A volunteer with Protect Kentucky Access circles vote no on brochures with information on Amendment 2 ahead of a canvassing action in Lexington, Ky., on October 1, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)
The midterm election of 2022 is almost over, with only some counting and the Georgia runoff remaining. But its seismic impact will be felt for years to come. It was the first nationwide election since the Supreme Court eviscerated the right to reproductive choice in the Dobbs decision. The election confirmed that this has sent a shock wave through the electorate, energizing pro-choice voters to deliver a stinging rebuke to Republican ambitions.
Among political analysts, Moira Donegan, US columnist for The Guardian, has been a major voice insisting on the centrality of the abortion issue, which she links not only to personal choice but also to economic and political freedom. I talked to Moira about how abortion has changed this election and is likely to remain crucial to politics in the future.
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Jeet HeerTwitterJeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe.