The midterm elections have high stakes for issues such as abortion rights, pandemic funding, climate change and other fundamental policies
Yet again, the stakes going into U.S. Election Day are soberingly high—and the results at all levels of government will have lasting ramifications for millions of human lives on issues ranging from abortion access to the climate emergency.
Thirteen states had so-called trigger laws that banned abortion as soon as the ruling took effect, and about a dozen others have attempted to enact bans or restrictions that state courts have blocked for now. After the Supreme Court decision, Georgia banned abortion at six weeks, when there is some detectable fetal electrical activity in cells that will become the heart —and before many people know they are pregnant.
“We absolutely need investment in new treatments and next-generation vaccines. We also need major investments and strategies to actually distribute those to the people who need them,” says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan. “I don’t see there being strong messaging from the Democratic side about the need for a sustained long-term investment in pandemic preparedness,” she says.
Republicans in several states have also been working to undermine gender-affirming health care for transgender children. In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state child welfare officials to investigate such care as child abuse. Alabama and Arkansas have enacted laws banning it for minors, and the Florida Department of Health issued guidance to withhold gender-affirming care from young trans people.
Much more needs to be done at the federal, state and local levels. Though some Republicans have spoken about the need to address climate change and bolster the domestic clean energy industry, the party has not proffered any significant plans to address climate change. It has resisted moving entirely away from fossil fuels, instead aiming to increase U.S. oil and gas production . “The hold of our fossil fuel industry on our politics is clear,” Cleetus says.
On the privacy front, lawmakers from both parties have contributed to legislation such as the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. This would prevent companies from collecting users’ data unless they are doing so for a handful of allowed purposes. The ADPPA might have enough momentum to pass no matter which party controls Congress, partly because lawmakers may want to address a patchwork of related state laws that are taking shape.
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