--- title: The Tricky Politics of the Texas Abortion Law description: Republicans hope a victory on abortion will strengthen their base, while Democrats think a defeat on abortion could galvanize theirs. canonical: https://time.com/6095100/texas-abortion-law-politics/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-09-07T17:58:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:31.211Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Tricky Politics of the Texas Abortion Law og:description: The new Texas abortion law could send the issue to the top of the priority list for Democratic voters. og:url: https://time.com/6095100/texas-abortion-law-politics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9c16e67e17d6992/698a1ca3096a94da7d6ab9ff/texas-abortion-ruling-supreme-court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: texas-abortion-ruling-supreme-court og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Tricky Politics of the Texas Abortion Law twitter:description: The new Texas abortion law could send the issue to the top of the priority list for Democratic voters. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9c16e67e17d6992/698a1ca3096a94da7d6ab9ff/texas-abortion-ruling-supreme-court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Tricky Politics of the Texas Abortion Law > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: True Stories, Hard Choices: Part 1 [Watch (HLS stream): True Stories, Hard Choices: Part 1](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fF6xepgj.m3u8) (12:23)  _Published 2016-09-28. Filmmaker Dawn Porter looks at the racial politics of abortion in America today._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 7, 2021 5:58 PM UTC  Pro-choice protesters march outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Sept. 1, 2021. Pro-choice protesters march outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Sept. 1, 2021. Sergio Flores—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 7, 2021 5:58 PM UTC Americans just can’t stop fighting about abortion. It’s a third-rail issue that has alternately animated the left and emboldened the right. But now, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s refusal to halt a [new Texas law](https://time.com/6093905/texas-abortion-ban-abortion-rights/) that bans abortions after six weeks and allows citizens to reap bounties for turning in anyone who provides or facilitates one, the politics of the 50-year political stalemate on abortion may be shifting. Republicans hope a major victory on abortion will strengthen their base, while Democrats think a significant defeat on abortion could galvanize theirs. To Republicans, the Supreme Court’s refusal to strike down the Texas law—which prohibits abortions before most women even know they’re pregnant, and [makes no exceptions for rape](https://time.com/6095405/texas-abortion-law-rape-crisis-centers/) and incest—is a vindication of decades of organizing to elect conservatives to appoint anti-abortion judges to the court. Over those decades, much of the Democratic base refocused on other issues, after the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 decision _Roe v. Wade_ protected the right to an abortion. But now, the new Texas abortion law—the most restrictive in the country—could send the issue to the top of the priority list for Democratic voters. That would upend a delicate political balance on abortion that has persisted for decades. For years, abortion rights activists have been warning the _Roe_ is in danger, and for years the Supreme Court has upheld abortion precedent, striking down state attempts to curtail abortion rights. That’s made many reproductive rights advocates feel like they’re crying wolf. “Its hard to convince people ‘they’re coming for your rights, they’re coming for your rights,’ and each time we squeak by,” says Cecile Richards, who used to run Planned Parenthood and now co-chairs the Democratic PAC American Bridge 21st Century. But now, “This Republican campaign over these many years was just successful in ending abortion rights in a state,” she says. “And not a tiny state, a huge state with millions of people. It’s just a different conversation.” The conservative Supreme Court may still strike down the Texas law in the future. When they declined to block the law on procedural grounds, five of the conservative justices were careful to note they weren’t rendering a decision on whether the law is constitutional—and they explicitly left open the door to future challenges. “This order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the unsigned Sept. 1 opinion said. (The sixth conservative justice, Chief Justice John Roberts, sided with the three liberal justices in dissent.) That means the fight will continue. But where Democrats see a referendum on _Roe v. Wade_, Republicans see an opportunity to redefine the terms of a different precedent: the 1992 Supreme Court decision _Planned Parenthood v. Casey_, which ruled that states could not impose an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion. Some Republicans argue that the Texas case isn’t about overturning _Roe_—it’s about pushing the limits of _Casey_, allowing states to restrict abortion to the extent where it’s still technically legal, but practically impossible. “The left wants to scare everybody to say that _Roe_ is in imminent danger,” says Republican strategist Brad Todd. “I think _Casey_’s what’s in imminent danger.” He dismissed the Texas case as “clickbait for Democratic email fundraising.” Making the debate about _Casey_ rather than _Roe_ gives Republicans political cover, given that most Americans support a woman’s constitutional right to get an abortion: 59% of Americans, including 35% of Republicans, believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to an [April Pew survey.](https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/) Focusing on _Casey_ allows Republicans to argue less about whether abortion should be legal, but more about at what point abortion should be illegal. “That’s a debate that Republicans can win,” says Todd.  