As Republicans celebrate end of Roe, Democrats to seek revenge at polls
Democratic lawmakers and candidates unleashed a torrent of angry, defiant statements Friday, promising to make abortion rights a decisive issue for voters in November, as Republicans celebrated their victory in a decades-long fight for the Supreme Court to end the constitutional right to an abortion.
Since a draft opinion leaked in early May indicating that the court was prepared to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, advocates for reproductive rights have looked ahead to the midterm elections as their only chance to have those rights restored. Democrats believe that by overturning the landmark decision, the Supreme Court just handed them an issue to mobilize voters, particularly suburban women, in an otherwise difficult political climate. And some Republicans are concerned about a backlash in the midterms, particularly from suburban women swing voters.
President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House on Friday, called on Congress to codify abortion into law. If there aren’t enough lawmakers willing to do so he said, then Americans must “elect more senators and representatives to codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law [and] elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaking to reporters shortly after the decision was announced, offered a preview of the Democrats’ campaign message for the next several months. “The Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban. They cannot be allowed to have majority in the Congress to do that. That’s their goal,” she said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who played the greatest role in shaping the current conservative makeup of the Supreme Court, called the decision “courageous and correct.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., echoed that sentiment, tweeting: “Every unborn child is precious, extraordinary, and worthy of protection. I applaud this historic ruling, which will save countless innocent lives. The Court is right to return the power to protect the unborn to the people’s elected representatives in Congress and the states.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the court’s decision “one of the darkest days our country has ever seen.”
In the opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr., he wrote that if women don’t like the decision to give states the power to decide whether to allow abortions, then they should vote.
“Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting and running for office,” he wrote. “Women are not without electoral or political power.”
Some Democratic candidates for the Senate are urging women to exercise that power at the polls in the fall.
“The decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is downright dangerous and tragic. I’m sick and tired of our basic, fundamental right to privacy being politicized,” said Rep. Val Demings, a Florida Democrat running for the Senate.
National Democrats had been anticipating the court would overturn Roe and they quickly announced an organizing campaign focused on electing and reelecting candidates who support abortion rights.
“The majority of voters agree: MAGA Republicans’ agenda of criminalizing abortion — including in cases of rape and incest — is wildly out of step with the American people,” said Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee held a briefing for House Democrats on Wednesday to discuss messaging around abortion and polling. Emily’s List, NARAL and Planned Parenthood participated, according to a source familiar with the discussion.
A Washington Post poll in May found a 57% majority of women say the court should uphold the constitutional right to an abortion while a slightly smaller share of men, 50%, say the same.
Some Republicans are wary about the political implications of the decision in an election year in which they’d rather be campaigning on issues of inflation and high gas prices.
“Republican campaigns would rather talk about literally anything else,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor who is closely following the midterm elections. “This puts most GOP campaigns on their back foot ... and motivates a large swath of women to vote against Republicans in general. As much as this is a policy win for most conservatives, it is a head wind for Republican campaigns for sure.”