The Washington Post reported that anti-abortion extremists, not content with merely banning abortion at the state level where the GOP has control, are seeking toenact a nationwide six-week abortion ban (or fifteen week ban) should Republicans gain either body of Congress in this fall's elections. And when the next GOP trifecta emerges, possibly as soon as 2025, expect such a bill to be on the top of the wishlist.
This comes as Roe v. Wade is likely to be severely eroded or overturned outright in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that is set to come out by late June or early July at the Supreme Court.
This serves as a stark reminder that abortion access isn’t safe, even in Blue states such as California or Illinois that have gone out to protect and expand abortion access in recent years, and it also serves as a reminder that we need to elect pro-choice Democrats at all levels of government.
Leading antiabortion groups and their allies in Congress have been meeting behind the scenes to plan a national strategy that would kick in if the Supreme Court rolls back abortion rights this summer, including a push for a strict nationwide ban on the procedure if Republicans retake power in Washington.
Kitchener, via Twitter:
(NEWSER) – With the Supreme Court widely expect to weaken or outright overturn Roe v. Wade in an upcoming decision, antiabortion activists who have long called for the issue to be left up to the states are now pushing for a nationwide law. Activists and some GOP lawmakers tell the Washington Post that while the movement has had success in spurring GOP-led states to ban abortion after 15 weeks, that only covers a small fraction of abortions and they now plan to push for a nationwide "heartbeat" bill banning abortions after six weeks. Sources say Republican Sen. Joni Ernst plans to introduce a heartbeat bill if the top court rules as expected—though actually passing such a bill would require a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a firmly antiabortion Republican president.
Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson posted on Twitter:
Planned Parenthood Action on Twitter:
In what may be the most notable example of “saying the quiet part out loud” in recent memory, anti-abortion activists and lawmakers are now openly strategizing on how to pass a nationwide six-week abortion ban if Republicans retake power in the midterms (which is looking likely).
The Washington Post reports that big players in the anti-abortion movement won’t be satisfied if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, letting individual states decide whether to ban abortion—they want to pass a national ban on abortion after six weeks that would be imposed even in blue states. If such a bill were to pass and be signed into law by a Republican president, it would eliminate the hope of abortion-rights havens and subject millions of pregnancy-capable people to surveillance, criminalization, and the health risks of pregnancy.
While some anti-abortion activists want to pursue abortion bans at 15 weeks—the law at the center of the Supreme Court case and like those recently passed in Arizona, Florida, and Kentucky—others say that doesn’t go far enough. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, which is set to become the first state to successfully copy Texas’s six-week ban, told the Post that Republican senators have had multiple meetings about pursuing a national six-week ban and he would support such legislation. An anonymous source said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) would introduce the bill in the Senate; Ernst didn’t respond to the Post’s request for comment.
With anti-abortion extremists likely to be granted a victory on SCOTUS in the impeding Dobbs ruling, they are going all-out to push for a ban on basically all abortions anywhere in the USA as a tool to get out their voters for the 2022 midterms and the 2024 Presidential election. And should their goal succeed, it’ll be a reverse Ireland on the issue.