The Economist - USA (2022-05-21)

The Economist May 21st 2022 United States 29

Abortion

Outrage and outliers

A

re democrats blowing the chance
thattheprobableoverturningofRoev
Wadehasgiventhem?Therevelationthis
monththattheSupremeCourthasvoted,
atleastprovisionally,tostrikedownthe
rulingthatin 1973 declaredabortiona con­
stitutionalright has provided the party
witha rareopportunitytoenergisevoters
aheadofmid­termelectionsinNovember.
MostAmericansdonotwantRoetogo.
Yetinvowingtoprotectabortionrights,
Democratshaveattimesgonefurtherthan
maybepoliticallywise.OnMay11ththe
SenatevotedagainsttheDemocrats’Wom­
en’sHealthProtectionAct(whpa),which
wouldprotectabortionaccessacrossthe
country.Holdingthevotewaslargelysym­
bolic:thebillstoodnochance.Still,two
rarepro­choiceRepublicansenators,Su­
sanCollinsofMaineandLisaMurkowski
ofAlaska,anda Democrat,JoeManchinof
WestVirginia,votedagainstit,sayingit
wentfurtherthanRoe.
Though the bill broadly echoes Su­
premeCourtrulings,protectingabortion
ondemanduntila fetusisviable(ataround
23 weeks) and allowing exceptions on
healthgroundslater,itwouldbanstates
fromenacting abortionregulations that
Roepermits.MsCollinssaidshealsodis­
likedthebillbecauseit didnotallowCath­
olichospitalstorefusetoperformabor­
tions.ErinO’Brien,a politicalscientistat
theUniversityofMassachusetts,Boston,
reckonsitwouldbe“smart”forcongres­
sionalDemocratstonowbackthemore
limitedabortion­rightsbilldrawnupby
SenatorsCollinsandMurkowski.
Several Republicans have incorrectly
describedthewhpaashaving“nolimits”
onabortion.Yetthatfairlycharacterises
thesituationinatleastfourstates(Colora­
do, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont) and
Washington, dc, that have passed laws
protectingtherighttoabortionthrough­
outpregnancy,accordingtotheGuttmach­
erInstitute,a pro­choicethink­tank.Such
laws are designedto make it easierfor
womenfromstatesthatwouldbanabor­
tion—andthosethathavealreadysharply
curtailedaccess—toobtainit elsewhere.
Thoselawsstandinsharpcontrastto
therestoftherichworld.ManyEuropean
countrieshavea limitonabortiononde­
mandof 12 or 14 weeks;onlytwo(Britain
and the Netherlands) allow it until 24
weeks.HenceRoeitselfiscomparatively
liberal:of 59 countriesthatallowabortion

ondemand,Americaisoneofonly  seven

thatallowit after 20 weeksofpregnancy.

Pollingsuggeststhatsuchliberal abor­

tionlawsareoutofstepwithpublic opin­

ioninAmerica.A recentEconomist­YouGov

pollfoundthatonlya quarterofall Ameri­

cansbelieveabortionshould“always be le­

gal” with “no restrictions”. Gallup  polls

haverepeatedly foundthatmostAmeri­

canssayabortionondemand should  be

availableinthefirsttrimester(the  first  12

weeks)butnotthereafter.

Howmight allthisaffect Democrats’

prospectsatthepolls?Theirfailureto push

amoremoderatelineonabortion  could

harmthem,fortworeasons.

Extremereaction

First,itgivesRepublicansanopportunity

tocastDemocratsastheextremists.  “It’s

all,youknow,abortionuptothepoint  of

birth,”saidJohnThune,a Republican sena­

torfromSouthDakota,afterthevote on the

whpa, echoingwhathasbecomethe  Re­

publicans’maintalkingpointonabortion. 

Itwouldbehardtomakesuchclaims if

Democratshadnotdroppedthe“safe, legal

andrare”languageadoptedbyBillClinton

duringhispresidentialcampaignin  1992

(andechoedbyHillaryClintonin  2008).

JoeBiden,a practisingCatholic,has avoid­

edspeakingaboutabortionmuch—or even

usingthewordinpublic,according  to  a

website,didbidensayabortionyet.org,  that

istrackingthis—withtheresultthat more

extremevoicesinhispartyhavedomin­

ated the debate on the controversial issue.

This  leads  to  the  second  problem:  vot­

ers tuning out. Since Donald Trump swore

in 2016 that he would appoint conservative

justices  to  overturn  Roe,  the  clash  of  ex­

tremes  in  America’s  abortion  war  has  in­

tensified. This is most evident in the rash

of  cruel  and  extreme  abortion  laws  intro­

duced  in  conservative  states.  In  Missouri,

lawmakers want to prevent women travel­

ling out of the state to have an abortion. In

Louisiana,  some  lawmakers  tried  (and

failed) to classify abortion as homicide so

that prosecutors could bring criminal cas­

es against women.

Yet on the left, campaigns like #Shout­

YourAbortion,  which  encourages  women

to  recount  their  experiences  (“Having  an

abortion  made  me  happy  in  a  totally  un­

qualified  way,”  its  co­founder  has  said),

seem  unlikely  to  fire  up  the  many  Ameri­

cans of both parties who think of abortion

as  sometimes  necessary  but  hardly  desir­

able.  Protests  outside  the  homes  of  Su­

preme  Court  justices  have  elicited  criti­

cism  from  pro­choice  as  well  as  pro­life

Americans,  in  part  because  such  action

could be counter­productive.

In  the  longer  run,  it  is  progressive

states’  relaxed  abortion  laws  that  may  be

most  damaging  to  the  left.  Though  abor­

tions in the second and third trimesters are

rare, and even in states where they are per­

mitted  some  doctors  set  their  own  gesta­

tional limits, they give anti­abortion activ­

ists an easy target. Kyleen Wright, the pres­

ident of Texans for Life, says that if Roeis

overturned  groups  like  hers  will  “work  to

shore up constitutional protections in pro­

life  states,  as  the  abortion  advocates  have

done in the most pro­abortion states”. But

they  will  also  home  in  on  pro­abortion

states, she says. “Late abortions are abhor­

rent to voters pretty much acrossthepolit­

ical spectrum, so that wouldresonate even

in states that protect abortion.”n

WASHINGTON, DC
Democrats are overreaching in their defence of abortion rights

Achallenge for the body politic