It is puzzling why the predominately male Republican party leaders think that women would gladly turn over their reproductive decisions to the government. It only shows how out of touch they are with the American public. After the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, where the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade after 50 years of precedence, huge numbers of women have come out to register to vote. Take Pennsylvania for example.
Democratic voter data firm Target Smart reported that women hold a 12 percentage point advantage over men in Pennsylvania, the highest in the nation
After SCOTUS’ ruling, 62 percent of those newly registered were Democrats. Only 15 percent were Republicans. And even more telling, 54 percent of them were under 25 years of age.
Patterns in voter registration can be extrapolated to voter enthusiasm levels, which will be crucial in voter turnout in the midterm elections. Pennsylvania registered online 63,200 new voters. Last year there was less than half that number, 25,000. .
Dana Brown executive director at the Center for Women in Politics said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer:
‘Many people have been mobilizing since the decision to register voters, particularly in the younger demographic, because that’s where you have the opportunity for growth.’
The Korean War Identification Project referred Cpl. Paul Wilkins who commented:
‘Not just me, but all my friends, we immediately registered to vote. If we have the voice to vote, we wanted it. … We were really enraged. We were like, “How are we going backward?”‘
Jamie Perrapato is the executive director of the Democratic group Turn PA Blue. She said:
‘A lot of people, they heard abortion was punted to the state and then people run and go look at their state and they’re like, “Oh … I’m in one of the bad ones.’
The Senate race is at stake as well as the House of Representatives. If Republicans take control, the federal government will restrict abortion and possibly contraception. Dems would codify a women’s reproductive rights into law, making it permanent.
Turn PA Blue reported vast numbers of women signing up to vote. However, they take nothing for granted. Perrapato continued:
‘This is motivating women. This is finally the straw where people don’t want to believe horrible things are happening, but you can’t deny it anymore. We can lose abortion as of the ballot in November.’
Elya Shaffer moved to a Philadelphia suburb from Florida last year. She said:
‘[My son] just made it so much more real, on kind of like an emotional level, not just a theoretical or political level.’
Shafter continued:
‘I’m married, very much in a position to start a family. It was a choice. But it was a really rough pregnancy and just going through all the physical, emotional stuff you go through, not just during the pregnancy but postpartum, it’s so incredibly difficult, and forcing people to do that who aren’t ready or don’t choose to be, it was really all of that.’
‘After the ruling, I thought about it constantly, to be honest,” she said. “It kept me up at night.’
And yet the Republican leadership still does not catch on to its election-determining problem.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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