Washington Post: “For the activists who have fought against enormous odds to elevate the issues of abortion and judicial selection, the sudden turnabout is nearly as shocking as Trump’s election was for McConnell. Interviews with more than two dozen movement leaders, Republican officials and operatives describe a half-century journey that only began to settle over the last decade, as the politics of abortion finally polarized itself as a partisan issue and emerged as a top-tier Republican priority.”

“Abortion rights advocates have also been stunned by the transformation, accusing Republicans of hijacking the courts for partisan and unpopular ends.”

New York Times: Are more precedents next?

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told USA Today that a national abortion ban is possible if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Said McConnell: “With regard to the abortion issue, I think it’s pretty clear where Senate Republicans stand.”

He added: “And if and when the court makes a final decision, I expect everybody will be more definitive. But I don’t think it’s much secret where Senate Republicans stand on that issue.”

Washington Post: “In the aftermath of the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe, Democrats are working hard to underline for voters which party is dismantling abortion protections and which one is defending them, hoping Republicans pay a price at the polls.”

“But the Democrats’ message also in a sense reflects how powerless they have been in Washington, even when they control the levers of power. They have failed to codify Roe, failed to prevent a conservative judiciary and failed to change the filibuster to enact their agenda.”

“In a nearly hour-and-a-half speech at a political rally in Pennsylvania on Friday night, former president Donald Trump made only a passing reference to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn a landmark ruling establishing the constitutional right to abortion across the country,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump’s decision not to opine on the news that dominated headlines this week followed days of Republican reticence to engage on the issue, directing their ire at the leak itself rather than celebrate the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the pivotal 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.”