“Christian” Nationalists and their agendas are front and center in Project 2025, the extremist plan for Trump’s second administration. One goal is to eliminate women’s rights over reproduction, then restrict their right to vote. The vehicles to do this are the Comstock Act and the SAVE Act.
These “Christian” Nationalists claim it is Biblical to take away the moral agency of women. In their view, women do not have the moral authority to make the decisions that most affect them. Women are to be denied the right to follow their own conscience.
These so-called “Christian” extremists have so far successfully imposed their push to take away women’s constitutional right to stop a pregnancy during the first trimester, before the rights of the fetus were invoked.
Women lost this option when Roe v. Wade was overturned. The rights of the fetus now outweigh the rights of women from the moment of conception. The “Christians” who championed this always intended to go even further. It does not matter that women are dying from miscarriages in states where restrictions prevent doctors from saving their lives. Specific examples include Josseli Barnica of Texas, Candi Miller of Georgia, and Parsha Ngumezi of Texas, who all died from delayed treatment during miscarriage (https://www.propublica. org/article/josseli-barnica-deathmiscarriage- texas-abortion-ban and https://www.guttmacher. org/2024/12/state-policy-trends-2024-anti-abortion-policymakersredouble- attacks-bodily-autonomy Women die under the new laws. No matter.
What does matter to this extreme minority is that women are still able to access abortion in states that have sensible health care laws. The solution? Revive the Comstock Act of 1873 that prohibits mailing “obscene” material about birth control and abortion or sending currently available abortion medication through the mail. In this way, a complete abortion ban could be put into effect nationwide without further legislation.
Taking women’s rights away has angered them and the men who care about them. The solution? Suppress women’s votes. Enter the SAVE Act.
The SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act would raise barriers and costs for all voters, especially for women. Citizens would be required to prove U.S. citizenship, even though noncitizen voting has been shown to be a non-issue. Voters who don’t have a citizenship document with a photo, like a passport, will need to show two documents, a government- issued photo ID along with a document proving citizenship, such as a birth certificate.
But women who change their name when they marry will face extra burdens to prove citizenship because their current names will not match their birth certificates. Additional hoops they must jump through have yet to be specified. Passports are one solution, but they cost about $150, and last year I waited six months just for a renewal. DOGE personnel cuts at the State Department will slow this process down further.
What can be done? Ask your U.S. Senators to vote NO on the SAVE act. This Act has already been passed by the House with a vote of 220 to 208.
Oklahoma’s senators are James Lankford, phone 202.224.5754, and Markwayne Mullins, phone 202.224.4721.