Democrats hope the latest court rulings restricting abortion energize voters as election nears

[October 09, 2024]  By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Two court rulings this week have delivered major blows to reproductive rights in Texas and Georgia but, during a crucial time in the election cycle, Democrats are seizing on them in an attempt to energize voters who support abortion access.

Advocates hope the rulings will serve as reminders about what’s at stake in a post-Roe America just weeks before a presidential election that has been partly defined by competing visions of abortion rights and the sometimes harrowing consequences for women living in states with abortion bans.

“Every time our opponents say the policies we have in place are fine and not as extreme as you think, this continual drumbeat of headlines illustrates the reality and galvanizes voters,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, which is providing money and other support for several ballot measure campaigns hoping to preserve or strengthen abortion rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court decision that bans emergency abortions that violate Texas law. The 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, took the opportunity to remind voters of the threats her campaign says a second Trump presidency poses to reproductive rights and his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, which once granted a federal right to abortion. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion that had stood for 50 years.

“Because of extreme Trump Abortion Bans in states across the country, including Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia, women are facing horrific consequences to their health and lives — even death,” Harris posted on X. “Let me be clear: Donald Trump is the architect of this health care crisis.”

Monday's rulings are just the latest court decisions around reproductive rights to ripple through this year's races for president and Congress. In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos can be considered children, a decision that temporarily halted in vitro fertilization treatments and threw the lives of couples seeking fertility treatments into chaos.

In April, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a near total abortion ban from 1864 — when the state was only a U.S. territory. The Legislature repealed it months later, but not until after the issue had galvanized abortion rights supporters in a state that will help determine the presidency and control of the Senate.

Kristi Hamrick, spokesperson for the national anti-abortion group Students for Life Action, accused Democrats of “latching onto anything and blaming losses on anyone but themselves in a desperate attempt to get votes.” She celebrated the two rulings Monday and expressed hopes the anti-abortion wins will instead energize voters against abortion.

“We’re grateful for these wins and hopeful they may add some wind in 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 the Republican incumbent, Sen. Ted Cuz, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. The weekend before Monday’s ruling, Allred vowed to restore Roe v. Wade at a campaign event in Fort Worth.

Other Democrats in the statehouse, including Texas Rep. Donna Howard, also expressed outrage at the rulings. She accused the courts of "willfully ignoring the dangerous reality many pregnant Texans are forced to endure if they experience severe pregnancy complications.”

Supporters cheer as speakers arrive at an event kicking off a national "Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour" by the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz, Sept. 3, 2024, in Boynton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

In Georgia, one of the seven presidential battleground states, the state supreme court’s ruling comes on the heels of outrage over the deaths of Georgia women Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, who died after being denied immediate care that was attributed to the state’s restrictive laws.

Georgia voters are watching these stories about the impact of the state’s abortion restrictions and “they will bring that to the polls” during the presidential election, said Jessica Arons, a director of policy and government affairs at the ACLU. But these headlines might also energize voters in contests up and down the ballot, including citizen-led ballot measures in nine states aiming to protect abortion rights, she said.

Support for legal abortion has risen since the Supreme Court eliminated protections two years ago, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Around 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion for any reason if they don’t want to be pregnant. That represents an increase from June 2021, a year before the Supreme Court decision, when about half of Americans thought legal abortion should be possible under these circumstances.

Many experts and advocates have credited this shift to Americans’ reactions to the abortion restrictions affecting a wide swath of the country since Roe was overturned. Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy while another four ban it after six weeks — before many women know they’re pregnant.

“It’s hard to say how much voters are following each development, but it’s clear abortion is still an incredibly salient issue, and these are reminders of why as we head closer to November,” Arons said. “As courts and politicians continue to play ping-pong with women’s lives, ballot measures will be especially important.”

Only about half the states allow citizen-led ballot initiatives. Georgia and Texas, states where Republicans control the Legislature and governor's office, are not among them.

Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for a coalition aiming to enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution, said the Georgia Supreme Court ruling only adds 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 Floridians vote in favor of abortion rights, the state may become a major access point for Georgians seeking abortions. The Florida amendment needs at least 60% support 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 it's evidence that voters are paying attention and taking action.

“Arizonans are seeing these headlines,” she said. “This and all the whiplash we’ve seen since the Dobbs decision really brought into focus for Arizona voters how we need to protect this right, and I think that will be reflected in November.”

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