it's abortion, stupid.

the lesson: don't mess with women.

Female anger is the most underestimated force in the world. It is powering protest in Iran, the climate movement and now it’s responsible for one of the most shocking midterm upsets in US history. Given the unpopularity of President Biden, Democrats are said to have “had the best midterm a president’s party has experienced in 20 years.” Democrats made so many gains that it’s the first midterm since 1934, where the party that holds the White House defended every state legislative majority. I would insert a red wave pun but I’m going to assume you’re already sick of all of them.

These incontestably positive results are dramatically different than the ones circulated by pundits projecting that women’s feelings about having their most fundamental human right to bodily autonomy overturned would wear off as quickly as a summer tan. As it turns out, women prefer having rights and will organize and punish those who took them away. Did Republicans forget that women have the right to vote and know how to use it?

The irony is while progressives have long been told to keep quiet about the so-called divisive topic of abortion, Republicans are the ones who showed us it’s actually pretty popular! Exit polls showed that protecting reproductive rights was a top issue along with inflation. And as I wrote on MSNBC the day after the election, when voters were asked about it, they were wholeheartedly in support of it.

One of the clear trends unfolding in this midterm election is that when abortion was on the ballot, voters wholeheartedly opted to protect it. Five states had explicit ballot measures regarding the medical procedure, and all of them sided with a woman’s right to choose. Voters in Kentucky, Vermont, Michigan and California voted to ensure that their states keep abortion legal, and in Montana, voters rejected a proposal that would have made any embryo or fetus a legal person, which would have criminalized doctors. 

Now that we have proof that abortion is the prom queen of voter issues, it’s worth reflecting on whether it was ever a “wedge issue” to begin with. While support for abortion is at a historical high, the majority of Americans have steadily stood on the side of reproductive rights for the better part of the last decade. And while the Dobbs case made abortion front and center, this year’s midterms wasn’t the first year it was on the ballot. Personhood measures have been tested before in states like Mississippi, Colorado, North Dakota, and have never succeeded.

In a farcical twist of events, the anti-abortion agenda materializing itself created the best PR machine against the anti-choice movement. Republicans inadvertently created a feminist cultural flashpoint where women with influence, like Chrissy Teigan, not only realized, but shared publicly that an abortion had saved her life. While Hollywood has often remained silent on the issue, more than than 500 *male* show-runners signed a letter in defense of abortion rights and male celebrities like Giacomo Gianniotti shared their own personal abortion stories, something progressive women (hi!) have been demanding for years. Most of corporate America even sided with women’s bodily autonomy. Most people now know about abortion pills, how to get them before you need an abortion (even if you live in a red state) and the underground network that provides them. If you’ve never seen this level of outward and enthusiastic support for reproductive rights, you can thank your local anti-choice lawmaker

heather graham holding a t-shirt from mayday.health, an abortion rights organization helping women get information about abortion pills in red states.

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The midterms are incontrovertible evidence that Americans are not polarized when it comes to the right to abortion— they are unambiguously in support of it. The rebuttal to Republican efforts to control women proved to the world one important simple fact: abortion is as american as apple pie.

The cherry on top is that conservative efforts to dismantle women’s rights actually energized men to own up their reproductive responsibility and share the burden with their female partners. While I was mocked for my strong view that more men would get vasectomies, it became true, as clinics across the United States reported a surge in demand for the procedure with some even offering it for free. The goal might have been to control women’s bodies, but what ended up unfolding was a male feminist awakening about how sexist it was that they were leaving it up to women to prevent pregnancy, when men are fifty times more fertile than women. I’m not sure the five conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe had “more guys getting vasectomies” on their bingo card, but here we are I guess!

Roe should have never been overturned and the party that caused this level of endangerment for women and girls should never be forgiven. Forcing anyone to become a mother in a country where it’s safer to get an abortion than give birth, is a crime against humanity. It should have never come to this, but now that it has, it’s our job to count the votes, recall the facts and tell the truth about what happened. Americans care about their abortion rights, and they will vote you out if you don’t. This country has spoken, and the message is clear: we won’t go back. We don’t want roe, we want something better.

But what is most important is that, YOU DID THIS. Yes, you. I feel so lucky I get to be part this community with you and I have been energized by your zest and tireless passion in this fight. You made a difference in my life, and the lives of so many others, and I want you to let that sink in.

In the meantime if you’re seeking some comic relief after a week of anguish and nail-bitting anxiety, tune into this week’s episode of Race to 35 where we get an intervention from the legendary Andrew Huberman about how to maximize fertility for all genders, including men! You won’t want to miss it.