If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times, right? Abortion is on the ballot this midterm election season. If you’re feeling a little cynical about this, it’s hard to blame you.Me too, at least she gets a panicked fundraising email from her Nancy Pelosi once a day. But the truth is that the 2022 midterm elections will really make or break abortion rights in states across the country.
So let’s shut up Pelosi and the rest of the Congressional Democrats a little bit and break it down.
in parliament
As long as the Supreme Court is stacked in anti-choice columns as it is now, the only way to restore abortion rights in all 50 states is through Congress. You need the Senate for that. You may remember that Democrats actually passed a bill in the House.Women’s Health Protection Act— because it guarantees abortion rights, but the Democrats did not have the 60 votes to pass the filibuster and did not have the majority needed to overrule the filibuster to pass this bill , failed in the Senate.
Passing legislation is a big deal, but it’s not the only thing Congress can do to protect abortion rights. Majority votes in both the House and Senate may eventually pass. Equal Rights AmendmentEnsure equal protection under the Constitution regardless of gender. Technically, the deadline for ratification of the ERA has passed, but what if the Senate votes to extend the deadline? Equally protected under the Constitution, it becomes much harder to oppose abortion rights for everyone who chooses to have an abortion.
The good news is, according to Five Thirty Eight and the cook political reportamong other polling aggregators and analysts, Democrats have a better chance than fighting to not only retain control of the Senate, but actually increase their majority. Dobbs decisionLosing abortion rights has actually turned out to be a very hot issue for voters around the world.
governor’s race
However, it is only a national policy.since the fall of eggthere are some states where the legal right to abortion literally rests on one election. per boxKansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe are the last remaining defenses to protect abortion rights, and both face tough challenges from Republican candidates. is seeking re-election this year, and will be replaced by Democrat Josh Shapiro or hardline anti-abortion Republican Doug Mastriano.
Gubernatorial elections are also very important and terrifyingly close in Michigan and Arizona. Michigan’s Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has repeatedly vetoed Republican Congressional efforts to enforce state trigger bans and other abortion restrictions. Abortion rights could be at stake if Republican challenger Tudor Dixon wins the gubernatorial race. In Arizona, Democrat Katie Hobbs is challenging incumbent Doug Ducey for governor. Hobbes vowed to block further restrictions on abortion, but abortion rights could all but disappear in the state if Ducey and House Republicans win the next midterm elections.
state legislature
State legislatures are often overlooked in the national news because they are small and local. There are too many state legislatures for the national press to name each important legislature. But which party controls state legislatures is very important to what laws are passed in each state. Even with a Democratic governor, there’s only so much they can do to move the agenda forward when the state legislature is controlled by Republicans. In particular, the election of state attorneys general is critical in protecting abortion rights in individual states.
ballot measure
Abortion is on the ballot in many states this midterm election cycle. literal detection. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFFMore), the state of Kentucky, a non-profit organization focused on public health issues, will vote to amend its constitution to declare that the state has no constitutional right to abortion.Michigan, meanwhile, California All states, Vermont, have voted for state constitutional amendments to expand or strengthen abortion rights.
This article was originally published on Glamor. Click to see if you are registered to vote. here.
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