From The New York Times:
Christina Hagan, the youngest woman in the Ohio Legislature, received a surprise last week. The toughest piece of abortion legislation in the country — a bill she had championed for years — suddenly passed.
The measure, which would ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks, was long presumed dead. But now that Donald J. Trump is headed to the White House, the political winds have changed, and it passed with overwhelming majorities.
So did a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks. Neither contains exceptions for rape and incest. Now Gov. John Kasich — a Republican who is an ardent abortion opponent and onetime challenger to Mr. Trump — is weighing whether to sign one or both.
“President-elect Trump has drastically shifted the dynamics,” said Ms. Hagan, 28, a Republican who has served in the State House since 2011. “I honestly could not have foreseen this victory a week or a month ago.”
The effects of Mr. Trump’s victory are only beginning to be felt. But one of the biggest changes is playing out in abortion politics. From the composition of the Supreme Court (Mr. Trump has promised to nominate staunchly anti-abortion justices), to efforts on Capitol Hill to enact a permanent ban on taxpayer-financed abortions, to emboldened Republican statehouses like the one in Ohio, combatants on both sides see legalized abortion imperiled as it has not been for decades.
That includes, they agree, the possibility of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion decision, during the Trump presidency.
“This is the strongest the pro-life movement has been since 1973,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, and the chairwoman of a coalition of abortion opponents that worked to elect Mr. Trump. “We are dealing now with a president who has not been playing the game in the way that other presidents, including Republicans, have.”
And today we celebrate...