The anti-abortion zealots are very, very excited
Leading antiabortion groups and their allies in Congress have been meeting behind the scenes to plan a national strategy that would kick in if the Supreme Court rolls back abortion rights this summer, including a push for a strict nationwide ban on the procedure if Republicans retake power in Washington.
The effort, activists say, is designed to bringa fight that has been playing out largely in the courts and state legislatures to the national political stage — rallying conservatives around the issue in the midterms and pressuring potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates to take a stand.
The discussions reflect what activists describe asan emerging consensus in some corners of the antiabortion movement to push for hard-line measures that will truly end a practice they see as murder while rejecting any proposals seen as half-measures.Advertisement
Activists say their confidence stems from progress on two fronts: At the Supreme Court, a conservative majority appears ready to weaken or overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that has protected abortion rights for nearly 50 years. And activists argue that in Texas, Republicans have paid no apparent political price for banning abortion after cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks of pregnancy.
“This is a whole new ballgame,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, one of the country’s biggest antiabortion groups, said in an interview. “The 50 years of standing at the Supreme Court’s door waiting for something to happen is over.”Advertisement
A group of Republican senators has discussed at multiple meetings the possibility of banning abortion at around six weeks, said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who was in attendance and said he would support the legislation. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will introduce the legislation in the Senate, according to an antiabortion advocate with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. Ernst did not respond to a request for comment.
One top advocate, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the antiabortion group Susan B. Anthony List, has spoken privately with 10 possible Republican presidential contenders, including former president Donald Trump, to talk through national antiabortion strategy. Most of them, she said in an interview, assured her they would be supportive of a national ban and would be eager to make that policy a centerpiece of a presidential campaign.
And Students for Life Action, along with nine other prominent antiabortion groups, plans to send a letter to every Republican member of Congress on Monday pushing them to embrace a “heartbeat bill.” The letter, which the group shared with The Washington Post, argues that a national 15-week ban would not go far enough.Advertisement
“If we are not focusing on limiting early abortions, we are not really addressing the violence of abortion at all,” Hawkins writes.
A nationwide abortion ban would be extraordinarily difficult to pass, particularly given the need for 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster under current rules. Such a measure would encounter resistancefrom nearly all Democrats in addition to a handful of Republicans, who might raise questions about its constitutionality. The Senate is split 50-50, but with a handful of competitive races this year, neither party is expected to attain a filibuster-proof majority.
A strict national ban is also likely to be impossible without anantiabortion Republican president willing to sign it.
Moreover, picking such a fight could ignite liberal activists who would be energized to push back against the prospect of abortion being banned not just in red-state America but Democratic bastions from California to New York. The early years of the Trump administration prompted huge protests, starting with the first Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration in 2017 — though it remains unclear whether a rollback of Roe would reignite that energy.Advertisement
The possibility of a nationwide ban is “terrifying,” said Kelley Robinson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, adding that the proposal would be a major motivator for Democrats in the midterm elections.
“By them saying out loud that their goal is to push a nationwide abortion ban, it makes it clear that we have to elect more pro-reproductive health champions on the national level and in the states,” she said.
I keep hearing that the Supreme Court’s decisions — which everyone assumes will be bad, we just don’t know how bad — is going to be a catalyst for opposition to form. I hope so, but there’s a feeling of impotence around the whole thing now that he high Court is packed with zealots. The way forward is not well defined.
I also think this is a problem:
When SCOTUS overturns Roe in June and allows states the ban the procedure, it will create a huge mess: for healthcare, for interstate travel, for criminal law, and for privacy rights. But that mess might not last long, since we may soon see a national ban.
I can’t tell you how many women I’ve talked to who ask “But New York will be fine, right?” Probably not! Because a.) Clinics will be overwhelmed with patients from out of state, making care harder to get for locals, and b.) A national ban is coming sooner than you expect.
This article talks about a possible legislative avenue for a national ban, but Congress isn’t the only avenue that anti-choices have for curtailing women’s rights. Like a lot of right wing policy priorities, a national abortion ban could also be enacted through the courts.
Originally tweeted by Moira Donegan (@MoiraDonegan) on May 2, 2022.
That’s the problem. And I don’t think this high court majority gives a damn about national public sentiment. They are ideologues.
Still, one would hope that if they do their worst, we will see people take to the streets. This will be the most antediluvian, throwback policy among any advanced nation.