The Republican war on women is not going unnoticed despite the stealth tactics
The right-wing campaign against women’s reproductive abortion rights is only getting worse. State by state, Republican controlled legislatures and governors are ramming through whatever heinous anti-choice measures they can.
Texas became a recent and potent example of this war on women that Republicans refuse to relent on. Wendy Davis was temporarily successful in her bid to kill the SB5 anti-abortion bill, but Republicans in Texas have made it clear they will continue to bring up the bill until it is passed.
While people’s attention was drawn to Wendy Davis and her gutsy fight in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, and Wisconsin was passing their own sweeping anti-abortion measures. Republican governors John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin have recently slipped through anti-abortion measures as part of state budgets.
It appears that the Wendy Davis filibuster episode had an interesting impact. As Texas tried to ram SB5 through, pro-choice activists around the country woke up to the realization that conservatives in America are indeed waging an all-out war against women’s health rights, and that the only way to counteract this is to mobilize and apply pressure to these state lawmakers.
Since the Republican win in the 2010 elections, state by state, the right-wing has launched a major crusade against abortion rights. Since the Republicans could not repeal Roe. v. Wade through the courts or through Congress, they decided to destroy abortion rights at the state level. We are now witnessing the backlash against the right-wing attack on women’s health.
The Wendy Davis filibuster essentially forced Republicans to secretly and quietly slip these anti-abortion measures through other bills so they don’t attract a lot of attention and receive the same backlash as Texas. However, pro-choice activists are wise to these tactics.
The fight to counter the right-wing war on women is going to get worse before it gets better. Republicans have made clear they will stop at nothing to crush abortion rights in America. Not only are they openly defying Roe v. Wade, they are willing to go farther. Republicans have made crushing abortion rights one of their number one priorities. To put in in context, Republicans across the country have passed more anti-abortion measures than jobs-bills.
Do not fret! Although the right-wing onslaught has been growing more intense, pro-choice activists are also mobilizing and planning to fight tooth and nail against this anti-abortion tide sweeping many states. The actions in Texas have galvanized pro-choice activists in a way the Republicans were not expecting.
The right-wing may have opened a Pandora’s Box that they might not be able to close. The Republican strategy was to crush abortion rights state by state, but they may have inadvertently created a fresh wave of pro-choice activism.
What the pro-choice community should make clear is that these Republican measures are not going through without a fight. As relentless as Republicans are trying to crush abortion rights, pro-choice activists should be just as relentless in not only preserving these rights but calling out those who seek to destroy them. Now is the time to fight back.
