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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized fellow Democrats over the weekend for simply telling Americans to ‘go vote’ in November’s midterm elections in response to the national outcry over the Supreme Court overturning federal abortion protections.
The New York progressive also took aim at her party’s leaders for sending out campaign fundraisers soon after the ruling was issued on Friday.
‘In a legitimacy crisis, the solution Biden + Dem leaders must offer can’t just be one of voting, but of statute & authority,’ Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter Saturday.
She pointed out recent polls that show the majority of Americans view the high court as partisan or illegitimate.
A CBS News poll released on Sunday shows 52 percent of Americans view overturning Roe v. Wade as a ‘step backwards.’
‘For the moments when we DO insist on elections, we must be PRECISE with what we need and we will do with that power,’ the lawmaker continued.
‘How many seats does the party need to Codify Roe? Dems must SAY THAT. Not just “go vote” or “give us $6 to win.” That is demoralizing, losing, unfocused nonsense.’
The conservative-majority court voted 5-4 in favor of overturning the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which held that abortion fell under the constitutional right to privacy.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent nearly an hour on Instagram Live blasting her party’s messaging on Roe v. Wade and outlining what individuals could do on the grassroots level to help women in need of abortions
The court’s three liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer voted against it. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a concurring opinion that he would have upheld Mississippi’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks but did not agree with the state’s request to overturn Roe altogether.
The Supreme Court’s overturning five decades of precedent had a virtually immediate affect on millions of women. The ruling has already forced a seismic shift to female reproductive health across the country, with the procedure being banned in nine states as of Sunday.
Ocasio-Cortez insisted to followers in an Instagram Live video on Saturday that President Joe Biden and her party leaders asking people to elect more Democrats in response was not enough, undercutting a cornerstone of their November midterm strategy.
‘Voting is important, but it is – It is necessary, but not sufficient. You feel me? Voting is necessary but not sufficient. And so just telling people in general to, like, go vote in a vague way is not helpful,’ she said.
‘Where we need to vote, What races are most important, What seats we need to protect, where we need to flip – that matters, but then also, you know, what we’re doing on the ground, grassroots organizing, etc.’
She demanded Biden present ‘what options are available’ to Americans ‘between now and November, so that we’re not just shrugging our shoulders for five months, and waiting to see where the wind blows in the election.’
The lawmaker slammed party leaders for sending out fundraising emails such as this one within hours after the decision had an immediate effect on millions of women
She took more direct aim at President Joe Biden and party leaders on Twitter
Soon after it was released, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – House Democrats’ fundraising arm – sent an email from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking voters to ‘rush $3 to protect and expand our pro-choice majority.’
Ocasio-Cortez suggested Democrats had ‘no plan’ to show aside from trying to win the election.
‘No plan is not a plan. Fear is not a plan, hiding in our rooms is not a plan, and asking people for $6 all the time is not a plan. Okay? We need a plan,’ she said in her video.
‘What we don’t need are why-we-can’t lists. What we don’t need is just people constantly diminishing, others’ ideas without presenting alternatives.’
The Biden administration led criticism of the Supreme Court’s decision, with Attorney General Merrick Garland calling it a ‘devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States.’
He also moved to protect abortion pills as a federally legal option.
Biden addressed the nation on Friday, which he said was a ‘sad day for the court and for the country.’
On Friday, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority voted to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling
It’s the most significant rollback of judicial precedent in the court’s modern history
Of the right to have an abortion, the president said: ‘They didn’t limit it. They simply took it away. That’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans.’
He pledged to ‘do all in my power’ to protect women’s reproductive health but in turn urged Americans to turn out at the ballot box in November – an election that’s so far been projected to see gains for Republicans.
‘This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they’re all on the ballot,’ Biden said.
Ocasio-Cortez, who holds a safe blue seat, bucked the broader message, instead spending nearly an hour breaking down what individuals can do such as hosting women in need in their homes and donating directly to abortion funds.
She called out Biden more directly on Twitter and repeated progressive calls to expand the Supreme Court beyond its current nine justices.
‘The President & Dem leaders can no longer get away with familiar tactics of “committees” and “studies” to avoid tackling our crises head-on anymore,’ she wrote.
‘Restrain judicial review … Open clinics on federal lands … Court expansion … Expand Fed access/awareness of pill abortions.’
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