https://www.emilyslist.org/news/entry/emilys-list-statement-on-voting-rights
In its new statement on “voting rights,” the president of Emily’s List claims that “Electing Democratic pro-choice women is not possible without free and fair elections.”
Sure it is!
Why should we think that Democrats are any less capable than are Republicans of stuffing ballot boxes, getting out the dead vote, and manipulating the voting process – in ways both legal and otherwise?
It may be that the women who run Emily’s List truly believe that their “pro-choice” candidates will win every election if that election is conducted in a “free and fair” manner.
But polling data doesn’t bear out that belief. According to an NBC poll conducted just last fall, “majorities and pluralities of evangelical Christians, rural Americans, older Americans and southerners say that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.” In the South, 43% of those polled by NBC thought that abortion should be legal while 52% opposed abortion.
That means that electing more Democratic pro-choice women in much of the South might not be possible WITH free and fair elections. But the commitment of “pro-choice” advocates, much like that of “pro-life” advocates, is not really a commitment to free and fair elections – unless those advocates believe that “free and fair” elections will ratify their preferences. Their commitment is to an outcome – either expanding or restricting the availability of abortion services. Means to that outcome include elections, demonstrations, legislation, lawsuits, battles over judicial appointments, court cases, and whatever other legal tools are available to them.