Democrats ramp up attacks on Republicans over abortion rights as Roe ruling looms

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Democrats facing tough re-election races are targeting Republicans over abortion rights in ads ahead of the midterm elections, after a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v Wade.

Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who won her first Senate race in 2016 with a little more than 1,000 votes, released an ad, first reported in Politico, hitting all three of her Republican challengers for supporting a ban on abortion and saying they will fulfill “Mitch McConnell’s decades-long crusade to criminalise abortion”/

“A woman’s fundamental rights, their freedoms, hang in the balance,” the ad says. Last year, New Hampshire’s legislature and Republican Gov Chris Sununu – who chose not to challenge Ms Hassan – passed and signed legislation making abortions illegal after 24 weeks and requires people seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound.

“We can take a step back, this is really an attack on a fundamental right, an attack on 50 years of precedent and really, implicates a woman’s right to make the most personal decisions but also her independence and her full participation in a democracy,” Ms Hassan told reporters last week.

“My opponents have a clear record of working to eviscerate a woman’s reproductive health rights,” she said. “The stakes could not be higher.”

In Texas, former Representative Beto O’Rourke held a major rally in Houston for abortion rights as he runs against Republican incumbent Governor Greg Abbott. Texas passed one of the most restrictive laws in the nation, banning abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected. Furthermore, people can file lawsuits against anyone who aids and abets an abortion while the person who files a suit can be compensated monetarily.

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who won a special election in 2020 and is seeking a full term this year, is one of many Democrats who will vote with other senators to codify the protections of Roe, the landmark 1973 ruling that said seeking an abortion is a constitutional right.

“My biggest concern that we make the best effort we can to preserve this constitutional right,” he said. Specifically, Mr Kelly cited how his granddaughter will be one year old in a few weeks.

“If this draft turns into the opinion of the court, she will have less rights than my two grandmothers,” he said.

In Wisconsin – one of the few places where Democrats have a chance to beat an incumbent Republican senator – state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who was in Washington the night the draft opinion leaked, released an ad showing her in front of the court saying the draft opinion represents precisely what Senator Ron Johnson wants.

“Overturning Roe v Wade, reinstating Wisconsin’s cruel abortion ban and putting doctors in jail,” she said.

Democrats are even hoping to make abortion an issue in heavily Republican Ohio. Representative Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for Senate, hit JD Vance, who won the primary to become the Republican nominee to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman, released an ad criticising Mr Vance for not wanting abortion exceptions for rape or incest.

The end of the ad says “JD Vance: criminalise abortion, punish women.”

At the same time, even if Democrats were to hold all of their seats in 2022 and flip seats in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, that would only add up to 53 Senate seats, which is far below what Democrats would need to codify protections for those seeking abortions.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey addressed these concerns last week.

“Some conservatives worked for decades to get to this moment,” he said. “We have to get to this idea that this is going to be a long effort. But even as close as this coming midterm, we could put a Congress in place that could get to reverse a lot of the damage that was done.”