HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania. The right to abortion, suddenly a powerful political force after the the US Supreme Court decision leaving such matters to the states, found an unlikely champion in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
Sen. Bob Casey, who will appear on the November ballot under President Joe Biden as Democrats seek re-election, has started doing something he has never done before: attacking an opponent from above abortion rights.
The senator, who has previously called himself a “pro-life Democrat,” accuses Republican challenger David McCormick in a new television ad of wanting to “make abortion illegal even in cases of rape and incest” — a characterization McCormick says is wrong.
Speaking at an online meeting of progressive women’s advocacy group Red Wine & Blue earlier this month, Casey warned that the election of a Republican president and a new Republican majority in the Senate could result in a ban on abortion pill It is contraceptioneven in Democratic-controlled states – or purple states like Pennsylvania – where abortion remains legal.
“You could have a blue state impact, whether it’s a blue state ban that affects contraception or a blue state ban when it comes to abortion because of mifepristone,” Casey said.
That’s a big shakeup for Casey, who, like his father and Biden, comes from an Irish Catholic family in Scranton. Her father, who served two terms as governor of Pennsylvania, opposed abortion rights and signed legislation restricting abortion that led to the landmark 1992 case. Planned Parenthood x Casey.
Senator Casey, whose race is seen as crucial to Democrats’ effort to defend their slim Senate majority, says the Supreme Court’s ruling strip constitutional protections from women for abortion everything changed in the abortion debate and led a “pro-life Democrat” to support access to abortion.
Casey suggested that “pro-life” never meant a total ban on abortion, without exception, at least for him. After the court’s next decision has leakedCasey supported Democrats’ legislation to keep abortion legal under Roe v. Wade. Wade’s proposal to ban abortions only after viability, around 24 weeks.
“Everyone in the Senate had a choice to make,” Casey told the Associated Press. “You had to decide, basically, whether or not you would support a ban on abortion. And that was a choice you had to make. And the choice was also a choice in relation to legislation. … And I decided that I would support moving this bill forward and therefore not be in the abortion ban column.”
He had broken with Democrats in the past by supporting bills to ban abortions after 20 weeks and to block federal funding for abortion.
But he also emphasized reducing abortions through services that prevent unwanted pregnancies and help pregnant women and young mothers, a reason he gave for supporting federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
When the court overturned Roe v. Wade, Casey criticized it as a violation of a constitutional right and a dangerous decision that would not prevent abortion but would put women’s lives at risk.
Democrats were happy to embrace Casey’s recalibrated position.
“I don’t believe he ever wanted those (pro-life) beliefs to impede access to abortion, and now his position matters more than it did just two years ago,” said Brittany Crampsie, a Democratic strategist.
Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies history and politics of the abortion debatesaid he thinks Casey began moving away from the anti-abortion movement long before the court overturned Roe v. Wade.
He was likely pulled by a Democratic Party that has become more supportive of abortion rights and pushed by an anti-abortion movement that has become more aligned with Republicans and Christian conservatives, Ziegler said.
“If you take the politics out of it, it’s possible that Casey has one of those purple positions on abortion that doesn’t tend to keep up with what any of the movements are doing,” Ziegler said.
Many Americans hold middle-of-the-road beliefs about abortion, Ziegler said, and Casey’s position is not out of step with many lay Catholics. According to surveys by the Pew Research Center, 56% of U.S. Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Politically speaking, abortion rights have been a winner at the polls since the court ruling, even in red states like Ohio, Kansas It is Kentuckywhere the results favored maintaining the legality of access to abortion.
McCormick attacks Casey from the right. He accuses Casey of wanting to allow abortions “up to the moment of birth,” a refrain Republicans are using to attack Democratic legislation that allows an exception for abortions after fetal viability in extremely rare situations when a doctor determines life. or a child’s health. the mother is at risk.
Democrats say doctors — not the government — should make such decisions.
Meanwhile, McCormick says he opposes abortion, with three exceptions – rape, incest and to save the mother’s life – and not just one exception, as Casey claims. McCormick also says he would not vote for a federal abortion ban.
Casey, now in his eighth statewide campaign, has never used abortion rights as a weapon. He has been on defense, however.
In the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Casey told a radio interviewer that he was in favor of an exception, to save his mother’s life. But, he said, if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, then he, if elected governor, would sign legislation with all three exceptions, including rape and incest, “and would have the effect of reducing the number of abortions in the state.”
Casey ultimately lost to Ed Rendell, who received support from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, which ran ads against Casey because of his opposition to abortion rights.
In the Senate elections, Casey’s Republican opponents tried to poke holes in his “pro-life” bona fides by pointing out that he opposed proposals to suspend federal payments to Planned Parenthood.
Casey, in 2006, was first recruited by national Democrats to run when he was still using the “pro-life Democrat” label. He has not faced a serious primary opponent in his four Senate campaigns.
Republicans frame their evolution on this issue as pure politics. They say he changed his position to survive the leftist trend in the party and never truly opposed abortion, as his father did.
“I don’t know how you go from defending life to the ad he’s making against Dave McCormick,” said Matt Beynon, a Republican strategist who worked on Lou Barletta’s film. lost campaign against Casey in 2018.
Democratic strategists insist that Casey’s evolution is natural and reflects a generational shift in which abortion is discussed alongside health care and contraception.
Christine Jacobs, who founded an organization to help elect Democratic women to the Pennsylvania Legislature, said Casey spent years thinking about this and talking about it with her staff.
Still, Democratic strategists are perplexed by the question of whether Casey could have been the party’s unquestioned nominee in 2024 if he had supported the ban when party activists were rallying around abortion rights.
It’s an academic question now. But Jacobs — who, like Casey, grew up Catholic — thinks there would have been enough outrage.
“I think he would have to give up,” Jacobs said. “At least, I would like to think so.”
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Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on twitter.com/timelywriter.
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