WASHINGTON — Exactly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, the battles rage among both advocates and lawmakers over the future of reproductive rights at the state and federal levels.
Anti-abortion groups that have achieved considerable success in deep-red parts of the country are working to sway voters away from approving ballot questions in more than a dozen states this November that could bolster protections for abortion. Several will be decided in states that will have an outsized role in determining control of Congress and the White House.
Abortion opponents are also preparing a game plan to implement if former President Donald Trump regains the Oval Office, a prospect that could lead to sweeping executive actions on abortion access as well as at least one more conservative Supreme Court justice.
Reproductive rights organizations are honing in on the numerous ballot questions as a crucial way to remove decisions from the hands of lawmakers, especially in purple or conservative-leaning states.
Abortion rights supporters are also trying to shore up support for Democrats in key races for the U.S. House and Senate as well as hoping to keep President Joe Biden in office for another four years.
Both sides plan to spend millions to win over voters.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, National Women’s Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and several other organizations announced Monday they’re putting at least $100 million toward building “a long-term federal strategy to codify the right to abortion, including lobbying efforts, grassroots organizing, public education, and comprehensive communication strategies to mobilize support and enact change.”
“Anti-abortion lawmakers have already banned or severely restricted abortion in 21 states with devastating consequences, and they won’t stop until they can force a nationwide ban on abortion and push care out of reach entirely, even in states that have protected abortion access,” they wrote.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and PAC Women Speak Out announced they would dedicate $92 million to make contact with at least 10 million voters in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser wrote in a statement released Monday that there “is still much work ahead to ensure that every mother and child is supported and protected.”
“Meanwhile we are just one election cycle away from having every gain for life ripped away,” Dannenfelser wrote. “Joe Biden and the Democrats are hell-bent on banning protections for unborn children, spreading fear and lies, and forcing all-trimester abortion any time for any reason — even when babies can feel pain — as national law.”
Democrats have tried repeatedly to enact protections for abortion access, contraception and in vitro fertilization in Congress — both when they had unified control of government following the fall of Roe in 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and during divided government.
None of Democrats’ bills have garnered the support needed to move past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.
In addition to calling on Congress to restore the protections that existed under Roe, the Biden administration is attempting to defend abortion and other reproductive rights through executive actions as well as in front of the Supreme Court.
Abortion pill, emergency care
