It sure feels good to write this newsletter today!! Democrats had wins and losses, to be sure, but the one unequivocal takeaway from last night’s results is that abortion is a winning issue. Just like we said it was.
FYI: The format for today’s newsletter is a little different—and if I’ve miss anything you think is important (because honestly, I’m running on very little sleep) please leave it in comments or email me at jessica@substack.com.
Wins…
Abortion was on the ballot in five different states—and we won every single fucking one of them. Exit polls not only showed an incredible turnout from voters under 30 years old—who supported Democrats by over 70% in key states—but that abortion was a top issue for voters: number 2 behind inflation, with 27% of respondents saying it was the most important issue for their midterm vote. Remember all those think-pieces insisting that abortion was decreasing in importance to voters? I guess not!
I hate to say I told you so, but actually I don’t hate to say it at all. Feminists have been sounding the alarm about how abortion rights are a winning issue—pointing out that even Republicans were distressed about how extreme the anti-abortion legislation is. We’ve recounted, again and again, how the majority of Americans have supported the legal right to abortion for decades.
KENTUCKY
Let’s start with the most exciting win: In Kentucky, voters rejected an anti-abortion effort to change the state constitution—making clear that abortion rights are incredibly popular, even in red states. Amendment 2 would have added language to Kentucky’s constitution that read: “To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” Abortion is already illegal in Kentucky, but the additional language would have made it nearly impossible to fight back against the state ban.
Protect Kentucky Access did a hell of a job campaigning, led by Rachel Sweet—who also directed the campaign that defeated a similar anti-abortion measure in Kansas. They drove home the (accurate!) message that this was an extreme move:
In response to the pro-choice win, anti-abortion group Yes for Life Alliance said in a statement, “We are devastated that radical, out-of-state activists spent millions of dollars to confuse Kentuckians about the Yes for Life amendment.”
Yeah, I don’t think anyone was confused—and maybe if you want to win over voters, don’t suggest that they didn’t know what they were voting for. (And honestly, that seems like projection: Anti-abortion activists spread a lot of misinformation in Kentucky in the lead-up to the vote.)
If any of the pro-choice wins demonstrate that abortion rights are a winning issue, it’s this one. Like I wrote in my piece in The New York Times this past weekend, this wasn’t about Republicans or Democrats—but whether people would cast a vote for the continuation of suffering that banning abortion has caused.
VERMONT
Last night, Vermont became the first, hopefully of many, state to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. By this morning, votes to pass Proposal 5 outnumbered ‘no’ votes by 72%-22%.
James Lyall, Executive Director of ACLU of Vermont, said, “Vermonters have sent a powerful message that they value this fundamental right and will not tolerate it being taken away.”
The win means that Vermont will add a 22nd Article to their constitution that says “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course…” (Full text here)
Anti-abortion activists in the state tried to fight against the measure by arguing that it would allow “abortion anytime for any reason.” (Which honestly sounds fine to me.) Among other things, pro-choicers campaigning for the ballot measure included calling on medical professionals to explain why abortion rights are so vital—like this op-ed from a nurse that debunked anti-choice myths about the amendment.
You love to see it.
CALIFORNIA
California voters also decided to protect abortion access in the state constitution last night via Proposition 1. The measure—which proposed adding language to protect abortion rights and the right to contraception—always had overwhelming support in the state, but it was lovely to see the win brought home.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has spent the last few months passing packages of abortion-rights legislation and putting up billboards in anti-abortion states telling people how to come to California for care, said, “We affirmed we are a true freedom state.”
MICHIGAN
The polls had always looked good in Michigan for support of Proposal 3—which asked voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution—but I was worried there towards the end, as conservatives switched up their strategy attacking the measure.
Instead of focusing solely on abortion, conservative and anti-abortion activists tried to tap into anti-trans bigotry—(falsely) claiming that the measure would allow children to have gender affirming surgery and hormonal treatment without parental consent.
You also may remember that Republicans tried to keep Michigan voters from being able to make their voices heard on abortion at all, by trying to block the measure from going on the ballot by claiming that it had TOO MANY TYPOS. They knew that abortion was a winning issue, and they did everything they could to keep it out of voters’ hands.
Thankfully, they were not successful: The ballot measure ended up winning by 57%-43%. Fuck yeah, Michigan.
MONTANA
You all know this one was personal to me. Anti-abortion groups in Montana tried to pass a ballot measure that would have mandated doctors to take every effort to save any infant “born alive” after labor, a c-section or after “an attempted abortion.” This is part of bullshit anti-choice rhetoric that claims abortions happen regularly at viability and that fetuses are somehow born and able to be “saved.” It’s nonsense, but that didn’t make the measure any less dangerous.
Doctors in Montana pointed out that the measure’s language would have required medical professionals to resuscitate newborns that had no chance of survival, even if it meant subjecting them to painful and invasive procedures—even against a family’s wishes. So if parents had children born with conditions that were incompatible with life, instead of being able to hold their babies and comfort them in their last moments, they would be forced to watch doctors perform extreme and pointless resuscitation procedures.
My daughter was born three months early and had to undergo an incredible amount of painful medical interventions; I cannot imagine subjecting parents to watching their babies go through that, knowing that there was no chance of survival.
Parents who lost their newborns—and were able to spend those last precious few moments with their children—shared their stories in an attempt to make people understand just how cruel this measure really was. And it seems to have worked.
As of this afternoon, the measure is about to be defeated (no one has made the official call yet).
ABORTION-RELATED RACES
Some more news from races that we’ve been following here at Abortion, Every Day:
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won re-election decisively over Tudor Dixon. Dixon is extremely anti-abortion, and argued that it was okay for raped children to be forced to remain pregnant because there could be “healing through that baby.”
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul won against anti-abortion Republican Lee Zeldin (I was nervous about this one!)
Pro-choice advocate Josh Shapiro won the governor’s race in Pennsylvania, defeating anti-abortion asshole Doug Mastriano.
Also on Pennsylvania, John Fetterman defeated piece of shit Dr. Oz, which I was so happy about.
This sucked: JD Vance, the absolute worst, won his Senate race in Ohio. Vance has defended abortion bans without rape and incest exceptions, and supports a federal abortion ban.
Another loss in Kansas, where anti-abortion extremist Kris Kobach won the race for attorney general. Despite the state’s newly-won constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, Kobach has made clear he is going to try to remove said amendment: “This issue is not over. The fight for life is going to continue.”
An anti-abortion zealot also won the race for attorney general in Georgia. Chris Carr has said he would prosecute doctors for abortion ‘crimes’ and has lied about women being in danger of criminalization under the state abortion ban.
And, horribly, Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas—best known for suing the federal government for the right to deny women life-saving abortion care—has won re-election.
In some better news: In Wisconsin, Attorney General Josh Kaul defeated Republican Eric Toney—who wanted district attorneys in the state to be able to cross state lines in order to prosecute abortion cases.
I’ll update other races here as they come in/I know more.
NEAR MISSES
We are very lucky that North Carolina didn’t become a GOP supermajority—it was super close. If that would have happened, Republicans could have ended abortion access in the state—something that wouldn’t have just impacted the people there, but those in neighboring anti-abortion states who have been traveling to North Carolina for abortion care since Roe was overturned.
Once I get some sleep, I’ll have some more to say about last night’s results—but I wanted to leave you with these wise words from feminist writer Moira Donegan:
“WHO SETS THE KITCHEN TABLE, ANWAY?” Perfection.
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