Post-Dobbs politics in Wisconsin

This is a very good article about how Sam Alito’s rights-extinguishing blog post is transforming politics in a traditional swing district in one of the country’s most competitive states [when fair elections are held]:

The opposing displays captured how the Supreme Court’s move to overturn Roe v. Wade 14 months ago has reshaped the landscape of American politics, right down to the familiar ritual of county fair politicking. Long a rousing issue among conservatives, abortion is stirring voters on the left and mobilizing independents troubled by the government’s policing intimate decisions.

Most Americans aren’t in favor of revoking the option to end a pregnancy, and growing numbers of political moderates indicate that the issue will influence their vote.Republicans felt the impact in November when five states across the political spectrum put abortion referendums on the ballot, and voters in each case chose to safeguard access. Even in conservative strongholds, typically sleepy statewide contests have seen unusually high turnout when abortion access was at stake — most recently in Ohio, where a hearty majority rejected a measure that would have made it tougher to enshrine protections.

In Wisconsin, the high court’s decision reactivated a 174-year-old law interpreted as forbidding the procedure except to save a woman’s life— and ignited a fierce legal battle over whether that rule will stay on the books. The state’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, has pledged to repeal the ban through litigation expected to land as early as next year beforeWisconsin’s Supreme Court — which flipped to a liberal majority after voters this spring elected a justice who had campaigned on abortion rights.

Abortion is a galvanizingtopic in Door County, a peninsular expanse between Green Bay and Lake Michigan known as “the Cape Cod of the Midwest” — and the swingiest place in what’s shaping up to be a crucial 2024 battleground. It’s one of nine U.S. counties that has sided with every presidential election’s winner since 2000.In fact, Door voted for the winning White House contender all but twice in the past 50 years — in 1992 and 1976. The county’s role as a barometer of political opinion extends to other races, too: the winners of Wisconsin’s state and federal races last year — including the governorship and House — all won this region of roughly 30,000.

In late-summer interviews with dozens of countyresidents, conservatives said they are feeling the fallout of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision on the ground — and are worried that Republicans will be hurt politically by a backlash in 2024. Buoyant Democrats, meanwhile, said they are benefiting from a surge of new energy from both their base and those who are not regular party activists.

It’s worth reading the whole thing. But before I move on I can’t resist citing this classic of “Republicans cynically using healthcare to try to divert attention from their substantively horrible and massively unpopular stance on abortion”:

Soucek, the county GOP chairwoman, isnot okay with exceptions for rape and incest. (Adoption is the better answer, she said — or guiding women toward public resources like food stamps and Medicaid.)

Governor Evers called a special session urging legislators to accept the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. The gerrymandered Republican-controlled legislature ended the session after about five seconds.

There are many infuriating things about the American anti-abortion movement, but their tendency to lie about being willing to provide healthcare to the women they’re brutalizing is among the worst.