Kamala Harris and the Democratic party had made reproductive rights the centerpiece of their election campaign hoping that women, particularly white women, would turn out in large numbers to vote against Donald Trump, the president responsible for the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade high court decision that protected women’s constitutional right to abortion.
In the Nov. 5 election, ballot initiatives in 10 states gave voters a chance to weigh in on the question of keeping abortion legal in their states. In seven of those 10 states, voters supported the right to abortion. But in a seeming contradiction, many voters who cast their ballot to keep abortion legal, also voted for Trump and Republican legislators that oppose abortion rights. According to exit polls, 53 percent of white women across the country voted for convicted felon Trump — who a court found to be liable for sexual assault — the group that the Harris campaign was depending on to win the White House.
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Amy Littlefield, The Nation magazine’s abortion access correspondent, who examines voters’ contradictory position on abortion and the Republican candidates they supported, as well as the threat posed by the incoming Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress that is poised to further erode reproductive rights.
AMY LITTLEFIELD: A couple takeaways from this election, right? One is that abortion rights are popular and voters are angry about the end of Roe v Wade. That remains true. And when voters have a chance to vote on abortion rights in isolation from other issues, they tend to vote in favor of those rights.
And yet another resounding takeaway is that that popularity of abortion rights does not translate necessarily into victory for Democrats, even when they run on the issue.
And, of course, Kamala Harris ran hard on abortion rights, harder than any Democratic politician, you know, presidential candidate that I’ve ever seen. So I think for some of those voters, clearly abortion rights were not the most important issue. The economy, of course, was the most important issue for many of them.
And for many of these voters, they were convinced by, as you say, Trump’s successful attempt to distance himself from the fact that he was the president responsible for the end of Roe v Wade. I think he was slippery enough on the issue that the most diehard anti-abortion supporters saw him backtracking on the issue and while they were a little annoyed about it, some of them even more than a little annoyed, they denounced it publicly. They were still willing to vote for him and to call for supporting him.
And he was able to win over people who were pro-choice and who want to see the right to abortion, but who thought somehow Trump had carved out, you know, a middle ground on this issue, which is, of course, contrary to his record.
I also want to note that, you know, lack of information may have been a part of this. The New York Times reported in May that nearly 1 in 5 voters in battleground states believe that it was President Biden who was responsible for ending the constitutional right to abortion. And this included 12 percent of Democrats who believe that.
And so while that was before, you know, the final push and all the advertising we saw in the summer and fall, it’s worth noting that a large percentage of voters are simply misinformed.
SCOTT HARRIS: And, Amy, I wanted to ask you, under a coming Trump regime, what’s the likelihood that Republican and anti-abortion activists will push to ban IVF?
There’s also a lot of energy behind the idea of invoking a fetal personhood law at the federal level. And lastly, there is a lot of pressure within the Republican ranks to invoke the 150-year-old Comstock Act, which could end women’s access to abortion medication through the mail and even ban the distribution of contraceptives.
What are you most concerned about in that realm given the fact that not only is Donald Trump in the white House, but Republicans now control the House and Senate?
AMY LITTLEFIELD: It’s going to be really interesting to see, because some of the selections that Donald Trump has made so far — people like RFK Jr., right — are certainly not anti-abortion ideologues. And yet some of them, of course, are true believers, and some of his supporters are true believers. While Donald Trump seems to maintain a very dedicated commitment to misogyny, I’m not sure how much he personally cares about this issue, except, you know where it curries him favor in certain corners that might be strategic.
So I think the biggest threat is the 1873 Comstock Act, which, as you say, was an anti-vice law from the Victorian era that was at one point used to crack down on, you know, pornographic materials or lewd and lascivious drawings that were being sent through the mail — in addition, of course, to contraception and abortifacient devices and drugs.
Anti-abortion activists have been trying to revive the Comstock Act. And, in fact, it’s part of Project 2025 to use this 150-year-old law to try to institute a de facto nationwide abortion ban, because in its most stringent meaning, of course, if abortion clinics can’t get the devices and the equipment they need, much less send abortion pills, as is happening right now, you know, you have doctors in blue states who are shipping abortion medication into states, including Texas that could all potentially end if they decide to revive this 150-year-old law, which, of course, the appeal of that is that it does not require passage of any new legislation by Congress because it’s already on the books.
So I think we’re going to see some interesting tensions emerge, actually, between, you know, true believers, anti-abortion ideologues who want to ban IVF, who do not agree with the use of contraception and some of the, you know, strange choices Donald Trump has made for some of his Cabinet selections.
But I’m keeping my eyes certainly on that 150-year-old law. I have never thought so much about, you know, 1870s and the anti-vice crusade that was on about that time, which, of course, some of Trump’s supporters are trying their best to resuscitate it.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Amy Littlefield (24:24) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the Related Links section of this page.
For the best listening experience and to never miss an episode, subscribe to Between The Lines on your favorite podcast app or platform.
Or subscribe to our Between The Lines and Counterpoint Weekly Summary.
