I received a few fundraising e-mails yesterday from Democratic members of Congress-- starting with Chuck Schumer-- asking for contributions because the Senate Republicans... Here: Schumer: "I just got off the Senate floor, and I'm livid. Every single Republican just voted against the Women's Health Protection Act." That's true; they did. But how about some lividness for putative Democrat Joe Manchin? But not a mention of him-- not by Schumer and not by any other Democratic incumbent asking for contributions based this vote. Does Schumer think he's fooling anyone? "[N]ow," he wrote, "every American can see where every senator stands. Republicans can no longer hide behind their lies. They are officially on the record opposing a right that Americans support by a two-to-one margin." And Mr. Manchin the third?
Then I got an e-mail from Jessica Cisneros-- very different and much more straight-forward and honest. "Today," she wrote, "Sen. Joe Manchin was the lone Democrat to vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act which would have codified Roe v. Wade." This was the statement she sent out to voters in TX-28:
I warned that Henry Cuellar will be the Joe Manchin of the House-- and today, that was confirmed when Sen. Manchin followed in Rep. Cuellar’s footsteps by being the only Democrat to vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act in the Senate. When Democrats say they will ‘fight relentlessly’ to protect Roe v. Wade, we need them to act like it and do everything possible to protect our fundamental rights. End the filibuster to protect the fundamental right to abortion and stop supporting anti-choice candidates in this pivotal moment. Last week, I called on leadership to withdraw their support of Henry Cuellar who is anti-union, anti-choice, and stands in the way of delivering on Democratic priorities. Since then, their silence has been heard loud and clear. If Democrats want to earn the trust of South Texans and the American people, we need them to align their actions with their words and support our pro-choice campaign against the last anti-choice Democrat.
Democratic leadership has been vocal about the need to unseat every Republican member who voted against codifying Roe v Wade but have remained silent about their complicit support of Rep. Henry Cuellar who sided with Republicans to do the same. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s support has increased to include endorsements from Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Gregory Meeks, and Rep. Raul Ruiz. As recently as May 9th, Rep. Cuellar received additional support via leadership PAC checks from Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Rep. Lucile Roybal-Allard (D-CA).
Melanie D'Arrigo is running for an open House seat on Long Island. And she was very clear in her response to yesterday's Senate vote: "A vote against codifying Roe is a vote for forced birth."
Sounds pretty barbaric-- and she didn't shy away from lumping Manchin in exactly where he belongs: with the Republican barbarians. "Joe Manchin just teamed up with Republicans to kill the Women's Health Protection Act-- our last line of defense against the pending Supreme Court decision to gut abortion rights."
I’m pissed off that Congress has had almost 50 years to codify Roe and chose not to.
I’m pissed off that Democrats are still refusing to do what it takes to protect women, trans men, and non-binary people when we know lives are literally on the line.
I’m pissed off that the government thinks it’s their place to force us to have birth and saddle us with thousands of dollars of medical debt while stripping us of healthcare.
There is no room in the Democratic Party for bigoted, anti-choice politicians-- and there is no more room to coddle these hateful views as our rights get ripped out from under us. If they think we’re just going to roll over and not fight back, they have another thing coming.
The legacy of these hateful politicians will be their relentless subjugation of pregnant people, but I know it will lead to the biggest uprising this country has ever seen.
People across the country are rising up in protest, demanding a Supreme Court that for once lives up to the motto "Equal Justice Under Law." We are a movement-- and I invite everyone standing in our way to test us.
May I suggest contributing to Jessica's and Melanie's campaigns? They're both endorsed by Blue America and they are both on this ActBlue page-- along with other courageous, progressive, pro-Choice women.