TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Friday’s abortion ruling by a Pima Superior Court Judge may energize more voters and bring more of them out for the midterm elections. Recent rulings on abortions seem to be giving a boost to one side in particular.
Groups for and against abortion rights have been important forces in politics for a long long time but now new court rulings and tighter restrictions could bring out more voters, maybe enough to swing the election.
Josephine Toolan is 81 and eager to vote on abortion issues.
“I'm telling every young woman how I feel. I'm telling her to make sure that she gets out and she votes and she votes for people that really honor a woman's right to choose. I'm not pro-life or pro-choice. I'm in the middle of please give me a decision that I can make. Not your decision for my morality.”
A personal passion for abortion rights will drive her to vote. Personal because she says she had an illegal abortion 62 years ago and feels lucky she survived it.
Political Consultant Chuck Coughlin says: “What we've seen in data is that women are particularly elevated on this issue.”
Coughlin of Highground, Inc. says female voters have been angry, and active ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. But conservative, anti-abortion voters ruled the Republican primary and chose the Republican candidates.
“That constitutes maybe 35 percent of the electorate, not a majority of the electorate. And so what you see is women, unaffiliated voters, and a group of Republican voters all fleeing the Republican Party over this issue.”
Coughlin says it made a hot topic hotter when just last Friday a Pima Superior Court Judge cleared enforcement of an Arizona abortion law more than a hundred years old.
And that’s with mail ballots going out in two weeks.
Coughlin says, “And the timing of it, if you're a Democratic candidate really, couldn't have been better because it allows it to marinate with the electorate and align undecided voters.”
And Josephine Toolan says she’ll be telling her story and urging women to get out and vote.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
