With years of bitter defeat in the United States, activists defending the right to legal abortion took a breather this Tuesday (2), with the decision of Kansas residents to reject an amendment to the state Constitution. If passed, it would pave the way for the state legislature — which is led by Republicans — to pass tough laws restricting abortion.
The so-called “pro-choice”, in English, knew that it was only a matter of time before the Supreme Court struck down the legal protection of abortion. With then-President Donald Trump’s conservatively biased nominations to court, the 1973 settlement known as Roe v. Wade’s days were numbered, and the reversal came at the end of June this year, by 5 votes to 4.
Interestingly, the fact that it was an announced defeat was also what allowed the movements to get minimally organized to immediately begin the counterattack at the state level.
Once the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization withdrew federal protection on termination of pregnancy, began a race to the courts to prevent “trigger laws”, the so-called trigger laws, from taking effect. These are projects that ban or restrict the procedure and remained “asleep” in the state system because of the ruling in force by the Supreme Court.
In a number of conservative-majority states, such as Utah and Louisiana, judges blocked anti-abortion legislation from taking effect. But some of these understandings also began to fall apart. In Kentucky, on Monday (1st) the Justice accepted the Executive’s argument and decided that a law that totally prohibits the procedure can begin to be applied.
It is in this context that Kansas’ victory, which evades judicial strategy, can be seen as emblematic. It is well known that when talking about civil rights and controversial issues such as the right to abortion, getting through the legislative path is more difficult — and that’s not just in the US. At the same time, it is less easily reversed a posteriori.
In public consultations like the one on Tuesday, the goal is to ensure abortion protection in state constitutions — either by barring bans, as in Kansas, or by proposing amendments that explicitly guarantee that right, as was done in Michigan.
In this field, the majority obtained in Kansas (from 59% to 41%, with 98% of the votes counted) is as important as it is surprising, when considering that Trump won handily in 2020 in the state. being planned since before the Supreme Court ruling by the anti-abortion lobby, it backfired.
It shows that a Republican majority in the state does not necessarily mean a majority in favor of restrictions on abortion in the population. More than that, it shows that voters who consider the decriminalization of abortion a relevant issue are more willing to leave their homes to ensure this right than before: the number of voters reached almost 900 thousand, well above the average registered in the state.
It is at this point that the second part of the activists’ strategy comes into play. Movements like Vote Pro-Choice want to encourage support for Democratic and pro-choice candidates in November’s midterm elections.
The goal is to undo republican majorities in state parliaments — at the federal level, the obstacles are greater. Today, the timid Democratic majority in Congress, with a small margin especially in the Senate, does not allow the advancement of legislative efforts to protect the right to procedure. For November, the weight of the image crisis that the Joe Biden administration is going through could still worsen the situation.
