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Quoting Justice Sam Alito is one of my least favorite things to do. But with abortion rights winning big in election after election since Alito and his conservative allies on the Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I keep returning to this line he wrote in the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
“Women are not without electoral or political power.”
Indeed. We’re witnessing this play out in real-time now, as it was another very good election for abortion rights on the ballots, with decisive wins in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Voters in red-state Ohio enshrined abortion rights (with some restrictions) into their state constitution. In Pennsylvania, voters preserved the Democratic majority on the state supreme court, which has been an important firewall for abortion and voting rights in the state. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s conservative agenda, which promised an abortion ban should the GOP control the state legislature, was rejected outright as Democrats swept the state house.
This week’s wins mean that in every election since the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion “to those legislative bodies,” the anti-choice movement has been trounced at the polls. From Kansas to Montana to Ohio and beyond, all abortion rights do is win (cue DJ Khaled).
In overturning Roe, Alito and his fellow conservatives explained that their decision “allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.”
Hey Sam, how’s that working out for you and your anti-choice buddies now?
