Elizabeth Kirk tells the truth I wish more people realized:
Restore Roe! This is the rallying cry throughout the country as we head into the midterm elections.
President Biden promised recently that if the Democrats maintain control of Congress in the mid-terms, the first thing he would do is “sign a law codifying Roe in January.” Last term, the House passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill they claimed codified Roe, but it fell short of the votes necessary to survive a filibuster in the Senate.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, “Prop 3 is absolutely necessary to preserve the rights we’ve had for 49 years under Roe v. Wade,” claiming that the proposed constitutional amendment would not jeopardize existing parental consent laws. And, in California, Planned Parenthood advocates are using #RoetheVote as their call to action in support of the state’s Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative.
But none of these proposed laws would merely “restore Roe.”
All three laws go far beyond Roe and its successor case, Casey, which permitted states to regulate abortion in limited ways before viability. After viability, states could even prohibit abortion (subject to some exceptions). There is no such freedom under the proposed laws. None of the laws permit states to regulate abortion to protect minors. None of the laws permit states to ensure parents can be involved in their young daughter’s decisions. None of the laws permit states to give meaningful protections to the unborn child as the pregnancy progresses, even after viability.
While these laws go far beyond Roe, supporters seek to cast them as “restoring Roe” to take advantage of the fact that many Americans state they support Roe. The irony is that most Americans don’t actually support what Roe permitted. Most Americans want restrictions on abortion, and support for legalized abortion drops dramatically the farther along the baby develops. Only 36% of Americans support second-trimester abortions, and only 20% support third-trimester abortions.