The right’s ‘go-to’ issue now is becoming its albatross

“It’s a strange world that we live in, and surely we’re forgiven if we don’t know where to turn.” — Neil Innes

“You know, we used to laugh at those Holy Rollers. Now they’re in charge of everything.” — Wayne Goodwin

ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial written by the editor.

The most significant political change in my lifetime has been the rise of the religious right, eventually leading to the reversal of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal.

This 1973 court decision stood for almost 50 years, until the same court with different justices struck it down last year. Abortion was the most important single issue in the campaigns of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition, and it was the centerpiece of a movement that successfully chipped away at women’s ability to terminate their pregnancies.

This transformation was fueled by evangelical and fundamentalist Christians who until about 45 years ago rarely were involved in the political arena. But then they got involved, and they’ve been getting results since the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980.

But now apparently the worm has turned. Oh, the irony!

The very issue that propelled the Christian right in the late 1970s and into the ‘80s now is like an albatross hanging around the necks of Pro-Life advocates.

The latest example occurred in Ohio, where a Republican legislature tried to get voters to approve a state-wide ballot proposal insisting all grass-roots groups who put a referendum for change on a ballot get at least 60 percent of the total vote in order for it to pass. It went down by a landslide.

Voters obviously don’t support having to do a lot of work in getting a proposal on a state-wide ballot, only to be rebuffed by as few as 41 percent of the electorate. But there’s more to this story.

Ohio will have a referendum on abortion in November, but only a simple majority of 50% plus one will be necessary for Pro-Choice advocates to overturn the state’s abortion ban.

This is only one of more than a few state votes that have taken place since Samuel Alito and the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade. In every one, including here in Michigan, and in “red” states such as Montana, Kansas and Kentucky, the voters have rejected the Dobbs ruling. It is becoming apparent that a majority of Americans do not agree with the majority on the Supreme Court and the constant beating of the Pro-Life drum by the Republican Party.

Here in West Michigan the anti-abortion forces will continue to rule. Republicans in Dorr and Watson townships turned the tables on those who have served. And I don’t see that changing soon. But statewide and nationwide, the new movement on behalf of Pro-Choice is a tsunami.

They rode the crest of anti-abortion sentiments nearly 50 years ago to gain control of federal, state and local governing units, but such a strategy now will fail in a more wide arena.

It looks like Alito and company last year poked a sleeping bear, and political retribution is more than a possibility. Those states who dare to take to the ballot box very well could increase the numbers that will protect a woman’s right to choose.

We’ve been told for a long time that the Pro-Life forces outnumber Pro-Choice, but now we’re learning it’s just not true.

And I am exceedingly weary of legislatures, congresses and senates passing laws that satisfy their rich and politically powerful donors rather than doing the will of the people.