Overturning Roe v. Wade could harm Republican candidates | GARY COSBY JR.

The United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could create some serious blowback for Republican candidates running for seats in the U.S. Congress.

The court’s decision, which, to say the very least is highly controversial, could undermine Republican chances to capture both houses of Congress. Before the court’s decision, such an event was almost certain since President Joe Biden’s presidency has been ineffective and unpopular.

On June 23, a Reuters poll showed 58 percent of Americans disapproved of Biden’s performance. This is a nearly certain sign that the Democrats will lose either the House of Representatives or the Senate, or both.

Frankly, the vote that brought Biden into the White House was not an endorsement of Biden, but a repudiation of Donald Trump whose presidency had devolved into a frightening, chaotic mess.

It was evident from very early in Biden’s tenure that Republican candidates had a strong chance to win elections in contested races and wrest control of the legislative branch from the Democrats. That may still happen, but the Supreme Court decision gives some fuel for the Democrats that Biden’s poor performance in office had taken from them.

MORE FROM GARY COSBY JR.: Gun laws alone won't solve violent crime problem

While negative reactions to the Supreme Court decision around Alabama have not been overwhelming, even in the middle of the Bible Belt the decision has not been unilaterally well-received.

In other parts of the country that are less conservative, and frankly, less religious, the decision has incited outrage from women. The danger for Republicans now is that their Democratic rivals can use the court’s decision to motivate voters who might otherwise have lost hope and stayed home.

Now, however, those Democrats can point to Republicans and say to their female constituents that voting for a Republican is voting against their own bodies, that a vote for a Republican is a vote take away their rights. Enraged voters are more likely to get out and vote, and this decision has most certainly enraged women.

This might not be enough to counter the overall disapproval of the American public toward Biden and, by extension, the Democratic Party’s performance, but it might be just enough to allow them to keep control of the House of Representatives.

Since the Supreme Court has demonstrated extremely conservative views and is being called an activist court by members of the political left, the greater fear for Republicans is that the support from undecided and moderate voters could be pushed to the Democrats.

In short, this Supreme Court could move people to vote Democrat not only in 2022, but also in 2024 in the hopes that a conservative justice could retire or die, allowing the Democrats to nominate someone to help moderate the court.

The other problem with an activist court, be it conservative or liberal, is that their actions tend to circumvent the legislative process. Roe v. Wade is a perfect example. An activist liberal court created a right to an abortion where none existed, bypassing the stipulated method of amending the Constitution through the function of the Congress and the various state legislatures.

The court's actions removed the people’s opportunity to express their will through the legislative process or through the amendment process. While it can be argued with merit that this court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was correcting something the court did improperly in 1973, it does not change the social and political consequences that could arise from their actions.

If the court’s decision benefits Democrats and hurts Republicans in the races this fall, that would be an unintended consequence, but a consequence that could shift enough power to Democrats for them to actually pass a law in some form that addresses women’s rights.

Ultimately, the best solution is for the states to call a constitutional convention to address women’s rights in a way that the Supreme Court, be it liberal or conservative, cannot touch. The Supreme Court lacks the power to declare parts of the Constitution unconstitutional, so that is a certain way to enshrine the rights of women in an unassailable fashion.

Amending the Constitution, especially in this politically charged environment, would not be easy, and it would take time to accomplish, but if it could be done, it would effectively end this endless debate and put to bed once and for all an issue that probably should not have ever come to the courts to begin with. A woman’s health care should be controlled between herself and her physician without interference from the government.

Ironically, such a thought is actually in alignment with the principles of conservatism, especially as they have been recently expressed. Most conservatives want the government out of their lives, and especially out of their health care decisions, so putting women’s health care under the same envelope is in alignment with that core principle of conservatism.

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Overturning Roe v Wade could harm Republican candidates | GARY COSBY JR.