When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this year, it appeared to be an unvarnished victory for the anti-abortion movement.But as the year draws to a close, the realities of a post-Roe America are turning out differently than anyone predicted.Guest: Kate Zernike, a national correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: After the midterms, abortion rights advocates hope to harness public support for the long term, while anti-abortion campaigners look to advance new laws.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Abortion rights groups are starting to succeed in state-level battles as they win victories in ballot initiatives aimed at establishing explicit rights to abortion in state constitutions.
In Michigan, after Roe was overturned, abortion rights supporters raced to get an initiative to amend the state's constitution to allow and protect the right to have an abortion. Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups in red states put initiatives on the ballot to restrict abortion, but we will see proxy battles on abortion trying to restrict the ability for these initiatives to exist in the first place.
Republicans are preparing to counteract recent abortion rights victories, despite the public opinion being in favor of reproductive rights. However, abortion rights groups have been using laws written by conservatives to protect abortion.
With the Supreme Court forcing abortion rights back to the states, advocacy groups see an opportunity to establish even stronger protections for reproductive rights through ballot initiatives and state constitutions.
President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, which ensures federal recognition for same-sex marriages and prohibits states from denying the validity of out-of-state marriages based on sex, race, or ethnicity. The law officially erases the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman 25 years ago.