Trump And The GOP Rev Up Their War Against Women Again

Trump, Rapist by Chip Proser

The headline of the new Kaiser Family Foundation poll tells us a lot about America: Poll: Two-thirds of Americans Don’t Want the Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds is a lot. But one third is the hard core Trumpist base. 67% of the American public do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, although 53% of Republicans do want to see it overturned. (81% of Democrats don't want to see it overturned and neither do 73% of independents.)

The poll found some other factors that should play a role-- even a decisive role-- in the 2018 midterms. "While not at the top of voters’ concerns heading into the midterms, most voters (56%) do say it is at least 'very important' for candidates to discuss issues that primarily affect women."

When this group is asked to say in their own words what issues they mean, about four in 10 (44%, or 25% of all voters) mention issues related to equal pay or fair employment. This is twice as many as those who mention reproductive health issues including abortion or contraception (20%, or 11% of all voters).

In addition, substantial shares of voters say that a candidate’s position on certain policies that mainly affect women will influence their vote.

For example, six in 10 (60%) voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports increased workplace protections against sexual harassment and assault, and a majority (53%) say the same about a candidate who supports a law requiring paid parental leave. Democratic voters and women voters are more likely to favor candidates who support each of these positions than are Republican voters and men voters... Half (49%) say they are more likely to support a candidate who is a strong supporter of the #MeToo movement, while just 7 percent say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who does not address the issues raised by the movement.

...Most of the public (57%) say they oppose new Title X regulations proposed by the Trump Administration that would block federal family planning funds from going to organizations like Planned Parenthood, which also provide abortions, even though the money can’t be used for abortion. Nearly four in 10 (38%) say they favor those proposed regulations.

Despite polling, Trump and the Republican Party are absolutely determined to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who will fly in the face of every single finding above, especially, of course, overturning Roe v Wade. It is Trump's top litmus test (likely just behind personal fealty to himself). Early yesterday, CNN reported that the plan to overturn Roe is rolling along.

Over the past year, state legislatures in Iowa, Louisiana and Mississippi have advanced strict limits on abortion that some lawmakers believe could trigger a successful challenge to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

"I think it's virtually certain that some or all of those laws will wind up before the Supreme Court," said CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. "And they will get a much more favorable reception with any of the judges on President Trump's list of 25 possible nominees."

When Trump ran for president in 2016, he pledged to appoint "pro-life" justices to the Supreme Court, while his running mate, now-vice president Mike Pence, said that he hoped to see Roe v. Wade end up on the "ash heap of history."

Trump's first Supreme Court pick, made after Senate Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's pick to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, was Neil Gorsuch, who has been a reliable conservative vote. Trump said he will pick from a list of 25 conservative candidates.

Trump's opportunity to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had voted to uphold Roe in 1992, is "exactly what we had hoped for," said Jim Carlin, an Iowa Republican state senator.

"With (Kennedy) as the swing vote, I don't know that we would have had the capital on the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade," Carlin said. "If we were to get another conservative justice to the bench at the Supreme Court, I think our chances are much, much higher."

"Anything that we can do to soften the blow of Roe v. Wade or weaken it or dilute it, it's up to us to do that," said Lawrence Bagley, a Louisiana Republican state representative.

...In the end, the Supreme Court doesn't have to entirely overturn Roe v. Wade to leave the legal standard substantially weakened or even effectively gutted, said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

"The Supreme Court could do quite a lot of damage to the right recognized in Roe without ever formally overruling it, simply by upholding state laws that make it harder and harder for women to obtain abortions without banning them," Vladeck said.

That idea could be tested in Arkansas.

The 2015 state law says that any physician who "gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug" shall have to have a contract with a physician who has admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The Supreme Court last month refused to take up an early challenge to the law, which cleared the way for it to take effect in mid-July, but did not say if the law is legal or not, leaving that to a lower court to determine. Earlier this month, a federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order on the law, setting the stage for the case to potentially return to the Supreme Court at some point in the future. Planned Parenthood has said that the law is both medically unnecessary and would effectively ban medication abortion in the state.

Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research organization, said the Arkansas law "conflicts with Roe by imposing an undue burden on a patient seeking an abortion."

In Mississippi, after Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill banning abortion after 15 weeks, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging it as unconstitutional and a federal judge temporarily blocked the law from going into effect. Louisiana's 15-week law is also on hold pending the outcome of litigation in the Mississippi law.

