The right to abortion jumps to the center of the US legislative elections.

The right to abortion has jumped to the center of the campaign for the US legislative elections in November. with the democrats doing everything possible to mobilize their voters and with the republicans divided on what is the best strategy to win.

Fundraising has skyrocketed in the Democratic Party. ActBlue, the most popular virtual platform among progressive candidates, has raised more than US$27.5 million since the Politico newspaper published on Monday the draft of a US Supreme Court ruling that aims to eliminate the right to abortion .

Although the Supreme Court has made it clear that the ruling is not the final one, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand considered this Sunday that this issue will be central in the elections.

“This is the greatest fight of our generation. If the women and men who love them don’t fight for it right now, then we will lose the basic right to make decisions about our bodies and decide about our future, ”Gillibrand, known for her feminist oppositions, told CNN.

If the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, protection for abortion at the federal level will end and the states will be responsible for deciding on that right.

The fight of the Democratic candidates

For this reason, much of the attention has focused in recent days on the candidates for governor in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada or Arizona, where the right to abortion could depend on the political sign of the person who exercises the highest authority. executive.

For example, the Democratic candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, has promised that if he is elected he will veto any initiative approved in the state legislature, held by Republicans, to restrict the right to abortion.

Also, in Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Stacy Abrams on Wednesday stopped fundraising for her campaign and used her extensive network of contacts to invite voters to donate money to abortion rights activist groups. .

On the other hand, Democratic candidates running for Congress have focused on calling for Senate rules to be changed, if necessary, to pass legislation protecting abortion rights at the federal level.

Next week, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill to that end; but everything indicates that it will fail because the Democrats, with 50 seats, do not have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a procedural vote and that the measure begins to be debated.

Republican leaders avoid the issue

Unlike the Democrats, the leaders of the Republican Party in Washington have kept a low profile and have made it clear that their mission is to continue to focus the electoral debate on the economy, soaring inflation and the immigration crisis at the border.

With this strategy, they hope to win the support of independent and middle-class voters, who reject the management of the president, Democrat Joe Biden, at historically high levels, according to polls.

Polls also show that 69% of Americans believe that the Supreme Court should not abolish the right to abortion.

For this reason, instead of celebrating the possible end of the right to abortion, leaders such as Republican Mitch McConnell focused their attention on the fact that the sentence had been leaked and the damage that this could inflict on the Supreme Court as an institution.

Even former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), de facto leader of the party, has avoided rejoicing and did not even mention the issue of abortion in a rally of almost an hour and a half that he gave on Friday night in the state of Pennsylvania.

In this way, the committee dedicated to electing Republicans for the Senate sent a document to the candidates this week to ask them to show restraint when speaking to the press and, for example, make it clear that they are not going to ban contraceptives or jail women who abort.

Republican euphoria at the local level

The problem for Republicans, however, is that some of their members are doing just the opposite at the state level.

On Wednesday, legislators in Louisiana advanced legislation that considers abortion to be homicide and that the fetus has rights from conception, which would open the door to criminal charges against doctors and women, as well as to ban emergency contraceptives such as the birth control pill. day after.

Also, Republicans in Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota have called for emergency legislative sessions to restrict abortion as soon as the Supreme Court announces its final decision in June.

In many states, Republicans have an advantage in the battle for abortion rights since many states have laws that prohibit abortion and that could go back into force if the Supreme Court ends the protection of that right.

In Wisconsin, for example, an 1849 law makes abortion a crime unless the mother’s life is in danger, and some Republicans in the state have already expressed their intention to reapply it.