Pelosi Lays Down The Gauntlet On Choice

Earlier today, an angry Pelosi announced that later this month the House will vote on Judy Chu's bill to guarantee access to abortion. This is a real electoral problem for conservatives, who are about to be put on the record against something that a majority of Americans favor-- women's Choice:

The Supreme Court’s cowardly, dark-of-night decision to uphold a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women’s rights and health is staggering. That this radically partisan Court chose to do so without a full briefing, oral arguments or providing a full, signed opinion is shameful.

...“Upon our return, the House will bring up Congresswoman Judy Chu’s Women’s Health Protection Act to enshrine into law reproductive health care for all women across America.

“SB8 unleashes one of the most disturbing, unprecedented and far-reaching assaults on health care providers-- and on anyone who helps a woman, in any way, access an abortion-- by creating a vigilante bounty system that will have a chilling effect on the provision of any reproductive health care services. This provision is a cynical, backdoor attempt by partisan lawmakers to evade the Constitution and the law to destroy not only a woman’s right to health care but potentially any right or protection that partisan lawmakers target.

“When the Supreme Court takes up its reproductive rights case this year, we urge it to uphold, as Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, ‘its constitutional obligations to protect not only the rights of women, but also the sanctity of its precedents and of the rule of law.’”

That will be murder for anti-Choice Republicans in swing districts, especially John Katko (NY), David Valadao (CA), Don Bacon (NE), Mario Díaz-Balart (FL), David Schweikert (AZ), Madison Cawthorn (Nazi-NC), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA), Mike Garcia (CA), Ann Wagner (MO), Lauren Boebert (Q-CO), Elise Stefanik (NY), Vern Buchanan (FL), Mike Turner (OH), Fred Upton (MI), Nicole Malliotakis (NY), Troy Nehls (TX), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Chip Roy (TX), Andy Barr (KY), Scott Perry (PA), Mark Amodei (NV), Young Kim (CA), Steve Chabot (OH), Beth Van Duyne (TX), Chris Smith (NJ), Dan Crenshaw (TX), Richard Hudson (NC), Michelle Steel (CA), Nancy Mace (SC), Brian Mast (FL), Michael McCaul (TX), Stephanie Bice (OK), Burgess Owens (UT), Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Ashley Hinson (IA), Claudia Tenney (NY), Bob Good (VA), Van Taylor (TX), Bryan Steil (WI), Peter Meijer (MI), Rodney Davis (IL), Glenn Grothman (WI), John Carter (TX), Carlos Giménez (FL), Yvette Herrell (NM), Jake Ellzey (TX), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), Victoria Spartz (IN), Troy Balderson (OH), Rob Wittman (VA), Andrew Garbarino (NY), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), Tony Gonzalez (TX), Maria Salazar (FL), Dan Bishop (NC) and Roger Williams (TX).

Oh... and one anti-Choice Democrat, Henry Cuellar, in his primary, where pro-Choice progressive Jessica Cisneros is already pummeling him on his ugly anti-choice record.

Every Senate Democrat except Joe Manchin (WV) and Bob Casey (PA) has signed on as a co-sponsor to Chu's bill... but even if Susan Collins (ME), Shelley Moore Capito (WV) and Lisa Murkowski (AK), three vaguely pro-Choice Republicans, vote with the Democrats, McConnell will filibuster the bill so that it never even gets debated. That's why Ed Markey but this out today:

Every Democratic candidate should embrace Markey's position. A friend of mine, Morris Katz, who's Erica Smith comms director, slammed Cheri Beasley the status quo candidate running against Erica from the right, noting that "Beasley's devotion to the filibuster, made all the more clear by her remarks to donors behind closed doors, makes her the most conservative Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in the country... Beasley is alarmingly running to the right of Conor Lamb and promising to legislate to the right of Senator Chris Coons. She is standing in 'solidarity' with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, committed to protecting a Jim Crow relic and tool of working class oppression. The Manchin/Sinema wing of the Democratic caucus is big enough. North Carolina deserves a candidate and a Senator who is ready to meet this moment and be the 51st vote on bold policies that can transform people's lives."

Erica herself said that "If you're not unequivocally for getting rid of the filibuster, you're opposed to bold climate action. You're opposed to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. You're opposed to the PRO Act. You're opposed to a $15 minimum wage. If you're not unequivocally for getting rid of the filibuster, you are out of touch with the scale of the crises bearing down on BIPOC communities and working people across North Carolina and all over the country."

Chris Preece, the Kentucky progressive running for the swing district anti-Choice extremist Andy Barr is holding told us that "Barr will use the Texas bill in an attempt to rally his base to show 'progress' on a promise he has dangled in front of voters since he has been in office. There is no doubt this will embolden those on the far right. Barr will declare he is inching toward victory on his anti-abortion agenda, and graciously accept their donations to elect him another term to finish the job. Regardless of my personal feelings on abortion, to not allow an abortion for a rape or incest victim is wicked. Kentucky currently has a super majority of GOP in state legislature, who will likely attempt to copy this bill and pass it here. We must prepare to stand against it, as the bill also pushes closer to an authoritarian state by allowing anyone to sue someone getting an abortion, aiding in an abortion, or attempting to help. This sue culture will erode social trust and create long lasting damage to our society. As a science teacher, If there's one thing I have learned in science, it's that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction."

In his e-mail to San Fernando Valley voters today, progressive candidate Shervin Aazami could barely contain his anger. "The assault on abortion rights and women’s healthcare is an assault on democracy itself," he wrote. "Abortion is healthcare, and healthcare is an inherent human right. And make no mistake-- the Texas abortion ban will disproportionately impact low-income women, Black and Brown women, and Indigenous women who struggle to access basic healthcare to begin with. Congress can and must act decisively. The time to abolish the Jim Crow relic filibuster is now. The time to expand the court is now. The time to repeal the Hyde Amendment and fully fund Title X is now. I am so angry. The failure of corporate Democrats like my opponent Brad Sherman to be advocates for women’s rights has left us in the dire conditions we are in today. From voting rights to women’s rights, to union and worker rights-- we are witnessing a systematic attack on democracy and our progressive values. It’s imperative that we fight back by electing corporate-free progressive representatives who will put in the work to ensure our basic human rights are strengthened and guaranteed for all."

In talking about his own opponent in his Senate race, Alan Grayson said something that is true of nearly every Republican in office: "Rubio cares about children right up until the moment they are born."