The Center for Reproductive Rights points out that in recent years, the Supreme Court has declined to review a number of lower court decisions striking down abortion bans prior to the point of viability.

"The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the right to abortion over many decades and it has done that with many justices from appointed by many different administrations," said the group's senior director of litigation, Julie Rikelman.

State lawmakers pledge to keep trying.

"Until the Supreme Court chooses to touch on that issue again, you're going to continue to see states push the edge and push the envelope on pro-life protections," said Louisiana state Rep. John Stefanski.

"I think inevitably we're going to come up with something that I believe the Supreme Court is going to have to take a look at again," the GOP lawmaker added.

If what I think is going to happen in November happens, Republican lawmakers are going to be too busy looking for new jobs to put too much time into their systematic attack on women's rights. All of the Blue America-endorsed candidates agree on a broad agenda of strengthening and expanding women's rights and complete equality, women like Rashisa Tlaib (MI), Katie Porter (CA) Kara Eastman (NE), Ellen Lipton (MI), Alexandria Ocasio (NY), Lisa Brown (WA) and Jess King (PA), as well as the male candidates, Randy Bryce (WI), Alan Grayson (FL), James Thomson (KS), Tom Guild (OK), Jared Golden (ME) and Kaniela Ing (HI). The actBlue 2018 congressional thermometer on the right is one way to help support these candidates' campaigns. If you've never clicked on it, please give it a try. We're coming right up to being just 4 months away for what could well be the most important midterm election in any of our lives-- and you may hear that every two years from the DCCC and from candidates, but in the dozen years Blue America has existed you've never heard that from us before.

Kara Eastman is the progressive Democrat running for the Omaha congressional seat held by Trump rubber stamp, Don Bacon. And while they disagree on Choice, the contrast between the two candidates on almost every key issue is remarkable. "Immigration and campaign finance are two of the major issues that separate us as candidates," Kara told me earlier."I will not take corporate dollars from controversial for-profits like GEO. But this group has given the maximum political contribution to Congressman Don J. Bacon. And they directly grow their business from detaining immigrants at our borders. According to the Sun-Sentinel, GEO has empty beds in facilities and already operates detention services for ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. They are 'likely to benefit from President Donald Trump’s executive order that ended his controversial policy to separate parents and children who are caught entering the country illegally'... I strongly back pay equality for women, pre-K education that allows mothers to stay in the work force, and strong domestic violence legislation. I also firmly believe women's reproductive freedom and access to healthcare are crucial components of women's lives and contribute to stronger families. Therefore, I support all Democrats who are committed to these values and who will fight to ensure our constitutional rights and that Roe v Wade stays the law of the land."

Katie Porter is the best of the Orange County candidates running in the cycle after Hillary swept the county and took it away from the GOP for the first time since FDR. "My opponent Mimi Walters has repeatedly stood with Paul Ryan and Donald Trump in their efforts to ban a woman's right to choose," Katie told us yesterday. "I  will always protect a woman's right to choose.  I believe, like women and men across the country, that access to quality, affordable healthcare, choice, and birth control are fundamental rights-- and that we must defend them at any cost."

James Thompson is running for the Wichita area congressional seat (KS-04), occupied by Trump enabler Ron Estes.James, an attorney, gets the last word on this today: "A concerted effort is underway to abolish the rights so many have fought for, and in some cases died for, in this country. Chief among those are the rights of women. We did not just lose the office of President in 2016, we lost the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, which has often been the last bastion of strength against an overreaching conservative agenda. With the election of President Trump, and complete lack of any intestinal fortitude by our Senate, we lost the ability to replace not just Justice Scalia but apparently also Justice Kennedy, who is set to retire in July. President Trump is also picking approximately 200 new federal judges. The loss of these judicial seats and subsequent decisions sure to come will reverberate throughout our country’s history. Ultra Conservatives across the country are foaming at the mouth in anticipation of overturning Roe v. Wade with a new conservative majority in the Supreme Court. In addition, further attacks are sure to come in an effort to roll back protections against sexual harassment, domestic abuse, and equal pay. If ever there were a time to stand up and fight for the rights so long fought for, now is the time. We must demand passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and staunchly defend against any encroachments upon women’s bodily automony. We must shout from every mountain and valley that women’s rights are not for sale and are every bit as important as men’s rights. Equal means equal, or equality means nothing at all."