Recapping November’s Successes
In the wake of Election Day 2023, there were several wins for abortion rights advocates in Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia.
Ohioanas voted to add abortion rights to their state constitution. Voters now have the “right to make and carry out one’s reproductive decisions.” This decision protects abortion access up to twenty three weeks or when the fetus is “viable outside the uterus.” Before this measure was amended, Ohio had a six-week abortion ban. The success in Ohio demonstrates the fierce admiration advocates have for Roe v. Wade and to what extent they will mobilize to protect the right.
In 2020, Kentucky voted for Trump, but in November, they reelected a Democratic governor. Governor Andy Beshear faced an opponent who was strongly anti-choice. In one of Beshear’s election ads, he showed a women who miscarried after being raped. Beshear was able to get reelected this year not because more Republicans did not vote, but he was able to receive Republican support. The New York Times touched on the importance of this: “A Democrat who can win Republican voters without making compromises on issues important to liberal voters is someone the rest of the party will want to emulate in red states and districts across the country.”
Republican Governor Youngkin of Virginia faced upsetting news as Virginia Democrats gained seats in the election. Younkin is a conservative Republican who has pushed book-banning legislation and proposed a fifteen-week abortion ban. However, after results from the November election, it will become increasingly difficult for him to push conservative legislation in a state senate and legislature of predominantly Democrats.
While these are all steps in the right direction to protect abortion rights, there is still more to be done. But one thing can be said for sure after this year’s election: voting matters. None of these victories would have been achieved without voters showing up to make their voices and opinions heard in elections – Ohio had one of the highest voter turnouts in a non-election year in its history. This echoes #VOTEPROCHOICE’S message to exercise your civic rights in democracy to protect abortion rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/us/politics/election-takeaways-abortion-biden.html
https://apnews.com/article/election-2023-highlights-868a21bf3537a0533ae3fd8007d07eef
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/us/politics/ohio-abortion-amendment.html?searchResultPosition=4
