THE MIDTERMS HANDED DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS A MANDATE TO CODIFY ABORTION RIGHTS. USE IT.
Voters in several states where abortion was on the ballot were generally favorable to abortion rights. This summer's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning decades of abortion-rights precedent left the issue of abortion rights to the states. That raised the stakes for voters in several states - including Vermont, California, Michigan, Montana and Kentucky – with abortion-related questions on the ballot this year. - NPR
With 48 senators supporting a filibuster carveout for abortion rights, Democrats should act before the new Congress. - The Intercept
What role did the extreme Republican scheme to ban all abortions play in the midterms? We mapped the results of ballot measures on protecting women's freedom to control their own bodies. The message is clear: Codify Roe.
Midterm ballot measures to protect women's freedom win
Abortion was a major concern
Abortion was the top concern for Democrats according to exit polls. They voted for Democrats carried them 3-1. Where abortion rights were literally on the ballot, they won there too. Kansas voters had already stood up for abortion rights in August, and were joined Tuesday by voters in not just California and Vermont, but in Michigan and Kentucky as well. The message was clear, and showed up in exit polls too, as voters said that a key driver of their vote was the fight over the right to choose. The Intercept
Abortion Rights Triumphed in Michigan
Abortion rights supporters notched an enormous victory in the post-Roe v. Wade abortion wars in the early morning hours of Wednesday, as Michigan voters embraced a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The ballot initiative, known as Proposition 3, has the potential to shift the center of gravity of abortion access in the Midwest, which has largely become an abortion desert since the overturning of Roe.
The win in Michigan came amid of cascade of good election night news for abortion rights supporters. Voters in California and Vermont also agreed to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitution, while Kentucky voters rejected an amendment that would have clarified that the state’s constitution does not protect abortion. Kentucky is a reliably red state, and abortion opponents’ failure to pull off a win there suggests that abortion views don’t map so neatly with partisan politics. Earlier this year, voters in Kansas also overwhelmingly rejected a measure to strip the state constitution of abortion rights. - VICE
ORGANIZE
Before the Supreme Court legalized abortion across the nation in 1973, there was a group of unlikely outlaws — ordinary women who offered the safe (yet then-entirely illegal) procedure to those in need. They were tired and enraged over not having control of their own bodies, as explored on HBO’s ‘The Janes,’ leading them to establish the titular underground network in the hopes of sparking change. Among them was Heather Booth, who’d essentially founded the much-needed service during her college years. (The Cinemaholic). Heather offers these suggestions:
- We are ALL in this together. We got this far because we all unified against the MAGA right wing and for Roe (even with all of our differences). We have to stay together.
- When we organize we can change the world--we stopped the Red Wave and need to continue that - person to person (serious year round organizing) and on line (massive social media reinforcing)
- Repeat a shared message: " Most intimate decision of our lives--when or whether or with whom we have a child" and share real stories
- Expose MAGA opposition who want to have a partisan political decision and interfere with our personal freedom.
- Cover all aspects: Legal, legislative, organizing, political, cultural, on line.
Fascist anti-abortion movement
With the end of Roe v. Wade achieved, the fascist right is setting its sights on shutting down all abortion solidarity and assistance. The 6-3 decision to destroy all constitutional abortion rights, 22 states will enact their readied trigger laws for total or near-total abortion bans, with more expected to follow. Fascistic anti-abortionists have won in the courts, but they are already making clear that a victory in law is nothing to them if the laws are not brutally enforced to forge a Christian-nationalist nation through and through. For these groups, criminalization of abortion providers is not fascistic enough. - The Intercept
TakeAway: Protect women's freedom to make the most intimate decision of their lives for themselves - when or whether or with whom we have a child. Codify Roe.
Deepak
DemLabs
Image Credit: TeePublic
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