“The president has been claiming for some time that Democrats want to allow abortion ‘until the moment of birth.’ Trump also began claiming that Democrats want to legalize the killing of infants after they’re born, following confusing comments made by Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia that some took as an endorsement of infanticide. In reality, no law in Virginia or anywhere else allows killing babies after they are born. No Democratic legislators support this. Doctors, meanwhile, say that patients do not request abortions during delivery or at ‘the moment of birth,’ nor do providers perform them.”
Anna North, Vox

“The moral message of [the pro-life movement] is simple and powerful: The fetus is a member of the human species from the time of conception; all members of the human species, no matter how small, weak, or dependent, possess innate dignity and hence a right to life… But a pro-life movement whose greatest political champion is Donald Trump has no hope for maintaining such a high-minded construal of its motives and priorities… [This is] a serial adulterer who's repeatedly been accused of rape, who cheated on his wife with a porn star shortly after the birth of their son, and who has been caught on tape bragging about his facility at sexual assault…

“[As we've] seen with shifts in public opinion in favor of immigration over the past few years of nativist cruelty and xenophobia from the administration, Trump tends to turn people against the very causes he champions. By locking arms with a polarizing, deeply unpopular, and morally repulsive president, the pro-life movement is likely to end up losing at the very moment it feels closest to winning.”
Damon Linker, The Week

“Voters’ fury over Donald Trump’s agenda, which included rollbacks on abortion rights, combined with an influx of women and people of color running for office, led to Democratic wins in the midterm election. Democrats flipped seven governorships, six state legislative chambers, and more than 300 state House and Senate seats in 2018…

“In 2019, more states passed proactive protections for abortion rights and expanded access than in any previous year. Ever. Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont all enacted laws that codify a fundamental right to make reproductive decisions, including abortion. Maine guaranteed both private and public insurance coverage for abortion, and Nevada repealed its pre-Roe abortion ban that made it a crime to provide an abortion or for a woman to self-manage her own… What we are learning—led by activists and advocates who are fighting the attacks on the front lines—is that we are more effective when we publicly proclaim our support for abortion access for all and stand strong to defend that position.”
Andrea Miller, The Nation

A Planned Parenthood medical director writes, “I recently took care of a West African patient who suffered many horrors as a political prisoner before fleeing her country, leaving behind her three children and sister. While trying to make her way to the United States, she endured additional horrors, including a rape that resulted in pregnancy… Despite all she had been through, she was determined to start her life over and, for her, ending the pregnancy was an integral part of that process… I understand fully the complexity that surrounds abortion care, but banning access to abortion and stigmatizing those who provide abortions hurts my patients and has lasting effects on the entire community’s health.”
Serina Floyd, Washington Post