Republicans have delivered on Roe v. Wade. They may regret it.

Before we talk about Roe v. Wade, let’s talk about Obamacare.

In the years after the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, its promised demise was an animating issue for Republicans. It fueled FOX News. It fired up the conservative Freedom Caucus. It won race upon race for Republicans who proclaimed that government should get out of our health care.

By 2016, those Republicans had Congress and the White House and the power to do what they had promised about Obamacare. But Americans outside the conservative GOP base didn’t really want that. Republicans floundered as they tried to remove and replace the ACA, and the threat of losing health care benefits helped propel voters to deliver a blue wave in the 2018 midterm elections.

Now, Americans face a massive new loss of health care rights. On Monday, Politico reported that the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that guarantees the right to abortion, according to a leaked draft opinion from February. The opinion, authored by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., might still change between now and the release of the ruling this spring or summer. But its language — and the support of at least four other justices — signals that Roe will likely be eliminated, leaving states to restrict abortion across large swaths of the country.

It’s a frightening prospect for Americans, including those in red states, where many will face a future that’s a half-century old. The loss of abortion choice will result in hardships and risk across the country. It is, quite simply, a devastating blow to reproductive freedom and health.

It also might be the worst news Republicans can get as they head into the 2022 midterm elections. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances, if not all, while less 20 percent believe in the harsh restrictions Republicans are poised to deliver in many conservative states.

It’s an issue that will animate Democrats this time, especially in states like North Carolina, where the future of reproductive freedom will depend on upcoming elections. In November, voters could give Republicans a new supermajority and the ability to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on abortion bills. In 2024, anti-abortion Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will likely run for governor on a promise to rid our state of the reproductive choice it offers.

Democrats and abortion rights supporters began mobilizing quickly Monday night. With an hour of the Politico report, a crowd gathered near the Supreme Court, and protests nationwide will sure follow. Beginning now, Democrats and progressives will remind voters across the country what’s at stake for mothers, sisters and daughters whose health care choices will be threatened by conservatives lawmakers, largely men, who want to tell them what they can do with their bodies. They’ll warn that Republicans aren’t done with abortion, as evidenced by a Washington Post report Monday that U.S. senators are preparing to introduce a bill that would ban abortions nationwide after the sixth week of pregnancy.

Democrats also will wonder, justifiably, what’s next. LGBTQ rights, including same sex marriage? Contraception?

Those worries are no longer the fantastical frets of progressives trying to stir up voters. That’s what conservatives used to say when dismissing Democrats’ worries about the future of Roe v. Wade. But it’s real now. Conservatives are getting their wish on abortion. Republicans are delivering on their promise. And they may regret it.

This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 8:33 AM.