Preston Xanthopoulos: Stop the fear mongering about abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court has not banned abortions in America. I’m utterly amazed at how many people I have had this discussion with, mostly online, which is my mistake. I don’t blame those who are confused by a “decision” that isn’t even a “decision” yet, because politicians and political activists are raging with fear mongering hyperbole, riling up the masses to believe something that simply isn’t true.

The document being circulated and referenced as an “existential threat to women’s rights," is a draft decision based on a Mississippi law that restricts most abortion after 15 weeks. The court is deciding whether it is constitutional for the state to impose such a ban. However, this leaked document is just a draft and, “it does not represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” according to the Supreme Court itself.

I’ve learned a lot about how the court works in the past two weeks. Shortly after hearing oral arguments in a case, they take a vote, which is non-binding. Then a justice is appointed to write a draft decision. That’s what this leaked document is. It’s 98 pages with 118 footnotes and was written in February. We don’t even know if this draft is the most up-to-date. As is common practice in the Supreme Court, this draft will be edited based on discussions with other justices and in some cases, justices will even change their vote during this process. All of this is significant, because it’s not just the final vote count that matters. The legal and constitutional rationale used to get to that final decision will determine if and how it effects states other than Mississippi.

We won’t know what any of that looks like until sometime in June. So why are so many politicians and political activists either doing a victory lap, or raging against injustice from the justices?

If this is the final decision, all that would happen is the issue of abortion would revert to the states. A place, where I think most laws should lie, because I believe our forefathers did as well.

Here in New Hampshire, pro-choice activists are conflating this issue with the state's 2021 abortion law that was put into place, banning abortion after 24 weeks. Our federal delegation held a press conference, sounding the alarm, and making it a political issue for the three that have elections in November.

Sen. Maggie Hassan has referenced her Republican opponents “agenda of criminalizing abortion and punishing women.” She also went on a national cable network to point to New Hampshire’s, “very extreme abortion ban” as some proof that this court decision is the end for female reproductive rights. New Hampshire’s 24-week restriction is nearly identical to that in 43 of the 50 states in America. That means, by definition, it is not “very extreme." More importantly, it is in line with 80% of the country, which matches the polling in New Hampshire, that oppose third trimester abortion. If 80% agree, including 66% of her own party, how is that “very extreme?" It’s not. It’s hyperbole. It’s rhetoric, and it is knowingly misleading to the electorate.

If the issue of abortion is in the hands of the state, if you are pro-choice, ensure that your state-level candidates are the ones elected to protect it. If you are pro-life, you do the same. I do not see a scenario where New Hampshire outlaws abortion. There isn’t an appetite for it. Sure, there are people who are 100% pro-life and want abortion to be completely eradicated, just as there are those who believe one should be able to have an abortion right up to the moment of natural birth. Neither of those demographics are anywhere close to the majority, even combined. So, why all the hoopla? As always, politics in an election year. The mistake these campaigns are making, however, is this issue will probably not change one vote. As I’ve noted before, if you are a one-issue voter — particularly on something like abortion — you are already voting red or blue. Those who have not in the past voted based on the issue of abortion, won't use that as the deciding factor in who they vote for in November.

Since many recognize this reality, they’re using this case to broaden the scope of fear.

Now, President Biden and others are threatening that if this court opinion stands, the death of gay marriage is next. Hogwash and everyone spouting such threatening nonsense knows it. Legally and constitutionally, the two issues have nothing to do with each other. Neither does the use of contraceptives, another claimed endangered right.

I feel like, as a nation and as a people, we are in this vortex of chaos. Everything is extreme. Everything is dangerous. Everything has dire consequences. Everything is urgent. Generally, such is not the case. We aren’t at a war in our homeland, like the people of Ukraine. We aren’t where we were two years ago when COVID came to our shores and urgently and direly upended our lives.

We are, however, a people on edge and it is incumbent on our leaders to stop poking that nerve to keep us there, or send us over it. A good leader, will try to calm a fevered people who have been through a lot the last few years. I won’t be voting based on abortion. I will however, take the “good leader” factor into account in November.

Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos is a former political consultant and member of the media. She’s a native of Hampton Beach where she lives with her family and three poodles. Write to her at PrestonPerspective@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Stop the fear mongering about abortion, says Preston Xanthopoulos