Abortion bans have always been part of the attack on democracy

Over the past few weeks, Americans have watched in horror and disgust as unlawful state-sponsored violence has unfolded in Minneapolis. In the pro-abortion movement, we have seen power wielded to silence dissent and roll back rights, sometimes at the cost of American lives. Watching the authoritarian playbook on full display in Minneapolis feels all too familiar. 

“Fascist” isn’t just a casual insult for someone who doesn’t align with our political beliefs — it is the ideology that is running our government. As someone who has spent my career advocating for safe and legal abortions, it’s clear to me that attacking abortion rights has been part of the authoritarian strategy all along. 

The White House’s open embrace and advancement of the anti-abortion movement’s agenda exactly embodies what a democracy’s descent into authoritarianism looks like. Through its rhetoric, by dehumanizing and criminalizing people who seek, provide or support abortion care, the movement has justified the dismantling of reproductive rights and state interference into our personal medical decisions. 

In a recent speech at the March for Life, Vice President JD Vance touted the administration’s most recent attacks, including investigating Planned Parenthood affiliates for their receipt of COVID-era Small Business Administration loans, as well as the expansion of the Mexico City policy to cut off funding to all international NGOs that offer or promote abortion. He couched his attacks by undermining the very humanity of the majority of Americans who support reproductive health access by saying the anti-abortion movement “is about whether we will remain a civilization under God or whether we ultimately return to the paganism that dominated the past.”

 The consequences of such rhetoric extend far beyond mere words. First, if Vance wants to talk about being “uncivilized,” abortion bans lead to preventable maternal deaths. Second, demonizing those who support or receive abortion gives license to the government to bypass democratic norms and procedures and strip away fundamental freedoms for anyone.

The Trump administration has been laying the groundwork for obliterating reproductive rights from the start. President Trump was elected in 2016 with a promise to complete the Republican party’s work in nominating a majority anti-abortion Supreme Court, and the three justices he appointed ran with their power. In 2022, the bench undid legal precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing abortion to be banned or severely restricted in most states. 

The Trump administration has been laying the groundwork for obliterating reproductive rights from the start.

Achieving the administration’s goal of dismantling abortion protections required more than court appointments. It required purging moderate Republicans from office at every level of government, aggressive gerrymandering, norm-breaking manipulation of Senate confirmation processes, and a willingness to abandon evidence, expertise, and constituent testimony whenever facts conflicted with ideology. In statehouses like mine in Ohio and in others like Texas and Florida, lawmakers speak endlessly about “protecting life” and being “pro-family” while slashing funding for public schools, health care, childcare and other policies that support the families they claim to champion. And if they really wanted to end abortions, they would not be defunding access to contraceptives and sex education, which actually result in healthier relationships and fewer unintended pregnancies.

In some states, Republicans have even tried to restrict direct democracy, or confuse voters, in order to undermine abortion rights. To head off a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the constitution, the Ohio GOP pushed for a constitutional amendment that aimed to make passing ballot measures much harder. Thankfully, voters rejected it. Meanwhile, in Missouri, Republicans in the state House passed a deceptively worded referendum that would repeal the new amendment codifying the right to abortion and impose a new ban. The question will be before voters this November.

It’s clear: These same far-right politicians, who have become the Republican mainstream, are pro-control and anti-democracy. They are more loyal to Trump’s authoritarian agenda than they are to the voters who elect them into office and the taxpayers who pay their salaries. And they are never going to stop controlling women’s bodies and stifling reproductive freedom because they want to control all freedom. By mobilizing to protect abortion, we are fighting for the type of personal freedoms that run at the very core of our democracy.

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Lauren Blauvelt is the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio (PPAO) and a former co-chair for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the coalition that helped enshrine abortion rights into Ohio’s Constitution in 2023.