to the Great Replacement Hypothesis. African-Americans terminate pregnancies at about the same per capita rate as white people do but don’t take their jobs. Latinas, however, have fewer abortions per capita so the extreme white wing laments it’s hemorrhaging jobs to Latinos.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-fight-to-ban-abortion-is-rooted-in-the-great-replacement-theory/
This is when I consider relenting into finally joining Facebook; just so I can give a shout out to Ohio for their mega win last night. I really am so proud and relieved and want to thank the voters and all the foot soldiers and donors who chipped in for OH’s victory and tell whomever what it means to people all across this country.
“A right is an established way of acting.”
—Martin, R., 1993, A System of Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
And thinking as well as refusing to think.
Read the first story about the mis-information spewed by magats to trick voters into voting against abortion rights. Other states likely will see similar lies on their ballot measures.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/2023/11/08/winners-and-losers-from-ohio-kentucky-election-results/71499094007/
Here is Sean Hannity’s response why magats lost abortion vote.
ox News host Sean Hannity accused Democrats of trying to “scare” women voters into thinking Republicans want a nationwide ban on abortion, which he said contributed to GOP losses in Tuesday night’s elections.
“Democrats are trying to scare women into thinking Republicans don’t want abortion legal under any circumstances,” Hannity said on his nightly prime-time show after election results had come in Tuesday.
Fact of the matter is magats do want a total shutdown of abortion in America and protectorates.
Former Senator, Republican Rick Santorum said the quiet part out loud: “You put very sexy things like abortion and marijuana on the ballot, and a lot of young people come out and vote,” observed Santorum, who once “compare[d] pro-choice Americans to Nazi Germany,” as ABC News reported in 2012.
“It was a secret sauce for disaster in Ohio. I don’t know what they were thinking,” he added. “That’s why, thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot. Because pure democracies are not the way to run a country.”
It’s hopeful to see that although American will vote against their interests for candidates, they can get pulled back to reality with ballot measures — that then MIGHT have coattails.
If “Pro life” is code for white people breeding, pro choice must be code for slaughtering babies of color. Look at your own racism Kurtz.
3. Rich women have full reproductive rights while women at the lower income margins suffer chilling effects on those rights. Women in Texas, Wyoming and South Dakota who can afford it simply jump on a plane and fly to Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Denver or elsewhere for their procedures. Imagine a woman on the Standing Rock or Pine Ridge doing that.
No matter how people voted, these are victories for the conservative position that the states should decide how they want to handle this delicate issue. The conservative Supreme Court said the decision should be left to the people of each state. The people of Ohio decided that these important decisions should largely be left to women and their doctors in the early stages of pregnancy with restrictions in later stages of pregnancy. I think that’s the wise, scientific and conservative position, actually.
In don’t see why we should be “conservative” and allow a lot of restriction on what is basically an “access to health care” and ” female reproductive rights”, issues, when men face NO barriers to access to health care or to their reproductive rights. For the last time, let’s make it clear, there are no second class citizens in the United States.
Well, Roe v. Wade allowed for restrictions, but it seemed those restrictions were acceptable to most people, especially women. While most people believe in reproductive freedom, they also believe in having some more careful considerations given in the third trimester. There are restrictions on all of our rights. Your right to swing your fist stops at my nose.
But magats have been trying to scale back initiatives and referendumbs in red states so the people can’t have their say. Just like trying to eliminate opposition voters from voting rolls..
https://apnews.com/article/democracy-ballot-initiatives-abortion-republicans-ohio-missouri-c48033311370f071ccece0da975818cb
We restrict abortion. We do not restrict automatic weapons.
LCJ – “Prolife” is also code for slaughtering women AND babies of color. Look at maternal and infant mortality rates. Look in SD. They are on the rise. See Cory’s earlier post on the topic.
Good on the Ohioans. And this is why Mr. Weiland needs to stop messing up his measure, initiated. Mr. Weiland…tighten up your initiating.
Many Conservatives with Common Sense will no doubt vote for a saner amendment law bill thing. So Mr. Weiland, knock off your team’s screwing up and do it righter than right.
The only thing our legislators and Congresspeople give birth to is unlimited access to AR-15s and assault weapons, even for mentally disturbed people, witness Maine.
This is NOT a winning argument for the “pro-life” crowd.
Bill Krueger, 79, head of Door County’s (WI) Right to Life chapter, thinks that in an ideal world, there would be no exceptions to an abortion ban.
If a woman dies?
“That’s God’s plan,” he said.
NO NO NO NO NO.
Most Americans want exceptions for rape, incest, and the life or health of the mother. And they want access for a reasonable period for choice. They do NOT want politicians coming in between women and their doctors, especially when the woman’s life is on the line. So yes, abortion will get back on the ballot in every state they can get it, and the people will vote for reasonable abortion access. The problem is with the Kruegers of the world who really think that somehow no exceptions means no babies will die, and even if the mothers die, well… that’s fine with them. Not enough words in the English language to express my disgust about that.
Eve, no one seems to care about how unwanted babies are going to be raised and by whom.
magats in Ohio have decided to eliminate the courts from determining what Ohio’s new abortion law means.
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-overthrow-judicial-powers-77a68c1e6ee6fc79462f6aaf4ea1a323
Out of curiosity I googled Israel paying for abortions with US taxpayer bucks and found out they do and magats are mum.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-pro-life-groups-bite-their-tongues-as-israel-expands-abortion-coverage