Less than a year ago the Republicans virtually slit their own throats with the Supreme Court Dodd decision overturning Roe v Wade. It cost them scores of seats in state legislatures across the country— including flipping both chambers in Michigan— and control of the U.S. Senate and at least a dozen House seats. But they’re already back for more. Despite consistent polling that shows only a third of the country— and just 51% of Republican voters— agrees with Kacsmaryk’s decision to strictly control the use of mifepristone, (including in states where abortions are legally protected), almost 150 Republicans signed an Amicus Brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the decision.
Politico reported that the Supreme Court is expected to rule today on whether to allow Kacsmaryk’s decision to take effect, “sharply limiting access to a commonly used abortion pill nationwide. The lower court ruling, which the Biden administration wants paused while the legal battle plays out, would prohibit telemedicine prescriptions, mail delivery and retail pharmacy dispensing of the drug. It would also narrow the window of time patients are authorized to take mifepristone from 10 to seven weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant, and cut off access to the generic version of the pills— which are used in roughly two-thirds of medication abortions.”
The case now before the court undercuts one of the core arguments justices made when they overturned Roe v. Wade in June: that it’s not appropriate for “unelected members of this Court” to “override the democratic process” and set national abortion policy.
“This Court will no longer decide the fundamental question of whether abortion must be allowed throughout the United States through 6 weeks, or 12 weeks, or 15 weeks, or 24 weeks, or some other line,” declared Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. “Instead, those difficult moral and policy questions will be decided, as the Constitution dictates, by the people and their elected representatives through the constitutional processes of democratic self-government.”
…Though the 5th Circuit’s order that now sits before the Supreme Court wouldn’t go as far as Texas district court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who ruled in early April to cut off access to the pills nationwide, it would roll back access to abortion pills for millions of people, including those in Democratic-led states that have voted to protect abortion rights.
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito wrote in Dobbs less than a year ago. “‘The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.’ That is what the Constitution and the rule of law demand.”
Legal experts say the justices’ sweeping pledges to leave the abortion fray once Roe was overturned were doomed from the start.
Anti-abortion advocacy groups have been transparent that they see toppling Roe as just the beginning and are striving for the prohibition of abortion nationwide using whatever levers of power are available — from legislation to lawsuits to corporate pressure campaigns.
“The rights of fragile unborn children cannot simply be ‘left to the states,’” the group SBA Pro-Life America wrote in a memo to Congress shortly after the Dobbs ruling. “According to our estimates, [blue states that support abortion rights] account for approximately 55% of abortions that take place nationwide.”
This is an unpopular position and could be disastrous for Republicans in 2024. These are the senators who signed into to Amicus Brief:
The 3 incumbents facing the voters next year where in could take a toll are Josh Hawley (MO), Ted Cruz (TX) and Rick Scott (FL). But in the House there are dozens who have signed on, including some who are electorally vulnerable next year. Most of the members most vulnerable refused to sign on but these 10 members are jeopardizing their careers by supporting this extremist position (along with their 2022 winning percentages):
Lauren Boebert (CO)- 50.08%
Monica De La Cruz (TX)- 53.3%
Eli Crane (AZ)- 53.9%
Ashley Hinson (IA)- 54.1%
Bill Huizenga (MI)- 54.4%
Max Miller (OH)- 55.4%
Andy Ogles (TN)- 55.8%
Tony Gonzales (TX)- 55.9%
Bob Good (VA)- 57.7%
Cory Mills (FL)- 58.5%