MAGA Republicans Will Take Your Rights If We Let Them

This piece was originally published in the May 16, 2022 edition of CAP Action’s newsletter, the Progress Report. Subscribe to the Progress Report here.

“CNN’s Dana Bash: ‘Do you think that the state of Nebraska should require a young girl who was raped to carry that pregnancy to term?”

Gov. Pete Ricketts: “Those are babies, too.”

Bash: “Including in the case of rape or incest?”

Ricketts: “Yes, they’re still babies.” – Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) on CNN’s State of the Union

Make no mistake: When Roe v. Wade is overturned, as the Supreme Court seems likely to do, MAGA Republicans in states across the country will get right to work to take away your right to an abortion. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) even hinted at the possibility of a national ban on abortion if Republicans win back Congress and the presidency. Other MAGA Republicans are already pushing for abortion bans at the state level—including Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, who told CNN that he’d institute a total ban on abortion including for survivors of rape and incest. 

And they’re not likely to stop at abortion. All of our rights are at risk with Republicans unrestrained by Supreme Court precedent. If we let them, they have told us they will come after marriage equality, affirmative action, and interracial marriage. Our only choice is to fight back now.

Share this graphic to sound the alarm about the MAGA Republican plan:

In the news

• A mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, over the weekend became the latest instance of extremist gun violence when a white supremacist targeted the Black community, killing 10 people and injuring three others. The alleged shooter repeated the extreme, racist conspiracy theories touted by right-wing figures such as Tucker Carlson, who has been accused of helping spur the violence. The epidemic of gun violence has taken the lives of Americans in supermarkets, places of worship, massage parlors, and more in just the past few years.
• The Biden administration has released a plan to increase the nation’s affordable housing stock and drive down the cost of housing for millions. The plan makes use of land use policy, tax incentives, and more to increase housing supply.

What we’re reading

• “The Buffalo Grocery Store Shooting Victims Included A Grandmother, An Activist, And A Retired Police Officer” by Julia Reinstein (Buzzfeed News)
• “Liz Cheney says Republican leadership has ‘enabled white supremacy’
  by Richard Luscombe (The Guardian)
• “Why the assaults on abortion rights and voting rights go hand in hand” by Brandon Tensley (CNN)
• “A Fringe Conspiracy Theory, Fostered Online, Is Refashioned by the G.O.P.” by Nicholas Confessore and Karen Yourish (The New York Times)
• “Ketanji Brown Jackson: Everybody was ‘shocked’ by abortion ruling leak” by Judy Kurtz (The Hill)

This piece was originally published in the May 16, 2022 edition of CAP Action’s newsletter, the Progress Report. Subscribe to the Progress Report here.