The "Vietnam War" of the Pro-Life Movement
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| A protester holding the well-known blue and white KEEP ABORTION LEGAL circle sign. |
After the 2023 U.S. off-year elections, it should now be clear that the pro-life movement is now locked in a difficult-than-expected battle to rule the Post-Roe America that they fought for 50 years to achieve.
Several Democrats elected in 2023, Kentucky reelecting its Democratic governor Andy Beshear to a second term, Democrats in Virginia marched back into power in the state capitol in Richmond therefore putting the Republican governor Glenn Youngkin on notice, several Democratic mayors were either elected or reelected, special elections were swept by Democrats throughout the year, and then finally, who can ever forget the resounding victory for abortion rights in the supposedly red state of Ohio?
All of this was part of a continuing trend of voters dissing the Republican position on abortion and most importantly, constantly and I mean CONSTANTLY giving the middle finger to the pro-life movement, who are struggling so desperately hard to turn American public opinion against abortion.
In a reminder context, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 has ruled that the Constitution of the United States "does not confer" a right to reproductive healthcare, thus ending a 49-year precedent in Roe v. Wade that begged to differ on January 22, 1973. When Roe was handed down in 1973, the Republican Party saw this as an opportunity to win votes, Evangelical Christians turned against abortion (even though some of these same Christian groups had actually supported abortion before) to gain political power. Thus, the alliance between the pro-life movement and the long-out-of-power Republican Party was born.
That alliance has paid off, Republicans success in the late 20th to early 21st century was in part thanks to pro-life evangelical voters, which brought constant targeting of the LGBTQ+ community, constant opposition to abortion, and several other culture war fights. But then, America started to change often culturally, LGBT rights begin to step on friendlier ground, resulting in several gains of LGBT rights including the prominent nationwide right to same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015 handed down by the same Supreme Court that will take away another prominent right seven years later. More Americans grew more liberal on social issues like several LGBT rights and the right to an abortion, and that has made some Republicans quietly worry that overturning Roe may not be a good time in this era of a socially progressive country. They turned out to be right. SO RIGHT.
The overturning of Roe took place in a really bad time for the Republican Party, the Republicans were campaigning to take Congress in a midterm election under an unpopular Democratic President saddled with a country bruised by inflation and interest rates as well as a crime wave, the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, according to historical wisdom, prophesized a Republican "red wave" because midterm elections very often aren't so super friendly to the President of the United States no matter who it is.
Trump lost 41 seats plus control in the House of Representatives in his sole midterm in 2018. Obama lost 63 seats plus control of the House and 6 seats in the Senate in his first midterm in 2010 and lost 8 seats plus control of the Senate and lost additional seats (13 seats) in the House in his second midterm in 2014. George W. Bush did had a successful midterm in 2002 because of 911 but he ultimately had a miserable second midterm in 2006 because of Iraq War fatigue, losing 30 House seats and 6 Senate seats plus overall control of Congress in the '06 elections. In 1994, Clinton suffered a similar fate in his first midterm election, losing Congress by losing 54 House seats and 8 Senate seats, but in his second midterm, Clinton avoided further losses in Congress because of public weariness of him being impeached by congressional Republicans.
Joe Biden however, he lost (try not to laugh) ...9 seats... in the House of Representatives. In 1992 when Clinton was elected President that year, Democrats maintained a strong majority despite losing... 9 seats, that's how unimpressive the Republicans taking the House from Biden with 9 seats truly were. Biden had a narrow House majority of 222-213, now Republicans would have a narrow 222-213 House majority, so the jokes are on the Republicans now because they taunted Democrats for controlling the House by that thin of a margin.
But wait, it gets worse. Biden didn't lose any Senate seats, in fact he picked up a seat, and while Trump too picked up Senate seats in his only midterm, Biden didn't lose an incumbent Senator of his party either, making Biden the first President since Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first midterm in '34 to avoid losing incumbent Senators.
The 2022 midterm elections was not the red wave that Republicans wanted or anyone else expected, Biden had the best midterm election for a President in just two decades, the first President since FDR to gain seats in the Senate and state governments and keep all incumbent Senators in a single midterm election, the first since a Democratic President since FDR to do all that, the first President of his party since Kennedy to gain Senate seats and lose House seats in a midterm election, the first Democratic President since FDR to gain governorships in a midterm election, and the first overall President to do so since Reagan in his second midterm election in 1986.
Things only got worse for Republicans in 2023, mostly because they won't compromise on abortion, their right-wing extremism, and election denialism. The Republican majority in the House is too busy feeding the Republican base with conspiracy theories, a bogus impeachment inquiry into Biden that actually could collapse in the literal House vote, they struggled to elect and keep a Speaker to full term, and they shut the government down. Yeah, that's what you call "good governing".
But the overturning of Roe v. Wade was supposed to bring a Post-Roe and pro-life America, but instead it brought to the pro-life movement their own Vietnam War on abortion, and they're losing. The United States believed they can democratize Vietnam or safeguard a democratic South Vietnam, instead Vietnam fell to socialism after a 10-year losing war against communists.
America accepted defeat in Vietnam, will the pro-lifers do the same with their own Vietnam?
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