Ohio voters pass amendment protecting access to abortion | AP News
Listening to pimdit opinions of various takeaways in the November 7 elections, the abortion issue (choice won with 57% in a red state) and Virginia and Kentucky favored the democrats, yet in Ohio exit polls, Biden lost to Trump if both were on the ballot "Biden too old; the economy is bad" gripe voters. At the same time, Democrats were panicked with the Siena poll that had them losing to Trump in five out of six swing states. Time to retool the message. Some takeaways from the November 7 outcomes resonated with me.
One truth is a constant regardless of outcomes on November 7, 2023. Electing Democrats means the continuation of popular public policies and democracy as we have known it. It means the continuation of the freedoms we treasure. That is true whether the government is led by Biden or Harris and Democrats elected to federal, state, and local positions and legislatures.
Here is the reality check: Biden will always look too old, and prices will not return to what they were before COVID-19. Voters don't seem to care if he acts and thinks younger than his years and he has the wisom and stamina to get what he wants done, or Trump, 3 years younger can not keep straight that Orban is not from Turkey or Hungary does not border Russia, or that he gets confused about the city he is in. People really do not care if inflation is now under control if the prices are still higher than before Covid. . The predicted recession was avoided, GDP growth is better than ever, and there are plenty of jobs that pay more than before COVID-19, but voters did not seem to feel it... If Bidenomics did not t roll back prices, at least they should understand how Biden did help in other ways, particularly in cost of medical care and prescription drugs..
The operating issue: abortion. What worked in Ohio, a red state, to approve a constitutional amendment to protect women's rights to access abortion were two: It was positioned as "freedom" instead of "choice." "Freedom", has a broader appeal to other associated issues, such as economic well-being, avoiding poverty with too many children, or being able to be a breadwinner. Men get that concept, too I heard Gov.Glenn Youngkin in Virginia wondered how Democrats got control of both legislative houses instead of just one in Virginia. It was abortion. Support for abortion rights costs VA Gov. Youngkin control of General Assembly (yahoo.com) In ruby red Ohio, even 24% of Evangelicals whose mantra had been to use government to forward their ideology of "pro life', voted with others for the overwhelming vote in enshrining choice in the state constitution. Exit poll results from Ohio Issue 1 ballot measure on abortion rights - The Washington Post Youngkin had claimed he was a moderate and wanted to set the last date to get an abortion was 15 weeks. That was reasonable, he thought. The GOP misses the point of what bugs those who oppose whatever is done contrary to Roe v Wade intent. It is the control government has over a women's ability to control their bodies by taking away rights they once had for 50 years,. Roe v Wade was tolerable and flexible enough. Any law which in effect bans abortion, deceptively before women know they are pregnant, or at conception, or heartbeat, is a poison pill to the majority of voters, even in red states. DOA. That will torpedoe any chance Ron Desantis ability to win te presidency.' As governor, he signed into law the 6 week ban enacted in Florida.
Trump. many videos of his boasting he was te one who got Roe v Wade overturned by stacking the Supreme Court with "pro-life" appointees, now thinks he will pull a "moderate" position because only he could negotiate a compromise. Women will never trust a person boasting and found liable for pussy grabbing, years of womanizing, and a history of being a liar to "negotiate a compromise" on a federal election abortion ban. Even if Trump has never been guilty of any of these tings, pulling a "Youingkin" will also not work to soften up the women vote.
There is now a red herring raised by "pro lifers"."But some states "permit'' late term aboortions of a viable baby., even if the life of the other is in danger so therefore we need a federal law. I was married to an OB-GYN who was in practice in Denver for nearly 30 years, before and during Roe v Wade. This issue is not new and wHen it came up when he was alive (He passed in 2015), I asked him about it. He said in all of his years in practice he never saw or heard of a "late term abortion".in the third trimester even though the law technically did not forbid it. It is setting up a red herring, a lie, as a way to justify a federal law. Shame on the "pro life" devotees. Women can see through their willful ignorance and pretexts... Thanks to modern medicine, there is no need for a woman to have to go into death threatening sepsis, bleeding out, or carry a dead fetus or have an ectopic pregnancy and the pain heartbreak of it to go through such horrors.. Abortion in the U.S.: What the data says | Pew Research Center
. Freedom" infers freedom from government dictation prohibiting abortion and taking away 50 years of rights. The Ohio version was not unlimited permission, and neither was Roe v Wade. Ohio's ballot issue was closer to Roe v Wade.It also set the limit of permission to before the fetus's viability but set a figure. Like Ohio, the life of the mother was an exception. ( Ohio set it around 22 to 24 weeks with science-based flexibility). It was unlike the extreme right's limit at heartbeat or at conception. If the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, women will have freedom from having a forced birth. Also, in the Ohio legislation, there was the protection of access to birth control so the need and number of abortions could be reduced. It also implies freedom from government and men's control over women's lives.
Left untouched in the Ohio law was that no one is forced to get an abortion by law. If your values cause you to oppose abortion, your right is respected to carry through with the pregnancy. If you want and afford to be a stay-at-home mother, that too is your right, freedom, and choice. If you want to speak out against abortion, nothing forbids that, either. Just understand that the other 57% disagree on the issue.
Another lesson learned. Instead of railing against cultural issues," parental rights" worked, too, in Kentucky.. Government control is not the same as freedom to exercise parental rights. Parental rights work for both sides of issues, but the freedom for parents to decide what they want their children to learn instead of some government making that decision for them can cut both ways, too. The government restricting access to either the pros or the cons of racism or sexual orientation is not freedom. Parents should also be able to choose books and information in libraries or access to self-sexual identification for their children if they think it is in the best interest of their child. Still, the government should not make that decision for parents by banning, forbidding, or criminalizing access to what the government officials disapprove. It should be a mental health and health care decision made by parents, not by the government.
What worked in the reelection of the Democrat Governor in a ruby red state like Kentucky was "empathy" on the economy. What did not work is touting Bidenomics. Empathy:" Yes, I know you are hurting, but here is what I did to roll back some costs." I would add that no president, Democrat or Republican, has much control over interest rates, inflation, or the price of gasoline at the pump. Presidents and Congress can influence the costs of health care and fighting hunger in America. Then, Democrats need to provide a contrast with the GOP: Here is where the GOP stands on that. In the name of cutting the deficit and giving tax cuts to the rich, they opposed measures to cut prescription drug costs. They railed against Obamacare, which offers good healthcare to millions who could not afford insurance before. They propose cutting SNAP, Social Security, and Medicare by reducing eligibility instead of making up shortfalls with tax dollars.
Election deniers are also losers. Election deniers overwhelmingly lost in battleground states (nbcnews.com)
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