Attempting to cover as many bases as possible, the DFL also ran ads concerning those inconvenient details, such as waiting periods prior to an abortion, or required ultra sounds or mandatory counseling sessions. Things like that were, well, inconvenient, so they could also be readily dispensed with.
And just for good measure that comprehensive DFL ad campaign included what amounted to a public service announcement, which made it clear that a DFL-controlled legislature would outlaw any local governmental authority from ever taking any action that would limit or otherwise interfere with one’s fundamental right to “reproductive health care”—or non-reproductive care, as the case might be.
There you have it. It was quite an ad campaign—and quite successful to boot. Wait a minute! Perhaps my memory isn’t quite what it used to be. I must apologize. You see, I’ve been reading the provisions of the bill on “reproductive freedom” that is currently under consideration in our DFL-controlled legislature. Perhaps I’ve gotten things mixed up. Or maybe I’m misremembering or just plain dreaming.
The bill itself is very brief, so brief in fact that there’s nothing in it that would place any limitation at all on an “individual’s” right to obtain an abortion right up to the moment of birth—and perhaps even beyond. It’s all very, very, what’s the word that I’m looking for . . . extreme, yes, that’s it, it’s all very extreme. And apparently that’s perfectly fine with the entire DFL caucus.
[This was the argument that the GOP failed to make when it backpedaled furiously from abortion in the midterms after Dobbs. Had they engaged robustly on this issue, they could have easily exposed Democrats as the abortion extremists, especially with Chuck Schumer’s bill in May that would have federalized the issue and made abortion legal up to the moment of birth — and eliminated all conscience objections from providers. It was a ghastly and extreme bill, but went largely unargued as Republicans calculated that voters only cared about the economy and crime.
They’d better keep this column handy for 2024. The debate will be had, whether they show up or not. — Ed]
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