By Roxy Szal for Ms. Magazine.
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann for Ohio News Connection reporting for the Ms. Magazine-Public News Service Collaboration

Among young women voters ages 18-29 in the battleground states, abortion and women's rights are the most important and highly motivating issues in determining their vote, according to new Ms. magazine and Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) polling by Lake Research Partners across the nine battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"Despite constant reports in the media on inflation and rising prices as the top issues in this election, abortion and women's rights are actually the most important for young women as they head to the ballot box," said Katherine Spillar, executive editor of Ms.

Among women voters of all ages in the battleground states, abortion and women's rights are tied with inflation and rising prices in determining their votes, according to the Ms. and FMF poll of all women voters.

"The overturning of Roe v. Wade has lit a fire under women voters, and especially young women voters, who have the power to determine close elections," said Spillar.

Support for the Equal Rights Amendment Is a Motivating Factor in Midterms

The Ms./FMF polling also shows that 74 percent of young women support the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), with 72 percent saying it is "personally" important to them now that various states are banning abortion.

"The message from women voters is clear: The Equal Rights Amendment is more important than ever, especially young women who are most affected by the Court's decision," said Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) and a long-time leader in the fight for the ERA. "Voters-especially women voters-now know that rights can be taken away and want an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing that rights cannot be 'denied or abridged on account of sex.'"

Just under three-quarters of all women voters (73 percent) support the ERA being placed in the Constitution, which is high among men as well (66 percent).

Court's Decision Impacts Young Women Voters in Battleground States

According to the poll:

. Forty-one percent of young women voters are feeling angry or worried about the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
. Over half (55 percent) of young women voters in battleground states say abortion and women's rights combined are the top issues that will determine their votes.
. Only 33 percent of young women voters rank inflation and rising prices as their top issues motivating their vote, with even fewer ranking climate change (9 percent) or education debt (5 percent) as their top issue.

In a generic congressional ballot across battleground states, young women voters support Democratic candidates (48 percent), topping support for Republican candidates (29 percent) by double-digit margins.

Young men in battleground states are split in a generic congressional ballot (42 percent Democratic and 41 percent Republican).

Women Voters of All Ages Energized by Abortion and Women's Rights

Abortion restrictions and outright bans have energized pro-abortion rights women to be motivated to turn out to vote in November in much larger numbers than their anti-abortion counterparts, refuting conventional wisdom that those opposed to abortion are more motivated by the issue.

. Thirty-five percent of pro-abortion rights voters prioritize women's rights and abortion in their vote decisions-compared to 10 percent of anti-abortion voters.

In this election cycle, women's rights and abortion matter, especially to women. This means women voters, who make up over half of likely voters in the battleground states, could decide the outcome of key races as candidates engage them on issues of personal relevance, including abortion and equal rights under the law.

. Among women voters of all ages, abortion and women's rights (at 31 percent) are just as critical as inflation and rising prices (at 32 percent), in determining their vote, and more important than crime (12 percent) or education (11 percent) regularly cited in media reports.

Roxy Szal wrote this article for Ms. Magazine.

Vice President Kamala Harris focused on reproductive rights at a campaign event in Michigan Wednesday.

Her remarks come as President Joe Biden has fallen behind former President Donald Trump in the state, according to the latest polls. In front of a crowd of hundreds, Harris stressed abortion rights are at risk if Republicans win in November. She said Biden has vowed to veto any attempts to ban abortion nationwide.

"We believe in freedom. Freedom from the government telling us what to do about matters of heart and home," Harris explained. "We believe in the right of people to make basic decisions, like when and if they will start a family and how."

Meanwhile, Trump's pick for vice president, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has supported national abortion bans and opposed exceptions for rape and incest. Democrats are hoping the distinction will lead them to a victory this year in the key battleground state of Michigan. It was a critical issue for voters in 2022, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won her reelection race easily and both chambers of the state legislature flipped to Democrats for the first time in decades.

In her speech, Harris condemned political violence following the recent attempted shooting of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania political rally. She also praised the gun safety measures Michigan lawmakers passed in recent years, including universal background checks and safe storage requirements. She added politicians in Washington, D.C., should favor similar laws.

"The solutions don't really require that much creativity," Harris asserted. "What they do require is people in the United States Congress to have courage to act and do what we know is the right thing to do and not cower, based on special interests and powerful lobbyists."

One Michigan Democrat in Congress, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, has called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race over concerns about his age and cognitive ability. Harris would likely be a top replacement choice in the race against Trump.


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Abortion bans and restrictions limit women's participation in the workforce, according to a new analysis that quantifies the negative impacts on state economies.

South Dakota saw an average loss in GDP of nearly 1% per year between 2021 and 2023, due to a drop in labor force participation by people who became pregnant and didn't have access to abortion care, according to data from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. That adds up to nearly $641 million in economic losses to the state.

Jamila Taylor, president and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, said the 16 states with abortion bans or extreme restrictions, including South Dakota, are costing the national economy $68 billion annually.

"Not only do these restrictions and bans have a clear impact on the health and well being of people with the ability to get pregnant, they also have an impact on their productivity and their economic position in life," Taylor said.

Taylor added abortion access not only helps family finances, but also allows women ages 15 to 44 to engage more broadly in society -- in local communities or politics, for example.

Despite restrictions, abortion numbers are rising. The first full calendar year after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade saw an 11% increase in abortions since 2020 - or over one million abortions in the formal health care system in 2023, according to The Guttmacher Institute.

If voters pass South Dakota's constitutional Amendment G in November, it will enshrine protections to abortion.

Hannah Haksgaard, University of South Dakota law professor, said even if it passes, people seeking an in-state abortion would likely see a lag time before services become available.

"There would still likely be state legislation that would try to restrict abortion in certain ways, and then the question would become whether those restrictions violated the new constitutional amendment," she said.

Haksgaard added that could make providers move slowly on offering abortion services in the state, until the legal issues are settled.


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A ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday will allow for abortions in emergency situations in Idaho - for now.

The justices said they were dismissing an appeal, reestablishing a lower court decision allowing hospitals to perform abortions in emergency cases, despite the state's restrictive abortion laws.

Molly Meegan, chief legal officer for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the organization is glad to see temporary relief in this case but added it is far from a complete solution.

"The way these laws are set up in Idaho and elsewhere are that there are limits on what care can be provided," Meegan explained. "Those limits are not clearly defined, and they're not committed to the discretion, the judgment, the expertise and the training of the physician that's facing a particular patient."

The protection for emergency abortions stems from a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The law requires Medicare-funded hospitals to perform abortions in emergency situations. The three dissenting justices in Thursday's case called the Act's ability to preempt Idaho's restrictive abortion laws "plainly unsound."

Dr. Stella Dentas, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said there is still a lack of clarity around the law in Idaho and OB/GYNs are leaving the state as a result. She noted when doctors face the prospect of jail over restrictive laws like Idaho's, it makes their job more difficult in emergency situations.

"It's already hard enough to make these critical decisions in the moment," Dentas emphasized. "If you're stuck on, 'OK, I can go down path A, but I'm not allowed to go down path B,' that is very confusing for both clinicians and the patients and the shared decision-making that we do."

Meegan added legislators should not be determining what care is available to patients.

"These questions need to be decided by science, by evidence, by the individual case in front of you," Meegan contended. "The idea that you can have black and white worlds being created by people without the expertise, training or experiencing the emergencies is really fundamentally dangerous."


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