Amid ongoing, national concerns about attempts by officials in the GOP to roll back reproductive rights and sharply restrict access to abortion, no matter the health consequences for their constituents, Hillary Clinton spoke out Tuesday.
“New voting registrations among women have surged since the radical Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v Wade,” Clinton shared alongside a graph demonstrating the trend. “Let’s win the midterms, expand our Senate majority, and codify abortion rights once and for all.” Expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate would allow Democrats to hopefully end up with a simple majority in favor of making changes to the filibuster that would be necessary for enacting certain progress on a simple majority basis. Out of the 50 Democrats currently in the Senate, 48 have indicated a willingness to make changes to the filibuster in certain contexts. The only two who haven’t are Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), the latter of whom could face a formidable primary challenge in 2024 over her general obstruction.
Increasing numbers of women registering to vote were seen in states around the country, according to available data. (Not all states make the same kind of data about new registrants available.) In Kansas, the portion of newly registering voters who were women grew by more than 15 percentage points in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe. The state recently voted down a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have formally asserted the state’s guiding document doesn’t provide a right to an abortion, which would have cleared the procedural way for significant new restrictions. A solid majority of Kansas voters who participated — some 59 percent — opposed the push. Meanwhile, Ohio and Pennsylvania also saw significant increases in the portions of women among those newly registering to vote, although overall, fewer residents newly registered to vote in Ohio after Roe was undone versus before that point. In both states, the portion of women among newly registered voters grew by more than six percent.
There is currently no ongoing U.S. Senate race with a Democratic incumbent running for re-election in which the Democrat is consistently and significantly behind the Republican in polls and public support to the extent that Democrats are consistently leading in races in Arizona and Pennsylvania. President Joe Biden also recently pointed to the opportunity for putting the protections originally provided by Roe into federal law — if Democrats expand their majority in the Senate. “Look, my friends, we offer a starkly different version and vision of this country — a vision of a better America that’s within our reach, that’s within our hands if we just vote,” he said at a rally. “If we elect two more senators, [and if] we keep the House… Folks, look, we’ll codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll ban assault weapons. We’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. We’ll pass universal pre-K. We’ll restore the Childcare Tax Credit. We’ll protect voting rights. We’ll pass election reform and make sure no one — no one — ever has the opportunity to steal an election again.”
New voting registrations among women have surged since the radical Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v Wade.
Let's win the midterms, expand our Senate majority, and codify abortion rights once and for all. https://t.co/82jTxsNHxu pic.twitter.com/39oroSA6In
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 30, 2022
