After the tragic overturning of Roe v. Wade this past June in the United States, it’s been easy to feel hopeless when thinking of the future of reproductive rights or even about democracy in general. After repealing the Constitutional right to abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years, it seems as if the US is returning to the year 1900, where women lacked any kind of bodily autonomy. However, after the 2022 midterm elections, we can be cautiously optimistic that the country is taking its first steps to restoring the right to safe abortion.
As the votes from the November 8th election for the U.S House of Representatives were tallied, it was clear that abortion rights had become a major focus on voters’ ballots. Americans everywhere began rallying for their freedom to choose. Five states placed the matter of abortion rights directly on their ballot and in a surprising turn of events, they all passed measure for safer abortion access. The swing state of Michigan, followed by the left-leaning states of California and Vermont approved a ballot protecting abortion rights within their state constitution. More shockingly, the heavily republican states of Kentucky and Montana rejected motions that would have restricted access to abortions and criminalized healthcare professionals that performed them. While there’s still a long way to go, these results have sparked the debate between what Americans want versus what lawmakers decide is right.
However small, this win has opened the door for more conversation about the next steps concerning the right to choose. This political gain is a threat to Republicans seeking to restrict the procedure. Evidently, American’s harbor different opinions than their lawmakers. Trying to legislate what people can do with their bodies is obviously not on many Americans’ agendas, so why is it on the government’s?