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In response to the new wave of shocking state laws passed by Republicans to strangle abortion rights, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) put out a list of things Democrats can do to push back. Her approach is centered on federal legislation to supersede draconian state laws and guarantee women their rights. This is highly unusual, because what we hear from Democrats on this issue is almost entirely defensive. Instead of proposing new legislation to aggressively expand abortion rights, the most they can muster is explanations of why the latest Republican law goes too far, all presented as though they’d prefer to be talking about something else. (Paul Waldman, 5/17)

The Alabama pro-life law signed into law Wednesday addresses a human-rights issue: the right to life. The argument that only a woman's body is at stake doesn't work: from conception, a pregnancy involves at least distinct bodies — that of the fertilized egg which contains a distinct and new blend of DNA (from mother and father), all that is needed to become a baby, and that of the mother. It is dangerous when a society ignores the rights of the young and innocent. (Carrie Sheffield, 5/17)

It’s instructive that Alabama handed the antiabortion movement a great victory by passing the most restrictive ban in the country — and Republican politicians who regularly tout themselves as pro-life didn’t like it. Abortion is cast by its opponents as a “nonnegotiable” question. Yet it turns out to be very negotiable and, indeed, a matter of “personal belief.” (E.J. Dionne Jr. 5/19)

I’m a liberal Democrat, and I’m a strong supporter of abortion rights. But I also support restrictions on the procedure. You know, like the ones allowed by Roe v. Wade. If you listened to our Republican opponents during the past few weeks, when Alabama all but prohibited abortion and several other states banned it after aheartbeat is detected, you might think that we Democrats want it to be entirely unregulated. We’re allegedly “the party of death,” ready and eager to protect “infanticide” at all costs. (Jonathan Zimmerman, 5/20)

There came a time in medical school when I first witnessed an abortion, a dilation and curettage, where the cervix was dilated and the tiny fetus sucked out by vacuum. The first time I saw the body parts was the first time I knew I would never perform one of these procedures. I was defining my role as a doctor in terms of relieving suffering and extending life, not ending it. Dr. Ben Carson, consummate pediatric neurosurgeon and current secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has come out vehemently against abortion. In an interview in 2015 when he was running for president, he told me, "I've spent many, many a day and many a night operating on premature babies and then seeing them as adults, as productive adults. There is no way that anybody's going to convince me that that's a meaningless mass of cells." (Marc Siegel, 5/19)

Two political facts emerged in the wake of the batch of stringent abortion bans passed by states such as Georgia, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio. First, this is going to be a big issue for Democrats — because it is potentially a big issue with millions of women, whose votes Democrats will need to eject President Trump from the White House. Second, non-candidate Stacey Abrams may keep herself in the news and in possible contention by highlighting the issue. (Jennifer Rubin, 5/19)