“Abortion is simmering as an issue in the background of this year’s midterm elections. But the new 2028 Democratic primary calendar could put it back toward the top of the list in the next presidential race, six years after the Supreme Court struck down its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling,” Politico reports.
“Reproductive rights are likely to feature heavily in candidates’ voter pitches in South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia.”
“Reproductive Freedom for All is launching a $250,000 campaign targeting Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) over her role in confirming a key member of the Supreme Court majority that overturned Roe v. Wade,” Axios reports.
“Providers are seeing more patients in need of abortions later in pregnancy as abortion bans and restrictions proliferate in U.S. states, all while access to insurance falls,” The Guardian reports.
“Those bans and restrictions have also meant that later abortion care access has grown over the past decade in a handful of haven states and cities.”
“Planned Parenthood’s political action committee Monday announced new ads attacking Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine, the first of a campaign totaling more than $600,000 to oppose the vulnerable incumbent,” the Washington Post reports.
“The ad buy is the largest investment from Planned Parenthood Votes across any state this cycle.”
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made a public video announcement over the weekend about a private matter: The congresswoman is freezing her eggs,” the Washington Post reports.
“The congresswoman said she was going public with her decision against the backdrop of steps by the Trump administration to curtail abortion access and some forms of reproductive care across the country. It also comes amid speculation that she could seek higher office.”
ABC News: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opens up about decision to freeze her eggs.
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told faith leaders he is planning to roll back abortion access even in states that have laws protecting it,” NewsNation reports.
“Republicans in Congress have quietly blocked a proposal to expand military health coverage of in vitro fertilization treatment for service members and their families, heeding the calls of anti-abortion groups to limit access to a fertility option that President Trump vowed to make more widely available,” the New York Times reports.
“The move is a shift from previous years, when there was enough bipartisan support for the idea of broadening the availability of IVF for members of the military that it was included in the annual defense bill that passed both the House and Senate.”
“A national fight over state supreme courts is flaring up in Kansas, where voters will decide Tuesday whether to replace the state’s 68-year-old system of appointing justices with direct elections — a change that could shape future rulings on abortion, voting rights and other monumental issues,” the Washington Post reports.
”The fight over the Kansas Supreme Court reflects the growing importance of state courts since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion and put claims of partisan gerrymandering beyond the reach of federal judges.”
“Two days before Senate lawmakers were scheduled to vote on advancing Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general, a million-dollar payout was announced for an anti-abortion activist he has called a victim of government weaponization by the Biden administration,” the New York Times reports.
“The settlement given to Paul Vaughn, who was convicted by a Tennessee jury in 2024 of conspiring to prevent access to an abortion clinic, shows how the goal of a $1.8 billion fund announced in May can continue, despite a public retreat by Mr. Blanche. An already existing avenue for disbursing taxpayer money could allow him to assuage skeptical Republicans while fulfilling President Trump’s desire to pay people he believes were wronged by the Justice Department.”
NOTUS: “These are the most recent examples of how abortion has receded as an issue in 2026 compared to the 2022 and 2024 elections, when it was one of Democrats’ top electoral focuses. In fact, more than three times as many abortion-related ads ran from January to mid-July 2024 — with candidates and organizations spending nearly double on them — as did in the same period of 2026.”
“But Democrats’ focus on abortion rights didn’t deliver wins for the party in 2024 the way it did in 2022. Democrats effectively prevented a red wave in the 2022 midterms by heavily messaging against the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that protected abortion access.”
“Planned Parenthood is pumping more than $47 million into the midterms as it looks to pick off Republicans who cut off funding to the abortion provider last year,” Politico reports.
”The near-record investment from Planned Parenthood Votes — an independent super PAC affiliated with Planned Parenthood — will fund ads and voter-outreach efforts targeting Republicans across 10 battleground House races in seven states, as well as in Maine and Michigan’s critical Senate contests.”
“Planned Parenthood’s beleaguered network of clinics will regain access to hundreds of millions in Medicaid funding this weekend — the fallout of Republicans’ failure to pass an extension of the one-year defunding provision they approved last year,” Politico reports.
”Starting July 5, clinics around the country can once again bill the federal program for reimbursement after providing non-abortion services, like birth control and screenings for sexually-transmitted infections, to low-income patients. Though other funding threats loom, it’s a lifeline for the struggling organization, which has closed nearly 30 health centers nationwide that collectively served more than 40,000 patients since the defunding provision in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect in July 2025.”
“Four states could have abortion ballot measures in November, giving Democrats an opportunity to push the issue back into the national spotlight and make life uncomfortable for Republicans,” NewsNation reports.
“In its quest to outlaw abortion across the country, the antiabortion movement has been largely unified around a core idea: Women who get the procedure should be spared punishment, while doctors and others who make it available should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the New York Times reports.
“But a growing number of conservative leaders are starting to argue that the only way to stop women from ending their pregnancies could be to arrest them.”
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), a pro-life Republican, told Tara Palmeri that she nearly died during a pregnancy complication that required an abortion.
Cammack broke down in tears and said she feared she might die while medical professionals debated whether they could legally provide treatment.
Cammack later asked Palmeri not to publish that portion of the interview.
“Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the country’s largest abortion rights organization, officially backed the Democrat Graham Platner for Senate in Maine on Monday, selecting him over Senator Susan Collins, one of only two Republican senators who support abortion rights,” the New York Times reports.
Sarah Longwell: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard voters—even swing voters and conservatives—say some version of ‘I’m pro-life, but I believe in a woman’s right to choose.’ Translation: Voters can be personally uncomfortable with abortion and still believe that the state-level bans are a bridge too far.”
“In recent focus groups I’ve conducted, abortion still pops up as an issue. That’s especially true in states with very restrictive abortion bans—including some that have key Senate and gubernatorial races this year, like Iowa and Texas.”
“Democrats are prioritizing other issues over abortion in the runup to the fall midterm elections, while Republicans are taking pains to avoid the topic altogether,” Politico reports.
“But another wave of state ballot initiatives to protect a right to abortion could force candidates on both sides to articulate their positions.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.