When people think of groups that are targeting abortion access, the first political party to come to mind is usually the Republicans. While most republicans are going after these rights, many Democrats are acting as an ally. More than 140 Democrats have voted in favor of these strict abortion bans, and let it be noted that most of these decision makers are men. These bans ran contrary to the public opinion with, “more than 60% of Americans saying they disapprove of the recent Supreme Court decision in a July CNN poll.” Although the Democratic Party’s stance as an average is for abortion, some Democrats feel strongly drawn to the other side of the argument. The pattern with most decision makers who stand against abortions is that they are people who would never experience or have to go through the procedure. The people who are telling women whether or not they have a right to their own bodies are the people least qualified to do so. 

Texas Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. has been fighting against abortion in the past decade. He voted for and supported the “Heartbeat Bill,” a bill wanting to criminalize abortions once a fetus had a heartbeat and did not include cases of rape or incest and voted for the state’s trigger ban. This would criminalize abortions immediately following whatever the Supreme Court has to say on abortion access. This man feels so strongly against abortion, and what may shock many is that he is a lifelong Democrat. Lucio credits his strong opinions on abortion to his Christian upbringings teaching him “… the fundamental values of what is right and wrong.” He also mentioned how he believes abortion is not a women’s issue since men and women are involved in conceiving a baby. With this logic it is easy to see how Lucio, along with other male decision makers against abortions, feel they can make decisions for women about their bodies.

The future of abortion access is unsure for now, but with political parties surprising us every day we will just have to take one day at a time. Although the Democrats mentioned are joining Republicans in voting against basic human rights, it is really a profound occurrence. Democrats and Republicans are constantly at each other’s throats, and even if it is not the best decision they are agreeing on, they are still agreeing. So what does this mean, could the United States start to-slowly but surely- look past each other’s differences? If it is possible, I hope they start to agree on things that will actually benefit our country. My hope for the United States is that we move forward, instead of backward as we have been doing lately.