Protesters demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court building after the announcement of the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy seat in July 2018. Gabriella Demczuk for TIME In decades since _Roe_, the desire to appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court has become one of the primary motivations of the conservative base. According [to Pew,](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/08/13/important-issues-in-the-2020-election/) while abortion ranked below the economy and violent crime as priority issues for Donald Trump voters in the 2020 election, it was more important to them than the coronavirus, climate change, and racial and ethnic inequality, ranking roughly on par with health care. Trump voters were 11 points more likely than Joe Biden voters to say abortion was “very important” to their vote: for Biden voters, abortion ranked dead last on their priority list. But overturning or substantially weakening _Roe v. Wade_ could turn abortion into the activating issue for Democrats that is has long been for Republicans. Privately, many Democrats assume they’ll lose at least one chamber in the 2022 midterms, since the party that’s out of power almost always tends to pick up seats. But the fate of the Texas law could change that assumption. “This is so far beyond anything that we have seen in 50 years that I do think it could have a galvanic effect, particularly in those suburban areas where we saw such activity in 2018,” says veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod. “This thing just crosses a lot of really, really vivid lines that are likely to be really motivational to voters who care about this issue.” Even in the hours immediately following the Texas law going into effect, the Democratic mobilization forces seemed to be awakening. The organization Run for Something, which recruits and trains progressive millennials to run for state legislature, saw a 100% increase in inquiries about running for office in the two days following the Texas law, according to co-founder Ross Morales Rocketto. Reproductive [rights organizations](https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-texas-abortion-law-supporters-organizations-raise-donations-heartbeat-bill-2021-9) saw a [spike in fundraising.](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-charity-is-fueled-by-anger-how-the-supreme-court-texas-abortion-ruling-could-spur-a-wave-of-rage-giving-11630683595) The Women’s March, in partnership with 90 other organizations, is planning a nationwide march in defense of abortion rights on October 2\. And Texas isn’t the only battleground: the Supreme Court will hear a challenge this fall to a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. “It’s no longer ‘The sky is falling.’ It’s like, ‘The sky just fell on our head’,'” Richards says. “It’s not if or when _Roe_ will fall: It just fell in Texas. And that creates a different political dynamic, and it engages people who are not just the usual suspects.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] My mother grew up in New York City, in Harlem in the 1950's. Her father was a physician and a surgeon at Harlem Hospital. I only knew a little bit about this part of my mother's life, so I asked her to tell me more about it. [ MUSIC ] Well as you know my family was the first family to move into our building. [ MUSIC ] I was I think about two years, [ UNKNOWN ] And that was my world. [ MUSIC ] My grandfather had a cousin who was a doctor living in North Carolina. Cousin Albert had more work than he could handle and he asked my grandfather comes South to help out. So my grandfather moved his family to Sleepy Wadesboro, North Carolina. Where he worked as local country doctor. My time in Wadesboro was very different than my time in New York. Most of his clients were very poor. People paid him in corn. And put your hugs and so we have lots of food. My bedroom faced over a highway up on a hill and one night all of the sudden I see like The on highway, all these cars like a row, and there is a trail of white sheets. I didn't know what the Coolock clan was, but i knew that everybody in the house was afraid. And one night The sheriff came, Albert poured drinks, they sat around chatting for a while and then they took him away. He was arrested. He was arrested because a white woman reported that he had performed an abortion for her. I never knew about this part of my family history. I knew that the issue of abortion in America has always been racially charged, but until I started making Trapped, my feature documentary about abortion, I never really considered how the experience of having an abortion might be different for black women. My friends it is a baby. It is a child. According to the Center for Disease Control, black women have abortions at five times the rate of white women. Certainly the reasons are complicated. But experts point to barriers like a lack of access to education, reproductive health care, and income disparity. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You pretend to be a When are you going to come back to Christ? Dr. Parker, much like my grandfather did, travels across the south providing women access to medical care, including abortion. He's become a well- known advocate for access to abortion care. If you're trying to wipe out the black race. Since you noticed, they're trained to wipe them out. I was prepared for protesters, but it was still shocking to hear the protesters call Dr. Parker a filthy negro abortionist. They were even disgusted with me, for my position, while making this film. Are you pro- choice? I am pro- choice, yes. It's easy to be pro- choice because you're not the one being killed. That's all I have to say. That's right, amen, yeah, what do you got to say about that? That's all I have to say. Hey, were you pro- choice about slavery, too? Cuz that was a privacy issue back in the 1800s. Were you pro- choice about that? You think slavery and abortion [ INAUDIBLE ] Pro choice about slavery, Dred Scott all that. i don; t understand your point. Good job. Is it pro choice about slavery? [ LAUGH ] I don't know why you keep bringing race into the conversation. You know because we like black babies, black babies matter to us but apparently not to you. And you don't care one bit because you're pro choice. You stand beside those Folks, good job! Good job! You're a disgrace to your race! It was absolutely surreal to hear older white men lecture me about the impact of abortion on the lives of black women. Meanwhile I was interviewing real women inside the clinics hearing their painful stories and how hard their choices were. It made me realize just how infrequently black women's stories are really ever told. