No. of Recommendations: 13
In the midst of Harris' address to a rally attended by 30,000 in Houston on October 25, she noted this irony...
The Attorney General for the State of Texas is currently suing the federal government in defense of a Texas state law that requires doctors to surrender private medical records to the State of Texas in order for it to enforce its law that prevents women from obtaining abortion care in other states. Yet the man who claims credit for toppling Roe and encouraging laws like those in Texas won't provide access to HIS medical records. Isn't that the damndest thing?
It's very clear from this rally -- from the introductions and Harris' comments -- that preventing further erosion in abortion rights is at the top of her policy priorities. It was the ONLY TOPIC she addressed.
I will repeat a comment made several times over the past few months, however. The criticality of this election on current and future abortion rights is NOT being properly framed with the public. Candidates in favor of abortion rights are avoiding the elephant in the room. If every toss-up race in the House and Senate goes to a Democratic candidate and the White House goes to Harris, it is likely that FURTHER federal restrictions on abortion will be off the table. HOWEVER, that does nothing for citizens in states that have enacted abortion bans after the Dobbs decision in 2022. That decision didn't just eliminate the federal protections for abortion access, it rejected the prior underlying legal rationale upon which any existing abortion laws were written. Any swing state that votes back in state laws re-establishing access to abortion yet remains controlled by Republicans is likely to see lawsuits filed to go back to the Supreme Court to attempt to obtain an even more radical ruling which declares any abortion in any situation to be "unconstitutional."
Pro-choice politicians need to be explaining in EVERY rally that any ONE vote in ONE race will not restore the Roe era status quo. It only prevents a further slide off the cliff. In order to make more progress reverting to a Roe world, every voter needs to pay attention to every vote in every race for the next DECADE. No one wants to hear that and politicians don't want to say that but those politicians are deluding themselves and their constituents about the real stakes. Any ballot that includes a vote for Harris due to support for abortion rights yet returns a Republican Representative or Senator to office at the state or federal level has been cast by someone who really does not understand how America got to this point and how difficult it will be to go back.
WTH
