State Democrats, abortion-rights activists ‘incredibly frustrated’ with federal inaction

Democratic inaction at the federal level could complicate the party’s efforts to run this fall as champions of reproductive rights.

By MEGAN MESSERLY and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
05/23/2022

State-level Democratic officials and abortion-rights advocates are discouraged by how little their allies in Congress and the White House have done since a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade became public.

Instead of executive actions that could increase access to abortion pills or help protect people’s medical information, national Democrats have largely highlighted what they can’t do in the Senate and focused on fueling midterm-election turnout, angering state and local leaders who feel the burden to protect and expand access is falling almost entirely on their shoulders.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/23/state-democrats-abortion-rights-activists-federal-inaction-00034191


USA – Democrats diverge on outreach to anti-abortion swing voters

Democrats diverge on outreach to anti-abortion swing voters

By ELANA SCHOR
Feb 18, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) — In a party that’s shifted leftward on abortion rights, Democratic presidential hopefuls are offering different approaches to a central challenge: how to talk to voters without a clear home in the polarizing debate over the government’s role in the decision to end a pregnancy.

While Bernie Sanders said this month that “being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat,” his presidential primary opponent Amy Klobuchar took a more open stance last week in saying that anti-abortion Democrats “are part of our party.” Klobuchar’s perfect voting score from major abortion-rights groups makes her an unlikely ally, but some abortion opponents nonetheless lauded the Minnesota senator for extending a hand to those on the other side of an issue that’s especially important for Catholics and other devout voters.

Continued: https://apnews.com/f1bcf5ca695fdbb9214980727ebb22ca


USA – Abortion. Transgender rights. Voting access. Polarizing issues could dominate statehouse agendas in 2020.

Abortion. Transgender rights. Voting access. Polarizing issues could dominate statehouse agendas in 2020.

By Tim Craig and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
Dec. 22, 2019

Republican-controlled state legislatures are gearing up to try to tighten abortion laws across the country, while some states controlled by Democrats are looking to enshrine the right to choose into law.

It’s one of a handful of deeply polarizing issues that could dominate state legislatures in 2020, a potential sign of the partisan gridlock that’s to come — and the efforts to rally supporters during a hyperpartisan presidential election year.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/abortion-transgender-rights-voting-access-polarizing-issues-could-dominate-statehouse-agendas-in-2020/2019/12/22/57ae576c-2043-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html


Why Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Have Become So Open About Attacking ‘Roe’

Why Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Have Become So Open About Attacking ‘Roe’

Nov 25, 2019
Casey Quinlan

Since Trump entered the presidential race in 2015, anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers "have been emboldened with horrific rhetoric that supports a climate of violence against abortion providers," said Erin Matson, co-founder and co-director of Reproaction. "They’re just going for the jugular."

In late October, Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Clinton County) and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin County) introduced a bill banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. During the press conference, Borowicz said the bill could be the “dagger in Roe v. Wade.”

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/11/25/why-anti-abortion-lawmakers-have-become-so-open-about-attacking-roe/