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] All right, put today's date in this blank. You're gonna sign and date here. Nobody's forcing you to have this done. You do have 48 hours to change your mind. We did an ultrasound to find out how far along you are. You are less than 19 weeks pregnant. Do you know what your blood type is? No. Okay. Questions? No. All right, is there a reason why you didn't give me an emergency contact? Really don't have family here. Okay. Anybody? Friend? Church member? Boyfriend? Nobody Okay! On the other procedure, you gotta have to give me someone and it doesn't have to be someone in this vicinity. But if something happens to you here in the clinic, I need to be able to notify someone, okay? So whether it be your mom and she lives in another state, that's fine. But I still need an emergency contact okay? Now what are you going to do as far as the drive on the day of the procedure? A cab maybe. Okay. You're gonna have to have someone with you I can't put you in a cab sedated with someone you don't know and I don't know. What we can do is talk to the volunteers maybe. Sometimes they will Assist if you don't have a driver, because I'm not comfortable sending you with someone I don't know. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I am 20. What do you do? As a far as work? Yeah. I'm a cashier at Walmart. I make $ 9 in hour. Being a single parent is not easy. I'm starting to become a paramedic. I just feel like with another child then what I'm trying to do right now. I don't feel like I can do it. So I'm just trying to pursue my dreams so I can just had better for my son. How old is your kid? My son is 19 months. he's a great kid and I just want to take care of him. I don't really think I can do a second child, not by myself. How do you feel about your decision? Like a bad person. Say more about that. Why do you feel bad? Are you a religious person? I try to be. What does your religious understanding say to you about abortion? I know that God don't want this for me, but I did pray on it. I just want him to understand it. I feel like I should go through with it. Mm- hm. I just want him to understand. I don't want him to be upset with me, because if I do it, [ SOUND ] Continuous in that what I would want for you is that you'd be able say, you know what that was a jacked up situation, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd make the same decision because I made the best decision I could make. And that way you don't have to second guess yourself and nobody who's walking in your shoes can question you because they're not in your shoes. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I'm not a good person at all. I just feel like a bad person, a bad female. Okay, the only rule I'm gonna give you is you may not say I'm not a good person any more, cuz that is not the case. An unintended pregnancy is an unintended An unintended pregnancy is an unintended pregnancy. That's all it is. That's all it is. So, no more. Okay. Okay? I'm not kidding. As crazy as it sounds I said I would rather an abortion than to give the baby up to a family I don't know. Because if I wanna hold it in, that's love. And I don't wanna, [ SOUND ]. Sorry. [ SOUND ] And I can give that love away. [ SOUND ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] Deciding to have an abortion is never easy, but in many places it's also incredibly logistically difficult. Especially for black women. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] In June of 2016 the United States Supreme Court determined that so- called Trap Laws, which have resulted in the closure of so many abortion clinics are illegal, but there is still only one abortion clinic in the entire state of Mississippi. Luckily there's also one woman there who always listens. [ MUSIC ]. I live in Jackson Mississippi and I work at Jackson Women's Health, the abortion clinic. Getting ready to walk through those doors is the hardest part. And she's probably torn so many different directions. By the time she gets to me, she's barely sure of what she needs to do for herself. A lot of the private counseling that I do I hear interesting stories and most of them is about being torn one way or another. My name is Betty. Everyone around here calls me Ms. Betty, and what I do is I am available to you to talk to you about whatever's going on with you. What we usually do is do a group counseling where I tell you what to expect on surgery day. For me, being a mother is everything. Not only am I a mother to my two boys, I am a mother to the rest of the women in this clinic. [ MUSIC ] I think the protesters think that these women just get up in the morning and decide to go have an abortion. When they have put their heart and souls into their decisions and have to walk through that gauntlet out there to even come in and discuss with us the process. [ MUSIC ] I hate to think about what would happen to the women of Mississippi if this clinic closes. [ MUSIC ] It's tough for women right now. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ]. Ms. Betty is like a mother to her patients. But over and over in the three years of making the film trapped, I heard so many women tell me about their shame In how they felt they were letting their own family down, particularly their mothers. And even though I was making a documentary about abortion and interviewing so many women. I'd realized I've never asked my own mother if abortion had impacted her life. 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