As Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia attempt to outlaw abortions after six weeks, Missouri legislators approve an eight-week ban and Alabama passes a near total ban on abortions, we speak to journalist Ari Berman about how the widespread attack on abortion rights across the country is tied directly to voter suppression. He writes in a recent piece for Mother Jones, “These states have something else in common: a systematic effort to distort the democratic process through voter suppression and gerrymandering. These tactics have greased the way for near-total bans on abortion and for other extreme right-wing policies.”

AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about gerrymandering and abortion.

ARI BERMAN: So, these issues are all connected. And when we saw all of these abortion bans, one thing that I realized is that many of the states passing these abortion bans recently also are very heavily gerrymandered. So, you have, for example, in Ohio, which was one state that passed this abortion ban, Republican candidates in Ohio for the state House got 50% of votes in the last election but control 63% of legislative seats. You look at Missouri, Republican candidates in the Missouri House got 57% of the votes but control 71% of the seats.

So, what’s […]