This week on The Brief: Gutting Roe v. Wade is just the beginning and why we must lead with empathy
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This week on The Brief, hosts Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld talked about the leaked initial draft majority opinion in a case that would overturn Roe v. Wade, written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated inside the court.
Guest Christine Pelosi, an attorney, author, and advocate who has has trained thousands of leaders in almost every state and four foreign countries, joined the hosts for this episode. Pelosi is also in the process of training Democratic candidates running for the House of Representatives this November, and she shared her thoughts on what happens now that we know about the impending demise of Roe v. Wade.
Outrage poured out across the nation as news of the leaked document made its rounds on the internet early this week. “No matter how much you expected this decision, the impact was still a gut punch,” Moulitsas said. This extremist ruling hardly reflects the views of most Americans: Civiqs polling shows that a majority of Americans—58%—believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 38% who believe it should be illegal in most or all cases.
While Eleveld emphasized that this is a draft opinion, she acknowledged that it has been authenticated. The question, she added, is whether it manages to get toned down before the final ruling likely lands in June—and what ripple effects it could have:
One way or the other, five justices have voted to overturn. Who knows, maybe there will be a concurring opinion from Chief Justice Roberts, but it’s done. It’s … a maximal assault on all progressive constitutional decisions, basically. This is just the beginning for the right-wing conservative movement. They are going to go after contraception, they are going to go after LGBTQ rights, the same-sex marriage decision … they are going to go after everyone who’s not male and white and Christian.
Justice Samuel Alito, in the decision, also took a slap at Lawrence v. Texas, which Eleveld noted is “basically the first big LGBTQ rights win at the Supreme Court [level] in 2003 that said that same-sex couples have the right to privacy to have sex in their own bedrooms without [the government getting involved].
“Conservatives are shredding what we have come to know over the last fifty years as modern America,” she added. Ultimately, the conservative justices’ argument revolves around what the Supreme Court confers upon Americans as “unenumerated rights”—ones not specifically mentioned in the Constitution by name, but ones the Supreme Court has deemed inferred or implied by the rights listed in the Constitution.
Moulitsas and Eleveld expressed concern that society has greatly changed and evolved since the U.S. Constitution was written, arguing that strictly adhering to the document simply doesn’t make sense. “Once you get into, ‘Well,’ it’s not explicitly written in the Constitution,’ then it’s open season [on your rights]. They will go after everything that we have come to know as basic, modern American civilization,” Eleveld said.
Joining the conversation, Pelosi chimed in that trigger laws in thirteen states, many passed in the years since the Roe decision in 1973, could also come into play. These laws explicitly state that abortion will be outlawed as soon as SCOTUS strikes down Roe v. Wade.
Moulitsas called out many Democrats’ complacency around Roe v. Wade over the past few decades, noting that abortion rights activists have long been sounding the alarm on the potential for the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark decision. While Republicans have been very effective at using the Supreme Court as an electoral tool, he noted, “Democrats … were unable to weaponize the Supreme Court issue as a campaign issue, as a way to galvanize our voters.”
He also pointed out how Alito appeared to be sensitive to the fact that he is a man determining an issue directly affecting women and decided to weaponize feminism in the decision. As Alito wrote, “Women are not without electoral or political power. It is noteworthy that the percentage of women who register to vote and cast ballots is consistently higher than the percentage of men who do so.” Thus, Moulitsas said, “He is basically daring women to do something about it.”
Pelosi believes that Democrats need to show up in the streets and press for action at the congressional level to show Alito and the other conservative justices that this is unacceptable:
Bless his heart. The same man that gave us Citizens United [v. FEC], the same man that helped gut the Voting Rights Act, is now going to talk about, ‘Oh don’t worry, women, you can vote’? It’s actually women who have more voter suppression to deal with than less, because women who get divorced or married, therefore changing their [last] name, have a more difficult time going through all those legal documents. I think a lot of people are dealing with voter suppression, and a lot of them are women. So no, I think it is a dare and I think we should take him up on his dare … I feel like Alito is channeling Scalia in saying, ‘Well, if you don’t like it, you can just vote to change the law.’ Well, we did vote to change the law! Right? We voted for a Democratic Senate, we voted for a Democratic president, [but] you know, Mitch McConnell didn’t give us our vacancy when Scalia passed.
Pelosi also impressed upon the audience the importance of urging their senators to “confirm everyone you can as quickly as you can right now.”
While the leaked draft ruling is horrible, Pelosi urged Democrats to lead with empathy and humanity first:
I think the shock is only just starting to wear off, and I think because it’s such a personal, painful decision, we want to be really careful about how we go about looking at where it would have electoral advantage or disadvantage. Yes, it’s going to piss people off, yes, it’s going to get people out and voting. Yes, women know who’s on their side. Patients know who’s on their side … that much will be clear. I also want to just put in a word for those who are coming at this from a place of trauma, because what I don’t think would be helpful is to add to the unhealed grief and the long COVID and the trickle-down hate from the last administration.
We want to be careful about making sure that it is a net plus that Democrats know that our base is furious. They’re furious with us, they’re furious with themselves, they’re furious with this country, and we have to honor that pain … I would just hope that this is done with a tad of nuance and a lot of care, because yes, it’s a bumper sticker, right? ‘My body, my choice.’ Who decides, you or them? Vote pro-choice, vote Democratic. Like, we get that. It’s actually easier to campaign on other issues in that respect. But there are a lot of scared people who are going to be in a lot of pain and potentially die … Let’s just make sure that we’re leading with that empathetic heart and with input from the people who are most impacted so what the public sees is that we care about them—which we do.
“What I’m hearing from you is something we’ve been talking a lot about in recent shows about messaging, which is that you start by stating your values and what you’re for, and then you say, ‘And then what is the other side going to do for you? What plans do they have to help you?’ Because at this point, their only plans are the culture wars. So that’s it,” Eleveld replied. “There are no plans to help with healthcare, there are no plans to help with reproductive rights, there are no plans to help with inflation, there are no plans to help with anything.”
Pelosi left the audience with important strategic takeaways about how to take meaningful action:
Support your local grassroots organizing. If you are blessed enough to be in a place where, after you organize for yourself, you can organize for others, then work on holding the House, and holding the Senate, and holding some of these seats in nested communities, right? Going to what we call red California or purple California, but also looking at places like Michigan, where they’ve got a contested governor’s race, where they’ve also got contested legislative races, and they will in the general have some contested congressional races. Work in Florida, work in Texas … But we’ve got to make sure we hold this House, and to do that, we have to make sure we’re getting out the word that yes, the House did codify Roe once. They’ll do it again, and they’ll be able to do it next year too, and to fund a codified Roe, if we have a Democratic majority, so hold the House.
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