Dem
47
GOP
53
Republican officials are determined to keep abortion front and center, despite it being a losing issue for them, politically. In just the past couple of weeks, Kansas and Missouri had ballot measures that, while not technically about abortion, were actually all about abortion. The voters knew it and, once again, voters of both parties voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion access.
In Kansas, in 2019, the state Supreme Court held that the state Constitution protects a woman's right to make health care decisions for herself, including whether to have an abortion. And in 2022, Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights following the Dobbs decision, when Republican legislators put an abortion ban on the August primary ballot. Kansans resoundingly defeated it, even though it was deliberately placed on the primary ballot, when turnout is lower and when more Republicans vote than Democrats.
Now, just ahead of the midterms, Republican legislators tried a different strategy—attacking the state Supreme Court that protected abortion rights. The idea was to shift the justiceships from appointed to elected positions, since that is more likely to produce extremist justices. But voters were not fooled. They understood the game plan: to turn the justices into partisan political actors that would uphold abortion bans, in spite of the language in the Kansas Constitution and voters' bipartisan support for abortion rights. And so, the measure was defeated by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
In Missouri, Republican legislators took a different approach, but with the same goal of overturning abortion rights. There, following the Dobbs decision, citizens put a measure on the ballot to enshrine reproductive rights in Missouri law. After it passed, Republican state officials went ballistic and tried everything they could to overturn the will of the voters and continue banning abortion. When those efforts failed, they went to the ballot box with a measure that would raise the bar for citizen initiatives, while maintaining the status quo for their own. If that had passed, the Republicans in the legislature were open about their next move—putting a measure on the ballot to strike down the citizen-led initiative to protect abortion rights. The voters saw right through this as well and handed the Republican officials another decisive defeat, with only 19.7% voting in favor.
Thanks to these failed Republican efforts, voters are reminded, just in time for midterms, exactly where the GOP stands on women's reproductive rights and health. And Planned Parenthood will make sure they don't forget, with a $47 million ad blitz in competitive House races to target Republican candidates who voted to defund the organization.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Democrats are demonstrating what it looks like when politicians stop meddling in women's health care decisions. The state just passed a law protecting abortion rights throughout pregnancy, so that a woman faced with a life-threatening situation doesn't have to bleed out in a parking lot before she can receive the care she needs.
Contrast that with Republican cuts to Medicaid, increased prescription drug prices under Medicare, and the elimination of ACA subsidies, not to mention rural hospital closures, and it sure seems like Republicans don't care about Americans' health. When it comes to health care, the Republican party platform may as well be the motto emblazoned on Melania's jacket: "I really don't care. Do U?" (L)