Since the Supreme Court ended nationwide protections for abortion access, voters in several states — including Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio — have voted to keep or instill abortion access as a right.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 19, 2023. DelBene spoke to reporters Friday, May 17, 2024, about how abortion will affect U.S. House races in November.
WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene told reporters Friday that ballot questions on abortion access, which will go before voters in several states this November, can help vulnerable Democratic candidates in swing districts — potentially increasing the odds the U.S. House flips from red to blue.
“We’ve seen huge turnout as a result of that over and over in elections since November of 2022,” DelBene said during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “And I have no doubt we’re going to continue to see that all the way through.”
The Washington state Democrat, who was elected to Congress in 2012 and leads House Democrats’ campaign arm this election cycle, said that reproductive rights will also be a crucial issue for voters in swing districts that don’t have a ballot question on access.
“Folks support women’s reproductive rights across the country,” DelBene said. “And that’s going to be a huge issue. And for some people, it is the issue.”
Democrats in Congress have been unable to restore nationwide abortion protections that existed for nearly 50 years under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade case and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling.
Conservative Supreme Court justices voted to overturn those two rulings in the Dobbs decision that was released in 2022, writing that “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
The court is expected to rule this summer on two additional cases related to abortion access, just months before voters head to the polls.
One originally filed in Texas will determine whether access to mifepristone, one of two pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion, can remain available as it is now or revert to prescribing instructions in place before 2016. The court heard oral arguments in March.
The second case, out of Idaho, has to do with whether doctors who provide abortion as “stabilizing care” when the pregnant patient’s life or health is at risk are protected from prosecution under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
Since the Supreme Court ended nationwide protections for abortion access, voters in several states — including Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio — have voted to keep or instill abortion access as a right.
Voters in numerous other states, including Arizona, Florida and Montana, are likely to have the issue directly on their ballots later this year, as well as candidates from president on down.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
