Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), currently the House Minority Leader helming the legislative chamber’s Democrats, warned in a new interview for “60 Minutes” that U.S. democracy itself could “fall” as the nation approaches this year’s elections.
Jeffries was speaking specifically in the context of the rollback of abortion rights spurred in 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which was followed by Republican state officials around the country taking the opportunity to run with sweeping restrictions on reproductive health care.
“It’s gonna be an incredibly significant issue because on its own, it’s about freedom,” Jeffries said in the interview, referring to abortion rights. “And the extreme MAGA Republicans have set in motion the erosion of reproductive freedom. We’re gonna fight for it with everything that we’ve got at our disposal. If Roe v. Wade can fall, anything can fall. Social Security can fall. Medicare can fall. Voting rights can fall. And God help us all, but democracy itself can fall. If Roe v. Wade can fall, then anything can fall.”
Ex-President-turned-criminal defendant Donald Trump has expressed pride in the nation’s highest court making that decision, a move it undertook with three of his nominees on the nine-member bench. All three were in favor of the major rollback.
Lately, Trump’s been trying to establish a public stance on abortion that prioritizes the decision-making processes of individual states. But by default, that would include the harshest measures implemented by Republican state officials that stand and have stood to force pregnant individuals to travel extensive distances for health care that until semi-recently was widely available.
Trump is also insisting that the removal of that national legal baseline for abortion access was widely favored across the political spectrum, which… no. If it was, then why was the backdrop a court dispute at all? Why have there been extensive protests?
