‘No comfort’: Dems warn of future GOP attacks on reproductive rights after abortion pill ruling

Democrats offered a muted celebration to the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday upholding access to a common abortion medication, warning that the Trump-led Republican campaign against reproductive rights is far from over.

“This case brought on by Donald Trump’s allies was only one tactic in a broader relentless strategy to strip away access to reproductive freedom everywhere in this country,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told reporters on a press call shortly after the ruling. “If Trump regains power in November, Trump’s allies will be ready to deploy their plans to ban abortion access nationwide without the help of Congress or the court.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden painted a dire picture of women “being turned away from emergency rooms” and facing additional challenges with accessing reproductive care, particularly in states with blanket abortion bans.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a collection of anti-abortion doctors and groups lacked standing to challenge decisions made by the Food and Drug Administration facilitating access to the drug mifepristone. The move — which is the court’s first ruling on abortion since overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 — allowed the high court to essentially sidestep the issue and was a disappointment for abortion opponents.

Democrats may welcome the news that the abortion pill continues to be widely accessible to the public, but it does deflate the possibility that the Supreme Court hands down another unpopular ruling in an election year. The Dobbs decision is credited with powering Democratic wins, and Thursday’s ruling removes the potential for another motivating flashpoint for voters who rank abortion access as a top issue.

But that won’t stop Democrats from centering abortion as a campaign issue. Chavez Rodriguez added that Biden plans to focus on reproductive rights during his debate with the former president at the end of the month.

“We’re going to be reminding Americans of all that’s at stake for reproductive freedom not just today, but on the debate stage, and every single day leading up to the election,” Chavez Rodriguez said. “President Biden is going to make Donald Trump answer for the state of reproductive rights in this country.”

Earlier in the day, Trump met with Republicans on Capitol Hill and urged them to frame abortion as a states’ rights issue.

“The Supreme Court has unanimously decided 9-0. The matter is settled,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Trump, wrote in a statement to POLITICO. “This election is about correcting the weakness, failures and dishonesty of the Biden crime family.”

Thursday’s ruling also sparked a wave of Democratic lawmakers and governors lamenting their fear of continuing threats to access to abortion medication. In remarks on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that while he was relieved by the ruling, “no one” should be celebrating it — particularly because of how it was decided.

“Let us not forget: This decision was based not on the merits, but on the lack of standing — we are not yet out of the woods,” said Schumer, who, with other Senate Democrats, spearheaded a vote Thursday on a bill that would guarantee access to in vitro fertilization nationwide. Senate Republicans blocked the bill.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is locked in a tough reelection race against GOP businessperson Dave McCormick, warned in a statement that “extreme politicians” would continue to seek a national abortion ban and rescind the right to contraception. Casey has been hitting McCormick on abortion on the campaign trail; the Republican opponent has said that he is pro-life with exceptions and would not support a national abortion ban.

While emphasizing that mifepristone remains available in states where abortion is legal, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on X that threats against medication abortion led by Trump and Republicans “have not gone away.” Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) expressed support for the Supreme Court’s decision but cautioned in a post on X that “Radical right-wing judges and extremist Republicans will still try to strip women of their reproductive freedoms.”

“We will fight back,” Durbin wrote.

Several blue-state governors also voiced their apprehension. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — who personally funds a nonprofit that seeks to protect abortion access at the state level through ballot initiatives — described the ruling as a limited victory in a broader fight that requires voters to stop “MAGA extremists” from taking power and further restricting abortion rights. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged in a statement that her state would continue to be a “safe harbor for reproductive freedom.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who joined an amicus brief with 21 other state executives urging the court to protect abortion medication access, said in remarks to reporters, “There’s no comfort to take in this decision.”

Kelly Garrity contributed to this report.