The Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case will create a major uptick in women voting for Democrats in 2014 and we will soon hear Democrats raising the “war on women” rally cry. The next action point will be President Obama and congressional Democrats fighting for legislation that would provide public funding to pay for birth control for women working in those companies that refuse to provide this coverage. Republicans will oppose it, Democrats will fight for it, women will notice.
{mosads}The issue is contraceptives, not abortion. Polls suggest a large majority of voters generally, and a supermajority of women, support contraceptives. As Democrats fight for coverage of contraceptives, and Republicans obstruct against it, it will be even more obvious to women voters that the consequences of Republican victories would be disastrous for the large majority of women who use or favor contraceptives.
There will be substantial worry among a large majority of women about what happens if Republicans win control of the Senate. There will be a growing fear among these women that if Republicans keep the House and win the Senate, their agenda, which is viewed as anti-woman by the large majority of women who support contraceptives, will threaten the interests of women on a wide range of social, economic and political issues.
Because of the Hobby Lobby decision, voter support for Democrats from women will rise, and more important, voter turnout of women for Democrats will rise as well. For Democrats running in the midterm election, this is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.