Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) predicted Wednesday that this year’s election cycle will be a referendum on abortion, warning of a national abortion ban if Republicans consolidate control of government in 2024.
“If the Republicans had the House, the Senate, and the White House, if that happened, I don’t think there’s any doubt they’re going for a nationwide abortion ban,” Warren told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner during an interview this week.
The Supreme Court upended the long-standing status quo on abortion in 2022 when it overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ending the right to abortion access and sending the issue back to states.
The reversal came about after former President Trump, currently the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, seated three conservative justices, forming a majority conservative bloc that struck down the nearly 50-year-old ruling.
Nearly two dozen states have since rolled back or eliminated abortion rights.
“[Trump] is responsible and abortion will be on the ballot in 2024,” Warren said. “He proudly put this Supreme Court in place. He proudly screened them for their position on abortion. He is responsible for the state of abortion in this country right now.”
Trump has taken credit for the end of Roe while also avoiding the issue of a federal ban.
After Republicans underperformed in the midterm election cycle, he posted on Truth Social that “In order to win in 2024, Republicans must learn how to talk about Abortion. This issue cost us unnecessarily, but dearly, in the Midterms.”
Warren, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, said Republicans recognize that abortion restrictions are unpopular so they have tempered their talking points on the issue.
“Apparently, Trump is both a supporter of the Supreme Court’s decision to end Roe v. Wade, but also a critic of abortion restrictions that could cost Republicans election wins,” she said.
“Donald Trump and the Republicans are coming for you, and your chance to beat that back comes in November 2024, when you vote down not just Trump, but every other Republican on the ballot.”
A Gallup poll last year found a record-high 69 percent of adults surveyed said abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.
