Culture Wars/Current Controversies

Abortion is front and center this election year

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Repro Nation Monthly | March 2024
Righting the wrongs of the Dobbs decision
As the 2024 elections heat up, abortion—and all the ways Republicans have made it more difficult to access—is becoming ever more central in voters’ minds. We’ve already seen the issue’s salience in special elections, such as when Democrats took back New York’s Third Congressional District (formerly represented by the disgraced Republican George Santos). Come November, ballot measures to protect abortion rights, including one in Florida, have the power to reshape state-level politics and drive turnout among Democrats. But to start righting the wrongs of the Dobbs decision, and to benefit politically from Republican overreach, Democrats must go beyond what we’ve heard from Joe Biden and other party leaders and champion the issue to voters, writes Jeet Heer.

 

Earlier this month, Biden described himself as a “practicing Catholic” who “[doesn’t] want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade was right.” Jeet argues that “there is polling evidence that the long history of Democrats equivocating on abortion hurts both the party and the pro-choice cause.” He explains, “As Rachel M. Cohen reported in Vox in May 2023, ‘two new national polls and data from three focus groups conducted in swing states (Ohio, North Carolina, and Michigan) indicated that significant numbers of independent voters remain confused and skeptical about where Republicans and Democrats stand on protecting abortion rights.’ One poll showed that 43 percent of independent women ‘weren’t sure what Democrats’ position on abortion was.’”

 

There’s a huge opportunity here for Democrats, especially on the heels of such nakedly theocratic rulings as the one in Alabama assigning fetal personhood to frozen embryos. As our justice correspondent Elie Mystal put it in an interview on WNYC recently, the only way to prevent rulings like the one in Alabama—not to mention the Dobbs ruling itself—is to elect Democrats. That’s a pretty clear pitch to voters. Biden, stop squandering it!

 

Yours in solidarity,

Emily Douglas

Senior Editor
On Instagram, Kerry Washington recently shared The A Files, a new podcast from The Meteor on the secret history of abortion, hosted by Nation senior editor Regina Mahone and Renee Bracey Sherman. Recent episodes available here.
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Read all of the latest abortion news and analysis from The Nation here.
What We’re Reading
Yasmin El-Rifae, Abortion in Palestine: How to Get Past Checkpoints

Lux Magazine spoke with a reproductive health advocate in East Jerusalem.

 

Kavitha Surana, Inside the Internal Debates of a Hospital Abortion Committee

How do doctors decide what counts as a life-saving abortion? ProPublica listens in.

 

Pam Belluck, Abortion Shield Laws: A New War Between the States

Did you know that in the year after Dobbs, the number of abortions actually increased? Telemed abortion, including from states where abortion is legal into states where it is banned, is a huge reason why. The New York Times looks at this very recent phenomenon.
Resources
How to Get an Abortion

How to Use Abortion Pills

The Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline

If/When/How Repro Legal Helpline

Charley, the Abortion Chatbot

Digital Security and Abortion Guide

Find Help Paying for an Abortion

Abortion Access for a Young Person

Abortion Access for Immigrants

Pregnancy Criminalization, Explained
Buy Needed Items for Abortion Providers Nationwide
Share Your Story of Poor-Quality Care Post-Roe
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Categories: Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Health and Medicine, Men and Women, Sexuality and the State

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