IN THE BATTLEGROUNDS: New Reports Highlight How Republicans’ Toxic Record On Women’s Health Care Is Becoming A Central Issue For 2022

New reporting this week in Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina highlighted how Texas’ six-week abortion ban and other Republican-led anti-abortion efforts are becoming a central issue ahead of the midterm elections as Republican candidates are having to answer for their toxic records on women’s health care:

• In Nevada, the Southwest regional director of NARAL slammed Laxalt’s long record opposing access to abortion and attacking reproductive health care, writing “Laxalt is not the leader Nevada women need” and “Nevadans rejected Laxalt’s extremist views in 2018; now, we need to do it again in 2022.” Additionally, This Is Reno reported that several pro-choice organizations held an event to speak out against Laxalt’s “anti-abortion views” and highlight how his “past actions have indicated that he will do what he can to undermine reproductive rights.”  

• In Georgia, the Atlanta Journal Constitution highlighted how the “Texas decision puts abortion at center of Georgia 2022 races” and how the “issue is sure to become a major contrast between candidates for U.S. Senate” as every single Republican candidate supports this latest attack on reproductive health care.

• In North Carolina, The News & Observer detailed how Texas’ ban “heated up the abortion debate into an election issue for 2022” and “debates about abortion will be in play in” the Senate contest as the entire GOP field proudly confirmed their support for stripping away health care coverage from women and families. 

See also: USA Today: Texas abortion law could hurt Republicans in 2022 midterm elections, experts say; The Hill: Democrats, Planned Parenthood say reproductive health care is on 2022 ballot; Bloomberg: GOP-Led Abortion Bans Risk Driving Away Voters the Party Needs; The Atlantic: What the Texas Abortion Law Means for the Midterms; The Hill (Opinion): Press: Texas hands Democrats a great big gift; Axios: Democrats’ next moves after a stunning SCOTUS loss on abortion; Newsweek: Republicans Are Not Celebrating the Texas Abortion Law. Here’s Why; CNN: Opinion: The GOP’s Texas-sized mistake on abortion; Washington Post: Analysis | Abortion, voting rights, guns and covid: Texas Republicans go all in; Roll Call: Democrats say Texas abortion ban spotlights Senate battle in 2022; MSNBC: Texas abortion ban reverberates from White House to state houses; NBC News: Texas law could flip script on abortion politics, with Democrats eyeing gains; New York Times: Abortion Arrives at the Center of the American Political Maelstrom; Washington Post: ​​Texas abortion law reshapes political landscape; Reuters: Analysis: Texas abortion ban injects new urgency into U.S. election campaigns; Los Angeles Times: How the Supreme Court Texas abortion ruling may impact midterms; The Hill: Democrats point to Texas abortion ban in bid to juice midterm turnout; Washington Post: Analysis | The Trailer: Why Democrats want to talk about Texas’s abortion law (and Republicans don’t).

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