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sunday mark 50 years since the founding of the United States Supreme Court grants American women abortion rights Roe v. Wade Decision – About 7 Months Later The court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, opened the door for much of the country to take them away.
Courts immediately created new fault lines across the country when they handed back more control of abortion rights to the states. It could also herald a new crack in the Republican Party.
In a moment of biggest victory for abortion rights opponents, the real question is how far lawmakers and potentially 2024 can go Presidential candidates will go out and prove they are against abortion.
Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, a potential presidential candidate, told Virginians to “choose life” during his State of the Union address this month. He backed the call by pushing for a 15-week ban. Current state laws allow abortion care for up to about 26 weeks.
It would be a real achievement for Virginia’s Yankin as he shares power at the legislative level A state with Democrats who have vowed to sabotage his plans.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week moratorium before his decision on Dobbs last year, but given his state’s Republican majority, he now He has been criticized by some conservatives for not doing enough.
Another potential Republican president’s aide The candidate, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, criticized DeSantis for not supporting stronger restrictions on abortion rights.
South Dakota has banned it almost entirely, and when asked about DeSantis, Noam told CBS News this week that other Republican governors should do more.
“I would urge every governor to do what they can to support their anti-abortion record,” she said.
When I asked Steve Contorno, CNN’s Florida political expert, how far he expected DeSantis to go to limit abortion rights, he told me that since Dobbs’ decision came out, there’s usually rhetoric. DeSantis has been avoiding details.
DeSantis released a vague statement promising to “expand anti-abortion protections” but used the ongoing legal case during the 15-week moratorium as a shield to discuss what further steps he would take.
“People on both sides of the abortion debate have told me they expect some kind of legislation that would move restrictions forward by 15 weeks, which could weaken further attacks like Noem’s, but it’s unclear whether DeSantis would support a blanket ban,” Cantor said. No told me.
A ban that goes into effect after fetal heart activity is detected could be another option, he added, noting that DeSantis supported such legislation during his first run for governor in 2018.
Contorno also noted that new Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo told the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald She wants a 12-week ban on abortions, but she would include exceptions for rape and incest, which were absent from the 15-week ban DeSantis signed into law last year.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump – who has announced he will run again in 2024 – wants evangelical leaders to do more to praise the right-wing Supreme Court for its efforts through a sweeping reexamination of US legal precedents and individual rights.
“No one has done more for the right to life than Donald Trump,” Trump told conservative reporter David Brody. “I appointed three Supreme Court justices, they all voted, they got what they fought for 64 years, many, many years.”
He claims there has been “enormous disloyalty” among evangelical leaders who are not properly supporting him now.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Gaby Orr and Kaitlan Collins wrote this week about Trump’s frustration that anti-abortion activists didn’t get more voters to the polls last November .
Trump said on his social media platform that abortion hardliners have cost the GOP vote, especially “those who firmly insist on no exceptions, even when it comes to rape, incest or the mother’s life.”
It’s the very definition of a Trumpian contradiction, taking credit for unseating Roe and being frustrated with the activists who hoped to do so. But it also speaks to the larger question of how Republicans should approach the issue.
Opponents of abortion rights want to go further and are plotting a slew of new laws in Republican-controlled states.
CNN’s Jessica Schneider and Devan Cole note that 22 state governments are under unified Republican control, and as state legislatures convene this year, they are seeking further Limit access to abortion services. Read their full report.
For example, Republicans in Wyoming introduced a bill requiring A comprehensive ban on abortion, including medical abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest, includes criminal penalties for anyone who performs it. The only exception is when the mother’s life is in danger.
The Nebraska Republican banned all abortions after fetal heart activity was detected at about six weeks’ gestation.
Schneider and Cole point out that Democrats are fighting back. Michigan Democrats, who now control the state government, are working to repeal the state’s abortion ban dating back to 1931, but it was put on hold during the Roe years and blocked by a judge immediately after Dobbs’ decision.
Meanwhile, in fully Democratic-controlled Maryland, voters could see an amendment on the 2024 ballot that would add abortion rights to the state constitution.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi spoke with anti-abortion rights groups before they gathered on Friday for the annual “March for Life” — the first of which happened in 1974, a year after Roe, and now finds activists We’re focused on abortion rights gaining momentum after states passed more restrictive laws and tried to rebuild anti-abortion Supreme Court victory in June.
“The anti-abortion movement just scored a major victory in Roe v. Wade, but our work in building a culture of life is far from done,” said Jeanne Mancini, director of the March for Life’s Education and Defense Fund. Tell Stracqualursi. Read her full report.
That may not be the case for abortion rights supporters, many of whom attribute Roe’s end to a better-than-expected performance by Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections. While Republicans will be recalibrating, Democrats will try to carry the momentum built around abortion rights into the presidential election.
