‘Extreme’ Abortion Law: ‘What They Are Doing in Texas Is Going to Help Us Win Elections’
Democrats increasingly confident that they can turn issue back against Republicans politically
Even as they work to do what they can to intervene on the behalf of women in Texas who now face a repressive new abortion ban, Democrats — including those in the nation's capital — are becoming more sure that running against such unforgiving restrictions on abortion rights will make for good politics.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday that the Justice Department would use a nearly 30-year-old law designed to protect access to abortion clinics in order to ensure that women in Texas can continue to exercise their constitutional rights to abortion services.
The controversial new Texas law, prohibits any abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The law — which went into effect last Wednesday after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an emergency appeal — is novel in that it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps a woman obtain an abortion — including those who give a woman a ride to a clinic or provide financial assistance to obtain an abortion. Private citizens who bring suits don't need to show any connection to those they are suing.
Moreover, many women who seek abortions are already more than six weeks pregnant by the time that they become aware of the need.
The Texas statute, which doesn't even allow for exceptions for rape or incest, is well outside of the mainstream of American public opinion.
While many Americans may have some reservations about abortion, majorities consistently believe that abortion should be available and continue to support Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision which paved the way for legal access to abortion services nationwide for the first time.
Democrats understand this, and believe that Republicans have unwittingly handed them a powerful political weapon.
Even some anti-abortion Republicans appear to recognize the same thing, as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, seemed to grow frustrated during an on-air interview Sunday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, that the harsh Texas anti-abortion had sucked the political oxygen away from issues Republicans preferred to focus on, such as the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
When Stephanopoulos asked him about the ramifications for Roe v Wade from the Texas law, Cassidy punted.
“You know, so we can always talk about eventualities. We can always talk theoreticals. It makes good fodder. But I’m kind of a guy who’s in the middle of a state in which 700,000 people don’t have electricity, in which we’ve got a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the administration is pushing a $3.5 trillion bill which will be to inflation what the withdrawal was to Afghanistan,” Cassidy said, referring to the impact to his state from the recent Hurricane Ida. “Now, if you know, in my mind, I don’t think about theoreticals. I think about those things that are before me and that’s what I focused on.”
Republicans have been able to push through bills like the Texas abortion ban because they control so many state legislatures on a “lopsided” basis — and even the Democratic majorities in Washington DC are just “by a hair,” said former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill, of Missouri.
“I think they need to bring up a codification of Roe for a vote to put people on the spot that are pro-choice and are Republicans in Democratic areas,” she said. “So we need to be aggressive, but we also need be realistic. This is about us winning elections. And what they’re doing in Texas is going to help us win elections.”
“We're going to keep fighting”
Rep. Barbara Lee, the progressive Democrat from California, agreed.
“We’re going to keep fighting. We’re building a coalition. I think the people in our country are outraged by this decision, and no one said it was going to be easy. We know that, but we can’t let this go away. I mean, this is about life or death for many women,” Lee said in an on-air interview with MSNBC host Hallie Jackson. “You know, Hallie, I remember the days of back alley abortions before Roe vs. Wade. I mean, I was in the same predicament. I had to go to Mexico at age 15. These are heart wrenching, gut wrenching decisions. And so we can't allow this to happen to women once again. We’re not going to go back to those days. They were terrible days, they were horrible days.
“You see what’s happening now, the chilling effect on this law in terms of the bounties that are being offered. This new echo system, this economic echo system that’s being developed is outrageous,” the congresswoman added, referring to the ability of any Texans to sue women suspected of having an abortion and collect money for it. “And so yes, we’re going to have to fight. We’re going to fight. We’re ready to fight. We’ve been ready for many years, and the people in our country are ready for this. As I said earlier, the majority of voters want to see us codify and make into federal law the women’s protection, Women’s Health Protection Act. It must happen."
The Women’s Health Protection Act is a bill being offered by Rep Judy Chu (D-Calif) which would codify in federal law a woman's right to abortion services nationwide.
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