Ahead of Wednesday’s Senate vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts slammed Republican extremism for leading the country to this moment in which a handful of Supreme Court justices have the power to enact a deeply unpopular policy that would ban abortions. Warren squarely placed the blame on the many mechanisms that emboldened Republicans to attack reproductive rights at the highest level. “We are here because Republican politicians have spent decades plotting for this moment,” Warren explained. “They have cultivated extremist judges. Groups like the Federalist Society have screened possible candidates and drawn up lists of which possible candidates could and could not be counted on. Extremist donors spent billions in dark money so that their preferred ideologues could chip away at people’s fundamental rights and do it from the bench. Republican candidates for office pledged to support justices who would get rid of Roe v. Wade. And finally, when all of that still wasn’t enough, Republicans stole two seats on the Supreme Court.”
Much has been written about how the Federalist Society has helped shaped the Supreme Court. The conservative legal organization founded in the 1980s found a way to infiltrate Ivy league institutions, paving an easy path for privileged Republicans interested in law to serve on courts across the country. As the years have gone by, the Federalist Society has benefitted greatly from donors and continued to expand its reach. Money from disconnected donors is one of the major factors driving this push against reproductive rights, and Warren said this shows that “Republican extremism has been carefully nurtured for years.” It also shows how inequality is at the heart of this issue: “Those with money will always have the option to leave the state or leave the country to travel where abortion is safe and legal,” Warren continued. “No, the people who will pay the biggest price will be the most vulnerable among us.”
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Warren listed many examples of the hundreds of anti-abortion legislation being introduced across the country, including Louisiana’s horrifying attempt to criminalize abortion as homicide. Warren questioned where Republican extremism ends—if it does at all. “Will they investigate every miscarriage,” Warren asked. “Will they put every obstetrician and gynecologist on a watch list? Will they monitor location data of every person that pulls into a parking lot of a Planned Parenthood clinic?”
Warren does see Wednesday’s WHPA vote as a means of energizing voters and holding officials accountable, even if the legislation doesn’t pass. She urged voters to “get in the fight” and elect senators who value reproductive rights. And she told voters to pay close attention to how the vote shakes out. “After this vote, there will be no ambiguity: Every American will know exactly where their elected representative in Congress stands and every senator will have to explain whether they defend the right of every person to have control over their own bodies and their own futures or whether they will stand by as women’s constitutional rights are brazenly stripped away.”
Warren ended her remarks by calling on Congress to “defend Americans every single time” and slammed the Supreme Court for attempting to “get the last word” on reproductive health care. She urged the U.S. to hold institutions like the Supreme Court accountable, explaining why she was an easy “yes” on WHPA. “That is why I will vote to support WHPA,” Warren concluded. “That is why I will fiercely oppose any threat to our liberty. And that is why I will continue to fight with every bone in my body to protect the right of every woman to control her own future. Republican extremism is spreading. Republican extremism knows no bounds. Tomorrow we have a chance to fight back and we will fight back. I have lived in a world where abortion is illegal. And we are not going back. Never.
Christina Reynolds, VP of Communications at EMILY's List, talks about spending $150 million to center abortion rights in this November’s elections on Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast