Republicans don't trust states' voters on abortion [View all]

By Mary Ellen Klas / Bloomberg Opinion

Over a decade ago, when political parties didn’t treat their rivals as mortal enemies, the Republican president of the Florida Senate, Jeff Atwater, would remind his colleagues: “Don’t fear the debate.” I remember them as simple words uttered as tensions mounted during particularly contentious partisan disagreements. But anyone with a reasonable understanding of American history recognized in his message the wisdom of the nation’s founders, who encountered acrimonious differences and frustrating deadlocks and yet hammered out an American Constitution in a sweltering convention hall in Philadelphia 237 years ago by talking it out.

Now would be a good time for Republican officials in states with abortion amendments on the November ballot to follow the founders’ example and trust the debate. Rather than debating the merits of their positions, however, there is an orchestrated effort by these politicians to undermine the will of the people and deny voters the opportunity to decide the issue.

Donald Trump and his supporters have been boasting for two years that it was his Supreme Court appointees who overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the abortion issue to states; where they say it belongs. But when voters in eight states followed the prescribed process for putting abortion-rights amendments on the ballot, Trump and his allies went back on their word.

Instead of letting the debate play out in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota, Republicans employed their same old tricks to try to kick the amendments off the ballot or raise doubts about their legitimacy.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-republicans-dont-trust-states-voters-on-abortion/