CHICAGO (AP) — Two court rulings this week have dealt major setbacks to reproductive rights in Texas and Georgia, but at a crucial time in the election cycle, Democrats are exploiting them to energize voters who support abortion access.
Advocates hope the rulings serve as a reminder of what is at stake in a post-Roe America just weeks before a presidential election, marked in part by competing ideas about abortion rights and the sometimes harrowing consequences for women living in states with abortion bans live, is shaped.
“Every time our opponents say the policies we are pursuing are fine and not as extreme as you think, this constant barrage of headlines illustrates the reality and galvanizes voters,” Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, said Provides money and other support to several election campaigns to preserve or strengthen abortion rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling banning emergency abortions that violate Texas law. That same day, the Georgia Supreme Court halted a ruling that had struck down the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, used the opportunity to remind voters of the threats her campaign said a second Trump presidency would pose to reproductive rights and his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, which once provided a federal right to abortion. Trump has repeatedly seized on the appointments of the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion.
“Because of Trump’s extreme abortion bans in states across the country, including Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, women are facing terrible consequences to their health and lives — even death,” Harris wrote on X. “Let me be clear: Donald Trump is the architect of this health crisis.”
Monday’s rulings are just the latest court rulings on reproductive rights that will impact this year’s races for president and Congress. In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos could be considered children, a decision that temporarily halted in vitro fertilization treatments and wreaked havoc on the lives of couples seeking fertility treatments.
In April, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban dating back to 1864 – when the state was just a U.S. territory. Lawmakers repealed it months later, but only after the issue roiled abortion rights advocates in a state that will determine the presidency and control of the Senate.
Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for the national anti-abortion group Students for Life Action, accused Democrats of “grabbing on everything and blaming anyone but themselves for the losses in a desperate attempt to get votes.” She celebrated both rulings on Monday, expressing hope that anti-abortion election victories will instead motivate anti-abortion voters.
“We are grateful for these victories and hope they bring some wind to our sails,” she said.
In Texas, the state’s abortion ban – one of the strictest in the country – is playing a role in the Senate race between Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cuz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. The weekend before Monday’s decision, Allred vowed to restore Roe v. Wade at a campaign rally in Fort Worth.
Other Democrats in the House of Representatives, including Texas Rep. Donna Howard, also expressed outrage at the rulings. She accused the courts of “willfully ignoring the dangerous reality that many pregnant Texans must endure when they experience serious pregnancy complications.”
In Georgia, one of seven presidential battleground states, the state Supreme Court’s decision follows outrage over the deaths of Georgia women Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, who died after being denied immediate care under the state’s restrictive laws had been.
Georgia voters are looking at these stories about the impact of the state’s abortion restrictions, and “they’re going to bring that to the ballot in the presidential election,” said Jessica Arons, director of policy and government affairs at the ACLU. But those headlines could also energize voters in contests down the ballot, including citizen-led ballot measures in nine states aimed at protecting abortion rights, she said.
Support for legal abortion has increased since the Supreme Court struck down protections two years ago, according to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 6 in 10 Americans believe their state should generally allow a person who does not want to become pregnant to have a legal abortion for any reason. That represents an boost from June 2021, a year before the Supreme Court decision, when about half of Americans thought legal abortion should be available under these circumstances.
Many experts and advocates attribute this shift to Americans’ reactions to abortion restrictions that have affected much of the country since the repeal of Roe. Currently, 13 states enforce abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, while another four ban them after six weeks — before many women realize they are pregnant.
“It’s hard to say how closely voters are following each development, but it’s clear that abortion is still an incredibly important issue, and this is a reminder of why that is as we approach November,” Arons said. “As courts and politicians continue to ping-pong with women’s lives, ballot measures will be especially important.”
Only about half of states allow citizen-led ballot initiatives. Georgia and Texas, states where Republicans control the legislature and the governor’s office, are not included.
Lauren Brenzel, campaign manager for a coalition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution, said the Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling only contributes to a “public health crisis in the Southeast.”
Florida is the only state in the Southeast that allows citizen-led ballot initiatives, Brenzel said. If Florida residents vote for abortion rights, the state could become a major destination for Georgians seeking abortions. At least 60% support is required for the Florida amendment to pass.
“It raises the stakes for us here in Florida,” Brenzel said.
After the Arizona Supreme Court revived the Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions, a coalition organizing around a statewide ballot measure to protect abortion rights reported a surge in donations, volunteers and interest. Laura Dent, the coalition’s political director, said this was evidence that voters were paying attention and taking action.
“Arizona residents are seeing these headlines,” she said. “This and all the whiplash we have experienced since the Dobbs decision has really highlighted to Arizona voters how we must protect this right, and I think that will be reflected in November.”
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