The GOP’s states’ rights smokescreen is cover for a national abortion ban

The Republican Party’s efforts to drastically limit if not completely eradicate access to abortion in Florida and Arizona is not isolated. It is part of a larger, insidious plan to ban abortion nationwide. These states are merely testing grounds for a broader assault on women’s reproductive rights across the country.

While Republicans may attempt to frame their efforts as a matter of “states’ rights,” this is nothing more than a deceptive smokescreen designed to obscure their true intentions. The ultimate goal is to implement a total abortion ban, and the states’ rights messaging is simply a means to that end. By chipping away at abortion access state by state, they hope to create a patchwork of laws that will effectively make the procedure inaccessible for millions of women.

We cannot afford to be fooled by this rhetoric. The echoes of “states’ rights” have been heard before, used to justify the oppression and subjugation of entire populations. Now, it’s being wielded once again as a weapon against women’s bodily autonomy. 

The American public must recognize this for what it is: a calculated assault on our fundamental freedoms.

The ramifications of a nationwide abortion ban would be devastating. Women across the country would be stripped of their right to make decisions about their own bodies and forced into life-altering choices against their will. It’s almost as if their concern for the economy evaporates when it comes to controlling women’s bodies.

It’s like watching a dog chase its tail, except in this case, it’s women’s health and financial security being sacrificed on the altar of ideological dogma.

You’ve got to hand it to them, though — it takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to tout fiscal responsibility while simultaneously advocating for policies with such severe economic ramifications. But who needs consistency when you’ve got a political agenda to push? 

We have a moral obligation to actively resist these regressive policies. Regardless of political affiliation, we must unite in opposition to this infringement on our fundamental rights. This struggle is about more than just abortion; it is about the kind of society we want to build — one that cherishes the rights and well-being of all its citizens or one that imposes narrow ideologies at the expense of its people’s health and happiness.

History has taught us the grim consequences of restricting abortion access. Far from eliminating the practice, such policies only succeed in making it unsafe, leading to a public health crisis marked by increased maternal mortality and dangerous, unregulated procedures. It is a path that will disproportionately harm the most vulnerable among us — low-income women, teenagers and survivors of rape and incest.

We cannot allow Republicans to hide behind the facade of states’ rights while they work to strip away the fundamental freedoms of women across the nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into complacency by this rhetoric. The Republican Party may think that it can use Florida and Arizona as a testing ground for their nationwide abortion ban, but it has underestimated the power of the American people.

We will stand united, strong and resolute in our defense of women’s reproductive freedom, and we will not rest until every woman in this country has the right to make her own choices about her body and her future.

Michael Starr Hopkins is the CEO of Northern Starr Strategies.