Title: Advocates Prepare for Political Battle Over Abortion in America
Date: [Insert Date]
Author: Caroline Kitchener
TGIF! We have another newsletter top coming at you reported with Caroline Kitchener. Today is the last of our week-long series on abortion in America one year after the fall of Roe. Tell us what we missed: [email protected].
One programming note: For the next two weeks, we’ll be on a reduced schedule. See you Tuesday. Not a subscriber? Sign up here.
Today’s edition: President Biden is slated to sign an executive order aimed at increasing access to birth control. Three prominent abortion rights groups are throwing their support behind Biden and Vice President Harris’s re-election bid. But first…
Advocates on both sides are preparing for another major political battle over abortion
The battle over abortion is already looming large over the 2024 elections.
What happens next year has the potential to further upend the nation’s new abortion landscape. The stakes are high for activists on both sides of the debate who are already working to hone their messages and sharpen their strategies.
On the left: The Biden administration has issued various guidelines, executive orders, and legal interpretations aimed at protecting abortion and reproductive health care. Federal officials are well aware a Republican administration could rescind those efforts.
Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates who scored major victories during last year’s midterm elections are now grappling with how to sustain that momentum throughout the 2024 cycle.
On the right: Antiabortion advocates are pressuring Republican candidates to back a national ban on most abortions at 15 weeks or earlier. One prominent group, SBA Pro-Life America, is likely to ask GOP candidates – some of whom have struggled to say what they’re for – to sign a pledge supporting such limits.
The stakes
A lot hinges on the 2024 presidential race. And President Biden is expected to make his support for abortion rights a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.
The federal government’s ability to intervene in state legislation has been limited, but White House officials believe they’ve used their executive powers to shore up some protections. That includes the Justice Department’s guidance making the Comstock Act – a long-dormant 150-year-old law that some in the antiabortion movement are using to argue for restrictions on abortion pills – largely inapplicable.
“Another administration could come in and remove those protections,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House’s Gender Policy Council, which helps oversee the administration’s abortion policy, said in an interview. The administration is cognizant that “nothing will replace federal legislation,” which is why it’s pushing to codify Roe, she added. About that filibuster: Nationally, Biden has called for the Democratic-controlled Senate to scrap its long-standing filibuster rules to enshrine abortion rights into federal laws. But the party doesn’t have the votes to do so.
Meanwhile, a top Senate Republican, Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.), told The Post that the GOP, if it wins back the majority, wouldn’t use similar tactics to pursue its abortion goals and intends to keep the rule requiring 60 votes to pass legislation in place for abortion policy.
Aware that a move against the filibuster by antiabortion lawmakers could backfire if party control of Congress flipped again, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she also is not advocating for such a move. But that doesn’t give Republican candidates an excuse to shy away from taking a firm stance on nationwide abortion limits, she said.
“Several candidates have said, ‘well, gee, you know, 60 votes, do we really even need to talk about federal legislation?’ … That’s not what a real leader says about any human rights cause that they claim to be a leader of,” Dannenfelser said.
Eye on 2024
In early June, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) made his long-shot presidential bid official. Quickly, Mini Timmaraju, the head of Naral Pro-Choice America, was out with a statement slamming Christie – who says he opposes abortion but believes policy decisions should be left up to the states – as being aligned with “extremist, anti-abortion politicians.”
The rapid response by design. The prominent abortion rights group is doing opposition research on every GOP candidate with one goal in mind: “Decredential them right out of the gate,” Timmaraju said.
The 2024 presidential election provides a path for the antiabortion movement to build off its victory at the Supreme Court last year. But abortion rights groups view upcoming elections as an opportunity to elect more Democrats and attempt to circumvent bans in conservative states. Abortion rights groups are planning to deploy a strategy that worked during November’s midterm elections: Enshrine abortion rights into state constitutions. They’ve launched campaigns to gather signatures for ballot measures in Ohio this year and in Florida next year, while activists in Missouri have begun the lengthy process to kick off their own effort.
It’s possible more states could follow suit. The American Civil Liberties Union is in contact with its affiliates and other partners in at least half a dozen additional states, but it’s too soon to tell whether more campaigns will ultimately be launched, said Carolyn Ehrlich, a senior political strategist at ACLU. Yet some divisions have emerged within the movement. There are disagreements over whether to include certain limits on the procedure, such as the option to regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is typically viewed as 22 to 24 weeks, or require minors to obtain consent for an abortion from a parent or guardian. This split was on full display in Missouri, where advocates filed 11 different variations of proposed language for a ballot measure.
Amid the divides, leaders of abortion rights groups say they’re united in the belief that they’ll be able to sustain public anger throughout the next election. “Everywhere I go and see folks, they are still angry about the Dobbs decision,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, the head of Planned Parenthood’s advocacy arm. “I think that the salience of abortion will continue.”
Daybook
Coming today: Biden executive order on birth control
President Biden is slated to sign an executive order aimed at improving the accessibility of contraception – an action that will serve as the White House’s policy response this week to the first anniversary of the fall of Roe.
The effort is aimed at plugging the gaps in Obamacare’s mandate to cover contraception for free and ensure health plans are complying with the rules. It comes as congressional Democrats probe complaints of some health insurersTGIF! We have another newsletter top coming at you reported with Caroline Kitchener. Today is the last of our week-long series on abortion in America one year after the fall of Roe. Tell us what we missed: [email protected].
One programming note: For the next two weeks, we’ll be on a reduced schedule. See you Tuesday. Not a subscriber? Sign up here.
