CNN
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The Democratic Party’s first major attempt to save abortion rights since the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion did more to expose the party’s helplessness in the face of the possible demise of Roe v. Wade than to unleash the kind of generational battle conservatives staged to threaten historic sentencing.
Senate Democratic leaders knew their Wednesday vote to sign the 1973 Supreme Court decision into law would fail. But ahead of a possible court decision that would abolish the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, Democrats hope the symbolism of the vote will help them reframe the stakes in November’s midterm elections, drawing a contrast with what which they believe is a next example of conservative extremism. They want to provoke a backlash to such a ruling to energize their prospects in a medium-term environment that does not look good for their party.
“All senators will have to vote and all, all Americans will see how they voted,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, told reporters before the measure was defeated by 49 votes. in favor and 51 against. “And I think the Republican Party, the MAGA Republican Party, will suffer electorally when the American people see that.”
Democrats are using the power they have, much of it symbolic, to highlight a critical divide in the country, which they believe has the potential to move millions of voters.
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, told CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday that the goal was “to get the attention of the electorate.”
Representative Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado and co-leader of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that abortion could define the midterm elections.
“America’s voters support Roe v. Wade by an overwhelming majority,” DeGette said. “Then voters will have to decide in November who they want to represent them in the House and in the Senate, and I think they will vote for pro-choice candidates.”
According to a recent CNN poll, 66% of Americans say that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned entirely, and 59% would support Congress passing legislation to establish abortion rights nationwide.
Millions of Americans have heartfelt convictions about abortion, whether it’s about a woman’s right to control her own body or about protecting what some see as a sacred life.
But it remains an unproven question whether a Supreme Court rejection of Roe v. Wade will trigger a major liberal voter uprising or further energize conservatives as anti-abortion activists seek tougher restrictions. And with voters facing high inflation, rising gas prices and other fallout from the pandemic, it’s far from clear that abortion will be the top issue in November.
Wednesday’s vote was yet another manifestation of the Democratic Party’s inability to implement its full agenda, also evident in the failure so far of President Joe Biden’s sweeping social spending and climate change bill. It was the same story when Biden declared that new voting rights laws were vital to counter GOP voter suppression in the states, but Democrats failed to enact any meaningful measures.
On abortion, like some gun safety measures, Democrats appear to have majority public support on their side, but they have failed to pass legislation to enshrine their beliefs. This failure also reflects the Republicans’ ability to use the limits of the US political system to their advantage and their ruthlessness in using power when they have it, even if it means crushing norms and traditions.
Despite controlling all the levers of political power in Washington — the House, the Senate and the White House — Democrats lack the ability to end an increasingly unbridled conservative majority on the abortion court. That’s due in part to filibuster in the Senate, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to pass major bills.
But the Democrats couldn’t even get all of their own members on board. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a family holdout, voted against the bill to preserve abortion access nationwide because he said it went much further than Roe v. Wade and ended some restrictions on the procedure in some conservative states. Two Republicans who support abortion rights, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, also voted against it and are drafting their own bill, which will also likely fail to overcome filibuster.
The failed vote also highlighted the surprising success of the decades-long movement to build a majority on the Supreme Court that is likely to bring about a massive shift in women’s rights by unseating Roe.
A vast interlocking network of campaign groups, social and religious activists, local and national candidates, and judicial officials committed to ending abortion helped build that conservative majority. And several Republican-controlled states already have legislation to ban abortion, some without exceptions for rape and incest, which will take effect immediately if the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 ruling.
For all the Democratic angst over Roe’s fate, the party has never been able to replicate the level of passion about the issue that has simmered through Republican ranks.
Still, for many voters, the prospect of Supreme Court action is new and politically raw enough that Republicans are treading carefully to avoid triggering the backlash liberals hope to provoke.
That was evident in this week’s hasty effort to retract Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s comment in USA Today that it was “possible” that a future GOP-led Senate would vote to ban abortion. Reporters repeatedly pressed him on that comment Wednesday, but he still hasn’t been able to fix an apparent slip that could hurt Republicans in the campaigns.
“Let me try one more time,” the Kentucky Republican said. “I think the sentiment in my conference is that this issue will be dealt with at the state level if, in fact, we are faced with a final decision from the Supreme Court that returns this issue to the democratic processes.”
That’s not an answer that will get McConnell or his fellow Republicans out of political hot water.
In the absence of successful legislation, there were scenes of rare emotion Wednesday on Capitol Hill, as Democrats suggested that Republicans plan to ban abortion, even in liberal states, if they win the midterm elections. About two dozen progressive House Democrats marched to the Senate before the vote, chanting, “My body, my decision!” Vice President Kamala Harris accused Republicans of extremism. “Unfortunately, the Senate did not uphold a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body,” she said.
House Republicans, meanwhile, accused Democrats of pushing to legislate abortion “on demand” to terminate pregnancies in the ninth month. There are material inaccuracies or exaggerations in the statements of both parties. But the political cacophony on the issue makes it extremely difficult for voters who don’t consistently follow the issue to figure it all out. And given the current political polarization, any idea that states can easily resolve the debate seems fanciful.
Following the Senate vote, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee issued a statement warning of the need for the party to maintain and expand its majorities in November.
“If Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans win in November, they will make abortion illegal across the country with no exceptions, impose cruel and punitive new restrictions on women, and take away the right to make our own decisions about our health care,” the spokesman said. Nora Keefe wrote.
There’s no mistaking Democratic fury and fear over the leak of Judge Samuel Alito’s draft opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, which is not final until the court announces a decision, and thus could still change. But so far, there is little sign that the party and the Liberal movement in general have the infrastructure to mount an effective counterattack to what would be one of the Conservative movement’s biggest victories.
That lack of preparation is political malpractice, since the goals of the anti-abortion movement have been known for decades, since the Republican Party has created the political conditions to achieve them.
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