Commentary
Abortion is completely legal in California. In fact, in 2022 Proposition 1 passed with 66.88 percent of the vote, putting the right to abortion in the California Constitution. It was a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which allowed the 50 states to regulate or ban abortion. Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade from 1973, which effectively threw out all state limits on abortions.
Yet that didn’t end the issue in California. I’m on the mailing lists for both California Republicans and Democrats. It’s research for me, but I recommend against it for yourself because you’ll be deluged with emails.
The biggest issue Democrats are pushing in the Golden State is making sure abortion is legal again nationwide, and winning Golden State congressional races is the key to either party controlling the U.S. House of Representatives. One series of emails I got was from Dan Gottlieb, west regional press secretary of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of the party in the House.
The emails attacked Reps. Michelle Steel, Ken Calvert, Mike Garcia, David Valadao, John Duarte, and Kevin Kiley, all of whom are running for reelection. Nearly the same exact wording was used in each email, so I’ll just use Ms. Steel’s name throughout. The emails began with the headline in boldface: “Reminder: Michelle Steel Pioneered Same Legislation As the Anti-Abortion Groups Currently in Front of Supreme Court.”
It explained in italics: “SCOTUS Oral Arguments in Case Challenging Mifepristone Access Spotlight Republicans’ Anti-Abortion Agenda.” Of course, “anti-abortion” is used instead of pro-life. Mifepristone, also called RU-486, is a drug that causes abortion.
AP reported on the current status of the case: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed likely to preserve access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion case since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
“In nearly 90 minutes of arguments, a consensus appeared to emerge that the abortion opponents who challenged the FDA’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and subsequent actions to ease access to it, lack the legal right or standing to sue.
“Such a decision would leave in place the current rules that allow patients to receive the drug through the mail, without any need for an in-person visit with a doctor, and to take the medication to induce an abortion through 10 weeks of pregnancy. Should the court take the no-standing route, it would avoid the more politically sensitive aspects of the case.”
Packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic on April 13, 2023 in Rockville, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Increasing Abortion Mania
Mr. Gottlieb’s email continued: “As the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments that could ‘pave the way toward a national abortion ban’ by severely restricting access to the medication mifepristone, Michelle Steel and House Republicans have been simultaneously mounting a multiple front attack on reproductive freedoms in America.
“Last year, Steel voted for fervently anti-abortion legislation that would prevent women from receiving mifepristone through the mail or at pharmacies—the exact same issue before the Supreme Court now.
“Steel’s crusade against access to safe medication is only one of many far-right, extreme measures he and the House GOP have been pushing for to achieve their eventual goal of a nationwide abortion ban.”
It’s an absurd argument. There’s no chance Congress could pass a total, national abortion ban. And all the Dobbs decision did was return abortion to where it stood before the 1973 Roe decision: with the states. Since then, state politicians, activists, and voters have been grappling with the issue. Some states, such as California and Michigan, have passed initiatives guaranteeing it is allowed. Others, such as Mississippi and Texas, have restored pre-Roe restrictions and bans.
In yet other states, the matter still is being decided. This past week, Florida’s Supreme Court let stay in place legislative restrictions on abortion at the same time it allowed a pro-abortion measure to be put on the Nov. 5 ballot. Under America’s federalist system, that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Distorting the Issue
Mr. Gottlieb continued: “In the 118th Congress alone, Michelle Steel and House Republicans have used their majority to try to roll back reproductive freedom every chance they get, from passing anti-abortion legislation that would punish doctors who perform abortions, use federal funds to spread misinformation, and prevent vulnerable communities from seeking essential health care. A majority of their caucus has also backed a nationwide abortion ban without exceptions. ”
Those all are distortions, as can be found even when clicking on the links he included in his text. As to “punish the doctors,” his link goes to H.R. 26, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Under it, if a baby survives an abortion and the abortionist still kills it, the doctor could be prosecuted. Well, what else is killing a live baby but murder? It’s no longer a “fetus” inside the womb, but a living human being separate from its mother.
The “use federal funds to spread misinformation” link leads to H.R. 6918, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act. It prohibits discrimination in giving federal funds to pro-life pregnancy centers. That means Mr. Gottlieb thinks federal tax dollars should only go to abortion mills.
As to the majority of the Republican Caucus supporting a nationwide abortion ban, the link leads to H.R. 431, the Life at Conception Act. Well, at conception, what does Mr. Gottlieb think comes into being, a puppy or kitten—or a human baby?
Pro-abortion activists chant while marching from City Hall to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 16, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
At the bottom of Mr. Gottlieb’s email, included is: “Paid for by DCCC. DCCC.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” If you click on the DCCC.org site, you come to a picture of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would become the House Speaker if Democrats become a majority.
Next to that is the headline: “Become a majority maker,” followed by: “Democrats need to flip four seats to win back the House. Your monthly donation will help defeat House Republicans across the country and restore our critical Democratic House Majority.” Buttons follow to make donations.
Conclusion: Cynical Ploy
Republicans play games like this, too. But this shows how Democrats’ national strategy is to play on the obsession of many in their party—not just to keep abortion legal in blue states, but to mandate its legalization again nationally, as from 1973 to 2022. They want to make sure babies are killed not just in California, New York, and Michigan, but in Mississippi, Florida, and Texas.
But it’s even more cynical than that. Mothers from pro-life states seeking abortions can get them by traveling to other states. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who pushed for the passage of Prop. 1, is even paying for the abortions of babies brought here from other states.
And if the Supreme Court allows the wide distribution of mifepristone, as apparently it will, then the death pills still could be sent by mail from pro-abortion states to pro-life states.
Finally, this is part of the general cultural war raging against the United States. The current Supreme Court’s actions, despite its detraction by radical leftists, should have cooled tempers by reversing previous unconstitutional laws on abortion, affirmative action, and gun rights. But the divisions have remained because, as these missives show, leftists never rest in advancing social corrosion.