The issue is an 1849 law, not Roe

By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Up in Wisconsin, the GOP won a super-majority in the state Senate but lost a Supreme Court election, giving the Democrats a 4-3 edge. Am I the only one who finds that strange?

We are already hearing that this is about abortion or a comeback of the left, as we read in the Wall Street Journal:

Judge Protasiewicz dispensed with most legal niceties and ran a nakedly political campaign almost like a candidate for Governor. She called Wisconsin's legislative electoral maps "rigged" and Scott Walker's 2011 Act 10 limits on union collective bargaining unconstitutional. She refused to say if she'd recuse herself if those cases come before the court.

Her major issue was abortion, especially the fate of an 1849 state statute that became law after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The law bans abortion in nearly all cases. Republicans who control the state Legislature helped her cause by failing to amend the law. They had ample warning from results last year in Michigan and Kentucky, where abortion drove Democratic turnout.

The issue is that 1849 law. My sense is that voters are saying no a total ban not, yes to abortion on demand. The WSJ is correct, warning the GOP that they need to live in 2023, not 1849:

Republicans had better get their abortion position straight, and more in line with where voters are or they will face another disappointment in 2024. A total ban is a loser in swing states.

As we've seen in some states, banning abortion outright is a loser politically. The answer is a 12- or 15-week window, or where most Americans are. Allow abortion in case or incest, something that most people understand and support. It's complicated, but that's where people are today.

As long as the focus is on a ban, Democrats can demagogue the issue rather than explain that they are calling for late-term abortion. Force Democrats to defend abortions after 15 weeks. These elections would turn out different if the issue were abortion on demand rather than an 1849 ban.

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