[simion314]

I am not from US so can someone explain why the antiabortion thing seem rise in this last year? Is there some elections and some party is trying to gain votes or some social media trend?

My question is about the timing(why now?) and not on "who is the good/bad guy" here.

[dragonwriter]

> I am not from US so can someone explain why the antiabortion thing seem rise in this last year?

There has been a shift in the Supreme Court with the appointments under Trump, particularly the replacement of Justice Kennedy, widely regarded as having been the “swing” vote on the issue, which makes it widely perceived to be more likely that existing precedent sharply limiting permissible government restrictions on abortion would be struck down, should a case involving the issue reach the Supreme Court.

Consequently, many state legislatures that are dominated by the faction opposed to abortion are implementing sharp restrictions on abortion in state law in an effort to get sued over them, get the case to the Supreme Court, and have the existing abortion rights regime abolished.

There's some more, but that's the single biggest factor.

[mrguyorama]

It's not just now? Anti-abortion has been a huge part of the Republican platform for a very long time, maybe at least the 60's? At least since Roe v Wade (1973). The reason is that there's a large swath of voters who only seem to care about abortion abolition, and will vote for anyone who pushes it, no matter what.

[simion314]

I mean it is a popular subject here on HN and I seen some articles on BBC this year, as I said I am not from US and this "anti-abortion laws" remind me of the communist regime here in Romania, so I was a bit shocked to see this topic debates in US (it was not visible for US outside) .

[SolaceQuantum]

Evangeticals and other anti-abortion religious groups are also one of the groups that are consistently politically involved via voting, being kept informed, campaigning, etc. In a nation with very low voter turnout, the few demographics that vote significantly more get a disproportionate influence on the direction of government.

[save_ferris]

Abortion was long considered a settled issue due to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision many years ago. However, a lot of attention has been directed at the current court, which has insinuated that they're interested in overturning the ruling, which would be chaotic and deeply controversial.

[leereeves]

I don't think anyone considered it a settled issue. Upholding or overturning Roe v Wade has always been a major issue in elections and SC nominations.

[snowwrestler]

Politically, abortion is a very useful issue because it's emotional and it will never be resolved completely one way or the other. So when other political factors fail, abortion can still "move the needle" on parts of the electorate.

A lot of those other factors seem to be failing for President Trump right now, so his administration and other Republican supporters are leaning into abortion as a topic for the next election.

The general election is not until early November 2020, but Democrats are getting a ton of air time now with their primary process, and Republicans don't have much success to sell right now other than all the federal judges they've confirmed. Basically these judges have been the #1 focus of the Republican-controlled Senate for the past 2 years.

There are a lot of reasons they have been focused on judges, but abortion is the easiest way to talk about it with large groups of Republicans.

[ceejayoz]

The Supreme Court's rightward shift under Trump is likely to have significant impact on the legality of abortion in the US.

[simion314]

Is Trump and his group declared anti-abortion? Would this gain more votes the one lost?

I was thinking that our politicians would use a technique to say or do something controversial at convenient time so all media and public would be distracted from the actual thing happening. This smells like such a thing but it is probably what you said;

[dragonwriter]

The currently-posted national Republican platform (presumably written during the 2016 election cycle, given the “current adminstration” reference) says this:

“Through Obamacare, the current Administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare. We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and well-being of women, and we stand firmly against it.” [emphasis added]

So, yeah, Trump’s “group”, stands “firmly against” abortion.

https://gop.com/platform/renewing-american-values/

[astine]

Trump got elected, in part, because a lot of religious conservatives hoped he would appoint conservative (read anti-abortion) judges to the supreme court. Religious conservatives don't, for the most part, like his obvious loose morals but many are willing to "hold their nose" and vote for anyone who will make it more likely that abortion will banned in the Unites States. I personally know people who have this attitude.

[SamReidHughes]

It just happens that conservative judges would overturn Roe vs. Wade, or other rulings, leaving states free to outlaw abortion. So there's a coalition between pro-life people and more sagebrushey sort of conservatives, who like conservative justices for their upholding of the bill of rights and having a universalist outlook.