Jennifer Driver: Anti-abortion politicians say we should leave abortion up to states. They’re lying.
By Jennifer Driver
Republican politicians have a new go-to line when they’re asked about abortion: let the states decide. Donald Trump repeatedly uses this line, including during the presidential debate. JD Vance has made a similar claim. And I want to be clear: these anti-abortion politicians are lying to us. They are using this sound bite in an attempt to hide their extremist views on abortion.
What they won’t say out loud is that they support a national ban on abortion – as JD Vance sure does – and will decimate our fundamental freedoms the minute they’re in office. Saying states should decide what’s best for them is a blatant attempt to couch their true views. They know that the majority of Americans across the political spectrum support abortion access. Their goal is to soften their stance on abortion simply to win the upcoming election.
Anti-abortion politicians are simply responding to the backlash of Donald Trump’s abortion ban that has created the chaos and confusion that we experience today. Returning abortion rights to the states further erodes access and expands the gulf between those who have access to abortion and those who do not based on their state, zip code, and economic power. When we hear this from politicians, it is important to understand that it’s not only who controls our reproductive decisions at stake here, but also the very foundation of our democracy.
Let’s talk about the idea of returning power to the states. I work with state legislators every day, and I know firsthand the incredible power state lawmakers have. I’ve seen that power be used to expand and protect civil rights, affirm people’s dignity and humanity, and improve people’s lives. This is what we want our state legislators to do: to work with their communities to help them thrive. But anti-abortion politicians are doing the exact opposite.
Their view on states’ rights is an out-loud affirmation that harkens back to the Civil War era when states insisted on keeping Black people enslaved despite the federal government’s attempts to regulate slavery. When you think about state legislatures as institutions, one must remember that these were literally created for wealthy, land-owning, white men’s service.
In 2024, our state legislatures are still dominated by older white men who, for the most part, don’t reflect the experiences of the folks they represent, and our legislatures have been manipulated to make it harder to elect leaders who have their constituents’ best interests at heart. This allows extremist legislators to hang on to power and use our legislative bodies, which were intended to be democratic and representative, to deny people freedom over their lives. There is no democracy when our votes are gerrymandered and our elected representatives are beholden to interest groups rather than their constituents.
The claim that all state legislatures are carrying out the will of people in their states needs a reality check. Abortion is on the ballot in 10 states precisely because people don’t feel listened to by their anti-abortion lawmakers. Even though voters have supported enshrining abortion into state constitutions and refused to stand for attacks on our freedoms, we’ve witnessed state legislatures disregard the will of the people and disrespect the democratic process.
In Montana, voters rejected an anti-abortion law in 2022, but the anti-abortion majority chose to ignore that result and passed a law overriding the vote of the people. In Ohio, abortion opponents tried to raise the threshold needed to pass a referendum from 50% to 60% in an effort to stop an abortion protection ballot measure from passing. Voters in the state refused to be deterred, voting down the effort to move the goalpost on democracy and voting to protect abortion access.
If you need any further proof that anti-abortion politicians don’t want to leave abortion to the states, JD Vance made it crystal clear as a staunch supporter of the effort to make it harder for his constituents to have their voices heard on abortion.
Let me be clear: this rejection of this “return to the states” argument doesn’t mean we should reduce the power of state legislatures. Instead, we must advocate for policies that expand and support our civil rights and well-being, laws that allow people to make their own decisions, not politicians. Power should be used to support our communities, not to control them. In the absence of even the most basic federal protections, state legislatures have a renewed duty to use their power for good and find pathways to prioritize the needs of their communities, so people are able to decide when, if, and how to have families without a politician standing in the way.
As states grow more ascendant, state legislators have tremendous opportunities to lead, to work in creative coalitions, and to move quickly and nimbly to protect our communities. We need to put every effort into fostering this opportunity, to transform state legislatures into entities that work for us, not against us. At the same time, we need federal protections that guarantee our fundamental freedoms. The model we have today has created a tale of two states, with haves and have-nots on basic healthcare access separated by thin state lines. We need federal protections – beyond Roe – that affirm that our human rights shouldn’t be based on what state we live in and our access to abortion care shouldn’t depend on our zip code. It’s that simple.
Jennifer Driver has nearly 15 years of experience in reproductive health, rights, and justice and is currently Senior Director, Reproductive Rights at SiX Action.