Today’s edition: President Biden is slated to sign an executive order aimed at increasing access to birth control. Three prominent abortion rights groups are throwing their support behind Biden and Vice President Harris’s re-election bid. But first…
Advocates on both sides are preparing for another major political battle over abortion
The battle over abortion is already looming large over the 2024 elections.
What happens next year has the potential to further upend the nation’s new abortion landscape. The stakes are high for activists on both sides of the debate who are already working to hone their messages and sharpen their strategies.
On the left: The Biden administration has issued various guidelines, executive orders and legal interpretations aimed at protecting abortion and reproductive health care. Federal officials are well aware a Republican administration could rescind those efforts.
Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates who scored major victories during last year’s midterm elections are now grappling with how to sustain that momentum throughout the 2024 cycle.
On the right: Antiabortion advocates are pressuring Republican candidates to back a national ban on most abortions at 15 weeks or earlier. One prominent group, SBA Pro-Life America, is likely to ask GOP candidates — some of whom have struggled to say what they’re for — to sign a pledge supporting such limits.
The stakes
A lot hinges on the 2024 presidential race. And President Biden is expected to make his support for abortion rights a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.
The federal government’s ability to intervene in state legislation has been limited, but White House officials believe they’ve used their executive powers to shore up some protections. That includes the Justice Department’s guidance making the Comstock Act — a long-dormant 150-year-old law that some in the antiabortion movement are using to argue for restrictions on abortion pills — largely inapplicable.
“Another administration could come in and remove those protections,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House’s Gender Policy Council, which helps oversee the administration’s abortion policy, said in an interview. The administration is cognizant that “nothing will replace federal legislation,” which is why it’s pushing to codify Roe, she added. About that filibuster: Nationally, Biden has called for the Democratic-controlled Senate to scrap its long-standing filibuster rules to enshrine abortion rights into federal laws. But the party doesn’t have the votes to do so.
Meanwhile, a top Senate Republican, Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.), told The Post that the GOP, if it wins back the majority, wouldn’t use similar tactics to pursue its abortion goals and intends to keep the rule requiring 60 votes to pass legislation in place for abortion policy.
Aware that a move against the filibuster by antiabortion lawmakers could backfire if party control of Congress flipped again, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she also is not advocating for such a move. But that doesn’t give Republican candidates an excuse to shy away from taking a firm stance on nationwide abortion limits, she said.
“Several candidates have said, ‘well, gee, you know, 60 votes, do we really even need to talk about federal legislation?’ … That’s not what a real leader says about any human rights cause that they claim to be a leader of,” Dannenfelser said.
Eye on 2024
In early June, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) made his long-shot presidential bid official. Quickly, Mini Timmaraju, the head of Naral Pro-Choice America, was out with a statement slamming Christie — who says he opposes abortion but believes policy decisions should be left up to the states — as being aligned with “extremist, anti-abortion politicians.”
The rapid response by design. The prominent abortion rights group is doing opposition research on every GOP candidate with one goal in mind: “Decredential them right out of the gate,” Timmaraju said.
The 2024 presidential election provides a path for the antiabortion movement to build off its victory at the Supreme Court last year. But abortion rights groups view upcoming elections as an opportunity to elect more Democrats and attempt to circumvent bans in conservative states.
Abortion rights groups are planning to deploy a strategy that worked during November’s midterm elections: Enshrine abortion rights into state constitutions. They’ve launched campaigns to gather signatures for ballot measures in Ohio this year and in Florida next year, while activists in Missouri have begun the lengthy process to kick off their own effort.
It’s possible more states could follow suit. The American Civil Liberties Union is in contact with its affiliates and other partners in at least half a dozen additional states, but it’s too soon to tell whether more campaigns will ultimately be launched, said Carolyn Ehrlich, a senior political strategist at ACLU. Yet some divisions have emerged within the movement. There are disagreements over whether to include certain limits on the procedure, such as the option to regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is typically viewed as 22 to 24 weeks, or require minors to obtain consent for an abortion from a parent or guardian. This split was on full display in Missouri, where advocates filed 11 different variations of proposed language for a ballot measure.
Amid the divides, leaders of abortion rights groups say they’re united in the belief that they’ll be able to sustain public anger throughout the next election. “Everywhere I go and see folks, they are still angry about the Dobbs decision,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, the head of Planned Parenthood’s advocacy arm. “I think that the salience of abortion will continue.”
Daybook
Coming today: Biden executive order on birth control
President Biden is slated to sign an executive order aimed at improving the accessibility of contraception — an action that will serve as the White House’s policy response this week to the first anniversary of the fall of Roe.
The effort is aimed at plugging the gaps in Obamacare’s mandate to cover contraception for free and ensure health plans are complying with the rules. It comes as congressional Democrats probe complaints of some health insurers forcing patients to pay out of pocket for birth control.
Biden will direct the secretaries of three departments to consider new guidance to ensure private health insurers cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives without cost sharing. The executive order also includes other measures, such as boosting access to over-the-counter contraception like Plan B and increasing the availability of birth control to college students. This will be the third executive order aimed at reproductive care Biden has signed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. But the order doesn’t set any timelines for federal departments to finish such work, making it unclear when new guidance or rules could emerge.
Also on tap today …
Biden and Vice President Harris will join the Democratic National Committee and leaders from three of the country’s largest reproductive rights groups for an event in D.C. to mark the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Before the event, Emily’s List, Naral Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund formally threw their support behind Biden and Harris’s re-election bid. (Emily’s List’s endorsement focuses on Harris since the group only endorses Democratic women who support abortion rights.) Politico first reported the news.
On Saturday: Harris will mark one year since the Roe reversal with a speech in North Carolina, where she plans to draw a contrast between Republican support for abortion bans and the Biden administration’s efforts to protect reproductive rights, according to NBC News.