Roe Overturned: Why Weren’t Democrats Prepared?

For decades, Democrats have been grimly warning their voters about the Right’s ambitions to overturn Roe v. Wade. But as that long-foretold day rapidly approached, the party was idling. In late April, just a week before the Dobbs opinion leaked, Politico reported that Democrats were “sounding the alarm that more is needed to engage voters and warn them that the current slate of laws is just the beginning,” adding, “What’s missing, they insist, is a concerted and coordinated message from party leaders to more forcefully go after Republicans.” In spite of a growing sense of urgency from activists and the pro-abortion lobby, the report continued, “only a handful of major Democratic candidates have put the issue front and center.”

When Dobbs leaked, it was met with a predictable flurry of condemnations from Democratic leaders and progressive activist groups. But again, the substantive political response was . . . well, not much. The same was true when the Supreme Court’s decision was officially released two months later. “It’s a little anticlimactic — I think we all expected this,” House majority whip Jim Clyburn remarked. Nancy Pelosi read a poem to reporters and fired off a fundraising email, with the title “devastated” (all lower-case), pleading for “100,000 gifts before midnight” just minutes after the ruling came down. House Democrats gathered to sing “God Bless America” outside the Supreme Court to celebrate the passage of a gun-control bill, over the sound of protesters yelling in the background. Michigan’s Andy Levin tweeted a picture of himself doing yoga, announcing that he was going to “turn inward, just for a moment,” punctuated by the hashtag #AsanasWithAndy. The Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee announced it was going to “hold a hearing next month to explore the grim reality of a post-Roe America.” Biden urged voters to show up in 2022. It was all they had to offer: Just vote harder. Give us more money. Maybe next time, it will be different.

About the Author

Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

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For decades, Democrats have been grimly warning their voters about the Right’s ambitions to overturn Roe v. Wade. But as that long-foretold day rapidly approached, the party was idling. In late April, just a week before the Dobbs opinion leaked, Politico reported that Democrats were “sounding the alarm that more is needed to engage voters and warn them that the current slate of laws is just the beginning,” adding, “What’s missing, they insist, is a concerted and coordinated message from party leaders to more forcefully go after Republicans.” In spite of a growing sense of urgency from activists and the pro-abortion lobby, the report continued, “only a handful of major Democratic candidates have put the issue front and center.”

When Dobbs leaked, it was met with a predictable flurry of condemnations from Democratic leaders and progressive activist groups. But again, the substantive political response was . . . well, not much. The same was true when the Supreme Court’s decision was officially released two months later. “It’s a little anticlimactic — I think we all expected this,” House majority whip Jim Clyburn remarked. Nancy Pelosi read a poem to reporters and fired off a fundraising email, with the title “devastated” (all lower-case), pleading for “100,000 gifts before midnight” just minutes after the ruling came down. House Democrats gathered to sing “God Bless America” outside the Supreme Court to celebrate the passage of a gun-control bill, over the sound of protesters yelling in the background. Michigan’s Andy Levin tweeted a picture of himself doing yoga, announcing that he was going to “turn inward, just for a moment,” punctuated by the hashtag #AsanasWithAndy. The Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee announced it was going to “hold a hearing next month to explore the grim reality of a post-Roe America.” Biden urged voters to show up in 2022. It was all they had to offer: Just vote harder. Give us more money. Maybe next time, it will be different.