One option that Blumenthal and some other Democrats are floating is to hold votes protecting other rights besides abortion that have been secured by Supreme Court decisions rooted in the same legal theory as Roe — rights that are not enumerated in the Constitution but have been inferred from the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Those include, among other things, the right to contraception and same-sex marriage.
“I can’t tell you right now all the different ways that we should be highlighting what a danger this poses for other rights that are based on the right to privacy,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said. “There’s an entire range of issues, constitutional protections that will, I think, be in jeopardy.”
The legislative strategy on Capitol Hill is being hashed out in tandem with a broader strategy on how to harness grass-roots distress at the looming threat to Roe. Planned Parenthood and its action arm reported a tenfold increase in people signing up to volunteer for mobilization efforts less than 24 hours after Politico first published Alito’s draft opinion. NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, netted its largest amount in a single day, garnering a 1,403 percent increase in donations compared with the day before the leak.