Democrats hope Supreme Court abortion draft will spur voters to polls

May 3 (UPI) -- Democrats hope the draft Supreme Court opinion that could overturn Roe vs. Wade could be the galvanizing issue needed to bring voters to the ballot box in November.

Democratic leaders went to social media to make public statements criticizing the draft while giving nods to the upcoming elections.

"If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years -- not just on women but on all Americans," said a statement released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Monday.

"Every Republican senator who supported Senator [Mitch] McConnell and voted for Trump justices pretending that this day would never come will now have to explain themselves to the American people."

House Democratic Campaign Committee head Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said the draft puts the issue on the ballot for Democrats, framing it as a right being taken away from women.

"If true, this is a draconian step backward," Maloney said on Twitter. "Lives will be lost because radical politicians are taking health decisions out of the hands of women and their doctors. The choice is clear: Republicans actively taking away reproductive freedoms or Dems fighting like hell to protect them."

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is fighting to keep her seat in November in a challenging district, also went to Twitter to criticize the draft.

"If tonight's news is true, Michigan's 1931 state law banning abortion would snap back into effect, making any abortion illegal in our state -- even if the mom will die, or if she was raped by a family member. No exceptions," she said. "My poor mother is turning over in her grave. The House has already voted to codify Roe -- let all senators be on record on this one in an up or down vote."

Also on Monday, the presidents of progressive advocacy groups Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and EMILY's List, announced that they will spend $150 million on the 2022 midterms for those supporting abortion rights.

"Let's be clear: We have reached a crisis moment for abortion access because conservative politicians have engaged in a coordinated effort to control our bodies and our futures," Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement.

"We must center those for whom stakes are highest, including people of color who have been most harmed by abortion bans and this generation of young people that could experience a future without the freedom to decide their own path forward."