Why Voting Rights and Reproductive Freedom Are the Same Fight

Attacks on abortion, contraception, and reproductive health care are escalating across the country—but this moment is about far more than reproductive freedom alone. It’s about who holds power, who is being represented, and whose rights are protected.

The same politicians working to control our bodies are also working to control and suppress our vote.

That’s why the fight for reproductive freedom cannot be separated from the fight for voting rights.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (JLVRAA) aims to restore and strengthen the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.

The background:

• The Supreme Court’s decision opened the door to a wave of voter suppression laws in states across the country.
• Named in honor of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, the bill restores the VRA’s requirement that states with a history of voting discrimination get approval from the federal government prior to enacting new laws that impact voting.
• It also targets specific practices often used to disenfranchise voters of color, such as imposing burdensome and discriminatory voter ID laws, gerrymandering, reducing the number of polling places, and reduced language assistance.

Republicans in Congress keep blocking the JLVRAA from passing.

This is not accidental. When politicians suppress our vote, they can pass abortion bans and other unpopular policies that the public overwhelmingly opposes.

When the Supreme Court gutted the VRA’s preclearance requirement, it allowed states with long histories of racial discrimination and undermining voting rights to continue changing voting laws without federal oversight.

The result has been widespread voter suppression—particularly targeting Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-income voters. And once those voices are silenced, extremist lawmakers have shown they are more likely to ignore the majority and pass laws on abortion bans, birth control restrictions, and attacks on reproductive health care that the majority of Americans oppose.

This is not a coincidence. It is coordination.

Reproductive freedom depends on democracy. When voting rights are weakened, bodily autonomy is in jeopardy.

This Is a Fundamental Rights Crisis

Reproductive freedom is a fundamental right. Voting is a fundamental right. Both are critical to your autonomy, dignity, and the power to shape your own future—and to our democracy at large.

When put to a vote, abortion bans do not win. That’s why anti-abortion extremists work so aggressively to undermine voting rights—blocking protections like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act while establishing minority rule through gerrymandering, imposing burdensome voter ID laws, and supermajority requirements.

When lawmakers don’t have public support, they don’t change their agenda—they change who gets to vote.

A Familiar Playbook: Control the Vote, Control the Body

The civil rights movement fought for access to education, economic opportunity, and the ballot box. Those victories were hard-won—and today, they are under direct attack.

The same politicians and extremist organizations pushing abortion bans are also advancing:

• Voter suppression laws
• Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation
• Rollbacks of civil rights protections

A Dark History,
Repeating Itself

The U.S. has a long history of asserting control over people’s decisions about their lives and bodies—particularly targeting Black, Indigenous, disabled, incarcerated, and immigrant communities.

Today’s abortion bans echo those injustices. They reinforce surveillance, criminalization, and state control over marginalized bodies—while voter suppression ensures the people most impacted have the least political power to fight back.

It is no accident that the far right turned to abortion as a rallying issue only after losing ground on segregation and other openly racist policies.

Who is Most Impacted

Just as poll taxes and literacy tests once blocked Black Americans from voting, abortion bans and travel restrictions block access to health care and disproportionately impact historically marginalized communities.

The intent is clear: decisions about your body are being taken out of voters’ hands and handed to judges and political extremists.

State-Level Attacks:
When the Will of the People Is Ignored

Even as voters across the country show up consistently to support abortion access, state lawmakers continue to pass extreme abortion bans, medication abortion restrictions, and many other new attacks on reproductive freedom.

In Florida, 57% of voters supported abortion rights in 2024—the largest number of people ever to vote for abortion access in the state. Still, the amendment could not go into effect because years before, lawmakers enacted an arbitrary 60% supermajority requirement for constitutional amendments.

This is voter suppression in action—with dire consequences.

The Human Cost
of Voter Suppression and Abortion Bans

These policies don’t exist in theory—they have devastating real-world consequences:

• Pregnant people denied emergency care, suffering preventable injuries and deaths
• Doctors prosecuted for providing standard medical treatment
• Patients criminalized for miscarriages or pregnancy outcomes
• Maternal health deserts expanding as providers flee hostile states
• A maternal mortality crisis—especially for Black women, who die at 3 times the rate of white women

The states with the most restrictive abortion laws are also the states with the most aggressive voter suppression laws.

What’s at Stake Under Trump 2.0

This moment is about whether democracy survives—or whether minority rule becomes the norm.

Under President Trump, reproductive freedom and voting rights face unprecedented danger:

Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement:
How We Win

The civil rights movement wasn’t won overnight—and neither will the fight for reproductive rights.

Change requires:

• Grassroots organizing to build people power
• Legal challenges to defend and restore fundamental rights
• Voter rights to elect leaders who reflect the will of the people

Protecting reproductive freedom means protecting democracy itself.

The Time to Act Is Now

We are at a defining moment. The same forces attacking abortion and birth control are attacking voting rights, civil liberties, and democratic participation.

History teaches us that progress is possible—but only when people organize, vote, and refuse to accept injustice.

This fight is about our bodies.

It’s about our ballots.

And it’s about our future.

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