For us, Roe v. Wade is essential. For Democrats, it's just a fundraising issue
Episode 71 with Ari Rabin-Havt
Last night, as celebrities strove to embody the Met Gala’s “Gilded Glamour” dress code and the members of the still-unrecognized Condé Nast union went overworked and underpaid, a draft of a Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was released. The draft doesn’t mark official law quite yet. If formalized, it will empower states to ban abortion, and it’s likely that about half the states would do so — predominantly in the American South, making out-of-state care even more inaccessible for millions of people.
It’s no surprise that people reacted with fear, anger, and dread for the post-Roe future — one that has its own implications for the overturning of Obergefell and for access to contraceptives. And, no surprise, the people in power are already beating us over the heads with warnings, threats, and pleas to vote. (Please note that the Democrats currently control the House and Senate, and hold the presidency.) Joe Biden, who only changed his stance on basic support for abortion in 2019, shifted responsibility for the future of reproductive rights to his constituents in a statement this morning:
… It will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.
Don’t let Biden, Pelosi, or their fellow reactionaries wag their fingers at you as millions of people lose the most basic degree of bodily autonomy. Democrats have enjoyed years of opportunities to codify Roe v. Wade as a law beyond the scope of conservative attacks. As we turn into the fundraising and campaigning season of the midterms, it’s worth pondering why they haven’t done so, and why such an essential right has been used merely as a means of virtue signaling. Anyway, vote!
We’ll be taking on that question ourselves this week, welcoming guest Ari Rabin-Havt to the show. We’ll be focusing, too, on Ari’s gorgeous new book, The Fighting Soul: On the Road with Bernie Sanders. During and beyond the 2020 election, Sanders and his team have moved across the country, connecting with everyday Americans, rallying for organized labor and racial justice, encouraging to share their stories of struggle with commodified housing, healthcare, education, and more. We’re lucky to have Ari on the show to give the backstory of this insider’s account, and we think you’ll enjoy.
Paying subscribers can access this conversation as a video when it’s released on Friday. Everyone else can stream it for free when the audio is released on Saturday through Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.
Democrats have let womens rights languish as conservative legislators and groups in red states have encroached on Roe over the years. They will use this as a fundraising event, nothing more.
God I hate this two-part system so much, both D’s and R’s are hostile to us, it’s just R’s are open about it, and the D’s are more covert about it. Well, the jig is up, it’s end the duopoly and break it up once and for all. EVEN with Roe v. Wade being struck down, this doesn’t mean that Democrats will be helped out in the midterm elections this year. If anything it’s possible that the Dems MASSIVELY underperform in the polls, and the GOP MASSIVELY outperform the polls. We’ve seen this happen before, in 2014, the GOP won BIG, in spite of a 2013 shutdown, and in 2020, in spite of botching COVID, Trump outperformed in defeat, and the GOP outperformed. So, buckle up, cuz this year, it’s possible that GOP STILL picks up veto-proof supermajorities in Congress and across the country in November. We need a new anti-corruption left wing party. #ThirdPartyOrBust