When Hillary Clinton received the Democratic Party’s nomination for President in 2016, supporters of the runner-up candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were livid. Recently leaked emails suggested that the Democratic Party had given Secretary Clinton preferential treatment during the primaries. This was not surprising given that Clinton was a member of the party and Sanders, a registered Independent, was not, but the revelation left many voters feeling bitter.
I had conversations with a number of Sanders supporters that year. Some of them told me that they would vote for Clinton despite their disappointment, but others steadfastly refused. I encouraged them to reconsider.
1. I argued that if progressive voters were split on which candidate to support, that would give Donald Trump an advantage in November’s election.
At the time, many people believed that Trump had no chance of being elected. Clinton had a commanding lead in the polls, and Trump’s gruff, demagogic behavior seemed to be disqualifying. Nevertheless, Trump’s supporters were extremely passionate. Democratic division left Clinton vulnerable.
2. I argued that if elected, Trump would replace a number of supreme court justices and that those justices would be selected on the basis of their hostility toward women’s reproductive freedom.
3. I argued that a court packed with Trump/McConnell justices would overturn Roe v. Wade.
I got a lot of push back. “Of course, Trump won’t win,” people insisted. “There’s no way that Roe will be overturned. It’s the law of the land.”
And yet, here we are.
Despite all odds, Trump won presidency, nominated three justices who were hand picked by conservative think tanks, and based on a draft decision that was leaked to the press yesterday, those justices are on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, giving states the authority to restrict reproductive freedom. Many states have already passed laws banning abortion, and more bans are in the works.
I take no comfort in being right. I’d rather be convincing. Sadly, I was not convincing enough.
The lives of women in many states is about to become significantly more difficult. Women of means can fly to a blue state when they want an abortion. - Yes, we see you, daughters and sisters and staffers of Republican politicians and lobbyists. We see you, friends and cousins and nieces of anti-choice activists. Have a nice trip to California!
But for women without the means and opportunity to travel - poor women, the working poor, women who work multiple jobs in order to support a family, women who care for elderly parents, or women whose lives are dominated by abusive partners - access to healthcare has become a significant challenge.
If those women choose to self-terminate or seek the services of an illegal provider in their area, they will put themselves in grave danger. A lot of young women are going to die in emergency rooms across the country, just as they did before the Roe decision.
But wait! It gets worse.
Many of the state-level abortion bans have no exception for cases of rape or incest. Victims of these crimes will be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, even if that pregnancy was the result of a violent attack. Girls who are impregnated through sexual abused by a teacher, a coach, a counselor, or a family member will have to carry their pregnancies to term. The cruelty of these laws is beyond comprehension.
And yet, here we are. It didn’t have to come to this. The majority of Americans favor access to a safe, legal abortion. This is the result of raw political power. The people who hate abortion worked very hard to get anti-Roe justices on the nation’s highest court. The only way to take that power back is to vote in massive numbers in every election.
