While I hate this is happening, can't deny this is terrible for Republicans so close to the midterms.
They have used abortion as a wedge issue for so damn long that now that they have "won" a certain subset of R voters are going to relax during the upcoming midterns, while on the flip side a large group of D voters are going to be hugely energized.
Pretty sure they were hoping to wait till just after the midterms, after they had the majority in Congress again, before moving with this decision so that people would hopefully forget about it before the next election season. We are lucky someone leaked the draft.
I dunno. "See what we achieved, think what we can achieve with a but more power, we will need to protect this with all our might or Biden may try to force it back! Reward us, we did what we promised!" is still a pretty good rallying cry.
And, despite what liberals might like or think, abortion isn't anywhere NEAR as much of a clear and decisive issue on the left side. "They're killing babies! Stop them!" is easy. But while there are certainly quite a few people who think abortion should be completely legal for anyone for any reason or whatever, there are a LOT more people in the moderate-left (and I mean actual moderates, not Manchin-style "I'm not a Republican but....") who agree that abortion should be legal under specific circumstances, up to a certain gestation period, etc - from "only in rape/incest" cases over "only the first 3 months" or "only when the fetus and/or mother's life is in danger" across "Yes, for serious deformations perhaps up to 6 months", etc etc.
I mean, in Belgium, abortion is legal. And yet, it's still a sensitive issue, with some people arguing for more or less ease/hassle, what counts as a valid medical reason, should we accept mental/psychological issues with the mother as a health concern (which would de facto mean abortion is legal for pretty much everyone up to 6 months),....
Without wanting to get into which position is most worthwhile or the Only Morally Acceptable Stance, a lot of these people will be very hesitant to go march the streets for "the right to abortion", be associated with the extremes, and so on.
I fully understand that this may well be a fist step in the "first they came for the X, but I wasn't X so I didn't protest, then they came for Y, but I'm not Y, etc" style of rolling back all kinds of rights and protections. But the amount of media damage any of the more moderate Democrats will face for being "in favor of baby killing" - with moderate, older voters who may be theoretically in favor of abortion in some cases but feel a bit queasy about it, is huge. Anyone wanting to do well with socially more conservative black or Hispanic voters CANNOT touch this.
This will definitely energize the "extreme" left and feminist side of the Democrat party, but it will also be a huge liability. And I don't think Tumblr, Reddit and the Huffington Post make up the majority of Democrats.