‘This is a fundamental right’: Abortion rights supporters gear up for 2022 midterms as Roe comes ‘under real threat’

A decision by the Supreme Court in 2022 could turn the battle for control of Congress upside-down, John Bowden writes

Protesters in front of the Supreme Court on 1 December 2021 (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

When hundreds of activists on both sides of the abortion debate squared off in front of the Supreme Court last month, the 2022 midterms were not at the top of either faction’s agenda.

A month later as President Joe Biden’s first year in office comes to a close, though, the significance of the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision is a key issue for major liberal groups gearing up to defend the Democratic Party’s House and Senate majorities.

Expectations that the court will hand down a ruling in June on a Mississippi case directly challenging the precedent set by Roe v Wade, the landmark case which established abortion as a protected medical right in the US, threaten to turn the midterm elections on their head. If a ruling came down at that time, it would land right in the middle of congressional primary elections around the US, while setting up a major point of contention for some general election campaigns ahead of November.