The results are in. Of the five Supreme Court justices who allowed Texas to implement the strictest abortion ban in the nation, three Neil M. Gorsuch in 2017, Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 were appointed by President Trump.
You may argue back and forth whether fair warning is ever fair play. But theres no disputing the fact that Clintons red alert came in plenty of time for voters caring about womens rights to plan how to deal with Trump on Election Day. Did it fall on deaf ears?
Clinton handily won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college. Too many voters, in states where they were needed, failed to turn out or skipped her name on the ballot. The whys of it are being debated to this day. The fact is that some voters might have heard what she said was at stake but still chose to follow the alluring sounds of Trumps snake-oil campaign.
Had truth won out in 2016, this dark day for womens rights could have been avoided.
But, perhaps, some consolation might come with the thought that Texass dreadful law might serve to mobilize womens health voters across the entire gender spectrum to do what apparently too many failed to do five years ago: flock to the polls to protect reproductive freedom like theres no tomorrow. There wasnt one for candidate Clinton five years ago. There should be plenty of tomorrows, however, for the cause of reproductive rights and justice if voters, next time around, respond as they should have when Hillary Clinton first sounded the alarm.
Now, theres no excuse.