Take Action! Get the Message Out on Alito Overturning Roe Vs. Wade

How is the nomination of Samuel Alito to be a Supreme Court justice playing across the country with regard to his stance on Roe vs. Wade? A new Newsweek poll, conducted 11/10 through 11/11 and consisting of a representative sample of 1,002 adults asked the following question:

“As a Supreme Court justice, do you think Samuel Alito is likely to vote to overturn Roe versus Wade, the decision establishing a woman’s constitutional right to a legal abortion, or not?”

and got the following results:

Likely to Overturn: 29%
Not Likely to Overturn: 33%
Unsure: 38%

Such perceptions that on Samuel Alito really won’t overturn Roe vs. Wade in the end persists despite Samuel Alito’s clear and unequivocal statement that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.“ From a supreme court nominee, you can’t get any clearer than that.

This fuzziness on Alito’s clear statement against Roe vs. Wade is due to Republican political operatives fanning out across the countries to say that gosh, they don’t think that Samuel Alito’s Roe vs. Wade inclinations are at all clear. They choose their words carefully: they can portray their words as the literal truth, since nobody can prove what they do or don’t think — but they don’t, can’t, and won’t say that Samuel Alito hasn’t come out and stated that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”

In order to counteract the well-funded, well-organized right-wing spin machine, and in the absence of any sort of coherent effort by the Democratic Party (sadly but typically mumbling on the subject), we need to generate a grassroots effort to get the word out ourselves. And so…

TAKE ACTION!

1. Click here to find out how to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

2. Write a letter in which you make explicit reference to Sam Alito’s assertion that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”

3. Write about whatever gets your goat about Alito being so clearly against women’s right to control their own bodies. If you feel so inclined, you may wish to make further reference to a Pew Research Center Poll, conducted from 11/3 to 11/6 of this year, in which 65% of respondents indicated they do not want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned. This clearly places Samuel Alito outside the overwhelmingly pro-choice American mainstream. This is just one line of reasoning, and you should follow your own if at all possible; it’s more important for your letter be your own heartfelt expression than for your letter to match some astroturfy talking points one by one.

4. Send it off! Then let two friends know about the effort, and get them to send along letters to boot.

Did you vote last year? Great, voting is important. But you can do better. Keep in mind that because relatively few letters to the editor are written and published, each letter you complete will have a larger marginal impact on your fellow citizens and the tenor of the national debate than each vote cast. Please, write that letter today.