“After decades defending abortion rights, Patty Murray readies for offense,” This headline for an article in the Washington Post says it all. And Murray is not the only Democrat who has been fighting for us. To name just a few, Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, and Gretchen Whitmer have all done crucial work in protecting reproductive rights. Their accomplishments will be essential after the fall of Roe.
In protecting reproductive rights, Pritzker had the best post-election environment. After he replaced a Republican as a Governor, he could work with a Democratic legislature, and together, they got rid of all the antiabortion laws. Illinois is now a safe haven for abortion seekers.
Lujan Grisham had a more difficult time. To her chagrin, during her first year, a small group of Democrats sabotaged her efforts to overturn pre-Roe antiabortion laws. It took another election cycle to primary out these antiabortionists. And now New Mexico has no laws regarding abortion, like Canada and a few other U.S. states, thus ushering in “Abortion on Demand,” in other words no government interference at all.
Whitmer has had the most difficulty because she is faced with a Republican legislature in Michigan. She has kept them from doing any more damage, and is bringing a lawsuit in state court challenging the pre-Roe law on the basis of Michigan’s state Constitution. Also, in Michigan, the group “Reproductive Freedom for All” is gathering signatures in order to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would eliminate the 1931 abortion ban on the books in Michigan.
From Roe until now, multitudes of women and men, almost all Democrats , have been fighting for reproductive freedom. Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute, SisterSong and thousands of other organizations . And on the individual level, countless people have served as escorts for women running a gauntlet into an abortion clinic, even risking their lives in the process.
Now is the time to thank all the people who have been struggling for decades to protect our reproductive rights before we move on to combat new challenges.