Today's GOP - Team Misogyny

As ProPublica is reporting, at least two women in Georgia died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state.  Sadly, similar tragedies are occurring in other states with abortion bans and laws that make physicians afraid to provide care out of fear of losing their medical licenses, punishing monetary fines and/or imprisonment.  One report noted that maternal deaths were up 56% in Texas.  All of this is due Donald Trump's three Supreme Court nominees (who committed perjury during their confirmation hearings) and to Republican controlled legislatures that have passed draconian restrictions on abortion access that leave women with few alternatives and doctors fearful of being second guessed by tribunals as to the need to act to save women's lives. Here in Virginia, the Democrat controlled General Assembly have stymied Glenn Youngkin's desire to turn Virginia into Florida, but women in numerous other states have not been so lucky. All of this Republican agenda has been in keeping with evangelicals' desire to keep women barefoot and pregnant and in the home save for those running pro-Republican "ministries" and lobbying groups that support the GOP's war on women and reverse Robin Hood policies. This year's presidential contest is putting a spotlight on the consequences of the GOP's policies.  Donald Trump - who lies incessantly - claims he is against a national abortion ban, but Project 2025 shows how the 19th century Comstock Act could be used to drastically curtail women's access to necessary treatment.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the GOP's misogyny: 

In a race between a Democrat who could be America’s first female president and a Republican who has been found liable for sexual abuse, the issue of gender was always going to be inescapable.

But this week, the subject surged to the forefront of the fall contest in new and vivid ways, as Democrats found fresh fuel for their argument that today’s Republican Party is disrespectful of women and their autonomy — sometimes with dangerous consequences.

On Monday and Wednesday, the deaths of two mothers in Georgia were linked to the state’s far-reaching abortion ban in new reports from ProPublica.

On Thursday, the deeply conservative Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina scrambled to deny that he had made graphic and incendiary remarks on a pornographic forum, including about women.

And on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris took to a stage in Atlanta to argue with new urgency that the Republican Party was infringing on some of the most personal decisions a woman can make.

“It’s clear that they just don’t trust women,” said Ms. Harris, speaking a day after joining a livestreamed event with Oprah Winfrey that attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers. “Well, we trust women.”

For years, Democrats have tried to paint their Republican opponents as anti-woman, with mixed results.

In 2012, they effectively highlighted Republican comments, like the use of the term “legitimate rape” by Todd Akin, a Senate candidate in Missouri, to press their claims of a G.O.P. “war on women.” . . . in plenty of races before and after, many Americans simply did not buy the Democratic argument that Republicans would take away abortion rights if given the chance.

But after Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominees helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, millions of Americans suddenly found themselves voting to protect or restore abortion access — and to punish Republicans.

Now, in an unpredictable presidential election shaped by a yawning gender gap and simmering concerns about the economy, Democrats hope abortion rights will be galvanizing once again. Increasingly, they are drawing voters’ attention to the cascade of disturbing stories tied to abortion restrictions that many Americans view as draconian.

“Every week, there are different examples of the harmful consequences of these abortion bans,” said Molly Murphy, a pollster for the Harris campaign. “Being able to elevate and show that this has real consequences to real people is an important part of our campaign.”

That was a goal of Ms. Harris’s appearance in Atlanta. She and other Democrats are casting abortion access as a health care matter that should be nonpartisan and that carries vast implications for a broad swath of Americans.

And when Democrats highlight Republicans’ past comments calling for strict abortion laws, they hope that voters will now take those candidates at their word.

That is why, despite the near-unprintable statements reportedly made by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina that CNN uncovered this week, some national Democrats are using the scandal to emphasize his anti-abortion stance, rather than focusing on the most salacious comments.

A television ad in North Carolina, announced on Friday by the Harris campaign, called “Both Wrong,” showcased Mr. Trump’s past praise of Mr. Robinson, alternating with video clips of the North Carolinian discussing abortion. The ad shows Mr. Robinson declaring that abortions amount to “killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

“This is ‘War on Women’ on steroids,” said former Representative Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who is voting this year for Ms. Harris, the first Democratic presidential candidate to ever earn her vote, she said.

Compared with Mr. Akin’s remarks, Ms. Comstock said, this moment is “exponentially politically toxic because there’s nothing worse than being a hypocrite, particularly on these things that are so toxic with women.”  “It is Team Misogyny with Trump,” she added.

Republicans have plenty of advantages in this race: For many voters, Mr. Trump is seen as the change candidate. In polling, he has the edge on the economy, a top issue for many Americans. And while Ms. Harris has benefited from a surge in support from women, Mr. Trump has strong standing among male voters.

But there is a major difference between this election and all the times before when Democrats cast their Republican rivals as anti-woman.

“Back then, that’s what the Democrats had: They had outrageous statements” from their opponents to discuss, said Christine Matthews, a pollster who has worked with Republicans but opposes Mr. Trump, citing the 2012 races. “Now,” she said, “they can point to policies.”