It's Time For the Democrats to Put Up Or Shut Up

Pass legislation that enshrines Roe v. Wade at the federal level NOW.

Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

Well, you’ve likely already heard the news I hoped I wouldn’t live to see: The Supreme Court appears to be on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, the law that enshrined the rights of childbearing people to be full citizens with control over their biology. (Some news-head part of my brain keeps screaming It’s a draft! It’s not official yet! as a sort of psychic protective measure.)

Stop reading now if you’re Christine Pelosi or a Hillary Clinton apologist, I don’t need the grief. Actually, keep reading: You absolutely do.

The overturning of Roe isn’t complete, but Republicans have made it clear that that’s where all this has been heading for years, chipping away at the state level to the point where abortion is already de facto illegal in a number of states. When the Court made the decision to take up the Mississippi abortion case before 2021 was out, given its now-ironclad conservative majority, there was no longer any doubt about the GOP’s goal. And yet once again, the Democrats are acting like they’ve been caught completely flat-footed.