Abortion News: Fight Shifts to New Battlegrounds
The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has unleashed a frenzy of activity on both sides of the abortion fight, with anti-abortion forces vowing to push for near-total bans in every state in the nation, and abortion rights groups insisting they would harness rage over the decision to take to the streets, fight back in the courts and push the Biden administration to do more to protect abortion rights.
The court said its ruling on Friday was needed because of what it called a half-century of bitter national controversy sparked by Roe, but its decision set off more immediate and widespread rancor and mobilizing than the original ruling — and guaranteed pitched battles and extraordinary division ahead.
The maneuvering was already underway.
In Florida, where the Legislature recently passed a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, lawmakers pushed Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special session to consider a ban after six weeks.
The National Right to Life Committee promoted model legislation for state bans and renewed calls toward its original, bigger goal of a constitutional amendment banning abortion nationwide. It and other anti-abortion groups also pledged to punish prosecutors who have said they would not enforce abortion bans.
They promised other steps to limit access to abortion, including pushing for legislation prohibiting people from crossing state lines to get abortions or obtaining abortion pills.
Abortion-rights groups were heading back to court with a hearing Monday where they are seeking an injunction to stop Florida’s 15-week ban from taking effect. They promised court fights over the so-called trigger bans that took effect on Friday upon the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Women’s March, which rallied hundreds of thousands to demonstrations after Donald J. Trump became president in 2017, promised street protests in a “Summer of Rage” and said it would back primary challenges to Democrats it considered complicit in the appointment of the conservative Supreme Court majority.
On Monday, California state lawmakers are expected to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that would explicitly protect reproductive rights. In Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has filed suit to stop a nearly century-old ban on abortion from taking effect, activists were collecting signatures on a ballot initiative that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state Constitution.
“We’re going at it, we’re pulling out all the stops,” Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, said on “Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan.” “This is a fight-like-hell moment.”
Abortion-rights supporters could take heart over what appeared to be broad public disapproval of Friday’s ruling. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted immediately after the court handed down its decision shows that Americans considered it a “step backward” for the nation by more than a 20 percentage-point margin.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans and two-thirds of women disapproved of the ruling, the poll said. Fifty-eight percent said they would approve of a federal…
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