Stop saying “Obama had a supermajority and could have codified Roe v. Wade”
Spreading this myth and implying there is no point in voting Democrat is misleading at best, harmful at worst
Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24th, 2022. Distastefully, Democrats immediately began to fundraise off of this issue.
Equally alarming, though, was the progressive response blaming Obama & Democrats with this false narrative:
“Obama had a supermajority and could have codified Roe v. Wade but he chose not to. Therefore there is no point in voting for Democrats.”
This narrative is simply not true and makes people think that there is no point in voting. So let’s debunk it.
When Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009 the Senate had:
56 Democrats
2 Independents (who caucused with the Democrats)
Democrat Al Franken’s victory was disputed and not acknowledged until July 2009. Republican Arlen Specter did not become a Democrat until April 2009.
But amongst these 56 Democrats there were anti-choice Democrats from red states such as Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, who held Obamacare hostage until it was prohibited from covering abortion.
Here were the anti-choice / mixed record Democrats and their NARAL Pro-Choice scores:
Ben Nelson (NE) 7%
Harry Reid (NV) 29%
Mark Pryor (AR) 29%
Mary Landrieu (LA) 43%
Kent Conrad (ND) 43%
Byron Dorgan (ND) 43%
Robert Byrd (WV) 43%
Blanche Lincoln (AR) 50%
Evan Bayh (IN) 50%
Tim Johnson (SD) 50%
Tom Carper (DE) 50%
Patrick Leahy (VT) 50%
From the list above, we can classify Ben Nelson, Harry Reid, and Mark Pryor as anti-choice Senators per NARAL’s classification. The rest of them have a mixed record on abortion.
Let’s separate the pro-choice, anti-choice, and mixed record Democrats/Independents.
44 Pro-Choice Democrats
2 Pro-Choice Independents
9 Mixed Record Democrats
3 Anti-Choice Democrats
In April 2009, Republican Arlen Specter became a Democrat. However his NARAL Pro-Choice score was 21%, putting him in the anti-choice camp.
In July 2009, pro-choice Al Franken was finally sworn in.
Let’s update the breakdown:
45 Pro-Choice Democrats
2 Pro-Choice Independents
9 Mixed Record Democrats
4 Anti-Choice Democrats
60 is the magic number needed for a filibuster proof majority who could codify Roe v. Wade. Yes there are 58 Democrats & 2 Independents (which is the origin of the “liberal supermajority” myth).
But this was clearly not a filibuster proof pro-choice supermajority.
Even if Susan Collins (83%) and Olympia Snowe (83%), the only two Republicans with a NARAL pro-choice score above 30%, were to cross party lines, the codification of Roe v. Wade would not have gotten past the filibuster.
This is important because we cannot simply say “There is no point in voting for Democrats because they did not codify Roe v. Wade, even with a supermajority.”
If liberal voters had voted in the 2014 midterms and Democrats held the Senate, Antonin Scalia would have been replaced by Merrick Garland. If we had shown up in 2016 for Hillary Clinton, RBG would have been replaced by a liberal justice.
Point being, pro-life voters showed up and voted for 50 years to achieve their lifelong dream of seeing Roe v. Wade overturned.
Progressives simply need to do the same.
Thanks for reading! Please like and follow if you enjoyed.
Some other writings:
How Single Payer Almost Passed in the 1940s
Yay for Layoffs! How Automation is Changing our Economy
3 Life Lessons From Playing Beer Pong
Also, follow me on Twitter @RabbitHoleAaron
