The Week in Abortion
11.4.24 - 11.8.24
Obviously, this is not the roundup I wanted to be doing today. I hope that everyone is doing as well as can be expected, and that you’ve moved from numb grief to motivated anger. If you haven’t, that’s okay—I can be angry enough for all of us until then!
Despite polls showing how close the candidates were, I think a lot of us were pretty shocked by the outcome of the presidential election. Even if we weren’t all surprised, we were certainly all devastated. It was hard that night to feel like we were re-living 2016—and that it was even worse this time, because now voters knew what they were getting into.
Given the end of Roe and the absolute nightmare of the last two-plus years under abortion bans, Democrats were expecting a wave of angry women voters. But Donald Trump maintained his support with white women, who bought into his false promises that abortion was now “the will of the people.” (For my thoughts on these voters, you watch my TikTok here.)
Then, of course, there was the massive gender gap and a movement of young white men who are desperate to regain control of women in light of their own national identity crisis. It is not a surprise to me that as soon as Trump won, these young men started to leave comments on women’s social media accounts saying “your body, my choice.” Some boys even repeated the same to their female classmates at school. (My daughter has strict instructions to smack the everliving shit out of anyone who says such a thing to her. I consider it self defense.)
In the coming days, I’ll have much more to say on these young men and what their anger and backlash means for us. In the meantime, though, I wrote about young women’s anger—fury, really—and why I don’t think it will be going anywhere anytime soon:
Before we get into what happens next under a Trump presidency (ugh), let’s take a minute to focus on some of our wins. Because while so much of what happened this week was inexplicable, there’s one thing that’s clearcut: America supports abortion rights.
Ballot Measure Outcomes
Of the ten pro-choice amendments on the ballot, seven passed—and the measures that didn’t pass weren’t really losses at all. (More on that in a minute.)
Abortion rights are now protected in the state constitutions of Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and my home state of New York. Amendment 3 in Missouri was a particularly special win because it marks the first time since Roe was overturned that a state overturned a total abortion ban. Read more about the Missouri win here and all that activists overcame to bring it home.
Now let’s talk about the three states where measures failed. Florida’s Amendment 4 ‘loss’ actually had majority support at 57%. But because Republican leadership required a 60% threshold—and because of massive state-led hurdles—pro-choice activists fell short by just 3%.
And when I say hurdles, I mean downright illegal attacks on democracy: From state agencies threatening journalists and a bogus voter fraud investigation to taxpayer dollars going towards a falsehood-ridden opposition campaign. You can read a rundown of it all here, and tune into my livestream conversation with Amendment 4 campaign director Lauren Brenzel this Tuesday evening. (Make sure to mark your calendars and upgrade your subscription to join.)
The short version is: Florida voters made their choice clear, and Republicans rejected it.
In Nebraska, too, we need to contextualize the pro-choice ‘loss.’ Voters had two abortion-related amendments on the ballot: one that would have protected abortion rights until ‘viability’, and another that would codify the state’s 12-week abortion ban and leave open the possibility for further restrictions.
That anti-abortion measure, which won, was drafted specifically to confuse Nebraskans. Conservatives know that voters support abortion rights, so they created NI-434 in the hopes to siphon voters from the real pro-choice measure. I warned about the strategy in April:
Anti-abortion activists not only chose a similar sounding name to the actual pro-choice group, but lied to voters—framing their amendment as pro-choice. In fact, in the lead-up to the election, anti-abortion signature-gatherers straight up told voters that they’d be signing a pro-choice petition. (Hundreds of voters complained to the Secretary of State’s office about it.)
So we know that many voters were likely tricked into supporting the anti-abortion measure—especially because polling shows wide support for abortion rights.
We saw similar trickery in the third state to lose their measure, South Dakota. There, abortion rights activists had incredible state-enacted hurdles—primarily led by a Republican legislator who doubles as the vice president of South Dakota Right to Life. Rep. Jon Hansen founded a PAC that had anti-abortion activists calling voters who signed the pro-choice petition to get Amendment G on the ballot, pressuring them to remove their names. What’s worse? They posed as employees of the Secretary of State’s office.
What it all means: Americans are overwhelmingly pro-choice, and the only way Republicans can win on abortion is if they lie and cheat. Read below for the full breakdown of ballot measure results:
What Now?
The thing on everyone’s mind is what happens now. To get an overview of what is likely to happen to abortion rights under a Trump presidency, read AED’s breakdown here. You can also ask me specific questions about abortion under Trump in this open thread.
I’ll be answering as many of you as possible over the next week in the newsletter and on my socials. I already started on Friday, where I wrote about what happens under a national ban and whether pro-choice ballot measures will protect us (unfortunately, they won’t). You can read the answers to those and other questions below:
Make sure to bookmark that page, because I’ll be updating it with responses to more of your questions. In the meantime, you can also read about five things you can do right now to protect yourself and your community—from ordering abortion medication and donating to abortion funds to protecting your digital safety.
There is a lot we can do from now until Trump takes office, and I’ll be sharing as much of it as possible over the next few weeks. Because we can’t afford to be frozen with sadness right now. Not when women and girls are dying, and not when we have the chance to prepare for what happens next.
This is why I’m so grateful for this community: It’s awful that we’re here, and that we’re going to have to do this work. But if we have to be fighting, I can’t imagine better company to be in. Sending lots of love and solidarity to all of you. -Jessica
The horror brought by the overturning of Roe, and the subsequent pain and suffering it caused for women throughout this country, did not motivate white women- and white women bear the most responsibility- to vote for Harris. Instead, many of them voted against state abortion bans while also voting for trump! That is a sad and disgusting commentary.
I fear that as time goes on, the public will begin to normalize the suffering of women that abortion bans have caused. Since women’s suffering didn’t motivate enough voters this time, why would we think that will change in the future?
And, I feel sick over the fact that women and families across this country told intimate stories of pain, sickness, loss and death, all in the service of convincing voters to do the right thing and vote for V.P. Harris- and look at the outcome.
I posted this yesterday on Secretary Reich's Substack. I think it needs to be here as well.
I'm done. I no longer believe in Equal Justice for All because it is no longer true if it ever was. Racism, sexism, and misogony are in our national DNA. They are in the Constitution. The US is like a bad boyfriend that spends the night, dumps his dirty laundry on the floor, raids the refrigerator, says, "I'll call you tomorrow," kicks your dog, and then beats up your best girlfriend. No More!