Rolling Stone reports:

Kierre Morgan has had an abortion, but it was the abortion she didn’t have that transformed her into an activist. She was 17 and in denial, at first, about being pregnant at all. Under Ohio law, she needed permission to terminate her pregnancy, and — after considering whether she could use a fake ID — she finally had a conversation with her adoptive parents. They overruled her decision. “Their options were: I could have my daughter, and they would raise her, which was a big ‘No.’ …An absolute ‘No.’ Or I could have her and raise her — which I did. There was no other option.”

Her daughter is 29 now, and Morgan calls her her best friend (“I don’t know if she would say I’m her best friend,” she adds, laughing), but she would not wish the life they were forced to navigate on anyone. There were times she didn’t have enough money for food. They slept in homeless shelters and “in motels where there was prostitution outside the door, and there was blood inside the motel room,” she recalls. “You just look at it and you say: ‘This is what I wanted to prevent. I did not want my child to go through this.’”

Morgan’s experience struggling to survive after being unexpectedly saddled with a dependent is not the exception for women who find themselves in that situation; rather, it is the rule. For years afterward, a famous ten-year study showed, women who were denied abortions were less likely to be able to afford food, housing, or transportation than those who accessed abortion care. They had lower credit scores, carried more debt, and were more likely to experience bankruptcy and eviction, among other lasting ripple effects. Her own experience hardened Morgan’s resolve to do all she can to ensure that others don’t end up in the same circumstances. These days, that means volunteering with the coalition of groups campaigning to give Ohio voters the chance to weigh in on abortion laws in their state. [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

For decades, Americans had settled around an uneasy truce on abortion. Even if most people weren’t happy with the status quo, public opinion about the legality and morality of abortion remained relatively static. But the Supreme Court’s decision last summer overturning Roe v. Wade set off a seismic change, in one swoop striking down a federal right to abortion that had existed for 50 years, long enough that women of reproductive age had never lived in a world without it. As the decision triggered state bans and animated voters in the midterms, it shook complacency and forced many people to reconsider their positions.

In the year since, polling shows that what had been considered stable ground has begun to shift: For the first time, a majority of Americans say abortion is “morally acceptable.” A majority now believes abortion laws are too strict. They are significantly more likely to identify, in the language of polls, as “pro-choice” over “pro-life,” for the first time in two decades.

And more voters than ever say they will vote only for a candidate who shares their views on abortion, with a twist: While Republicans and those identifying as “pro-life” have historically been most likely to see abortion as a litmus test, now they are less motivated by it, while Democrats and those identifying as “pro-choice” are far more so. [Continue reading…]