WASHINGTON — As busy 2024 legislative sessions come to end in state legislatures across the country, Republicans’ extremism hellbent on unraveling fundamental freedoms has been on full display. From dangerous abortion restrictions to undermining LGBTQ+ freedoms to attacking voting rights, state legislatures have become hotbeds of the worst GOP policies, with effects reverberating across the country. Unfortunately, what happens in one corner of the country rarely stays contained – these extreme bills in 2024 indicate where the Republican platform is heading and should be cause for serious alarm.
Here’s a look at some of the most dangerous legislation state Republicans have pursued this year:
- Louisiana Republicans passed a first-in-the-nation bill that classifies abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances, similar to some narcotics.
- Arizona GOP lawmakers advanced a bill that would have allowed people to legally shoot and kill undocumented migrants, or anybody, who crosses their land. Arizona already allowed the use of deadly force against home intruders, but Republicans upped the ante through a proposal that would legalize the right to kill anyone trespassing through their property.
- Arizona Republicans also introduced an extreme bill to overturn the presidential selection process in Arizona. The proposal would empower the state legislature – currently controlled by Republicans – to override the popular vote in a presidential election and appoint presidential electors of their choice, disenfranchising millions.
- Iowa Republicans advanced a dangerous personhood bill earlier this year that would have effectively criminalized causing the death of “an unborn person,” thus threatening access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and contraception. This GOP bill was shelved only after it received widespread backlash and concern it would backfire for Republicans politically.
- In January, Kansas Republicans introduced extreme legislation to ban abortions across the board, flying in the face of Kansans who voted resoundingly to keep abortion legal in the state in 2022. Most significantly, the bill would forbid access to clinical abortions, ban the distribution of abortion pills, and allow lawsuits against those who aided abortion access, including doctors.
- In Florida, a Republican bill recently took effect that bans abortion at six weeks. That’s on top of a failed GOP proposal to completely ban abortion and threaten physicians with up to 10 years in prison. This has had reverberating negative impacts on access to reproductive health care, as providers have expressed confusion about whether they can provide emergency reproductive health care in certain situations.
- New Hampshire Republicans passed three toxic anti-LGBTQ+ bills earlier this month, weaponizing their majorities to fan the flames of an unpopular culture war. An anti-trans sports ban, a bill that would ban hospitals from providing and families from seeking gender-affirming care, and a bill that would lead to classroom censorship on topics of gender and sexuality were passed.
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee National Press Secretary Sam Paisley issued the following statement:
“Instead of legislating solutions to improve the lives of their communities, Republicans in state legislatures are attacking the freedoms we hold dear. From the ability to seek emergency reproductive health care to the ability to have your vote heard to the ability to decide how and when to grow your family, Republicans are laser-focused on rolling back core rights and freedoms. Nowhere is Republicans’ dangerous agenda more apparent than in the states, as Republicans test the worst of their policy wish list in legislatures.
“With every extreme bill advanced by Republican lawmakers, the stakes for the 2024 state legislative elections are raised. Democrats are on the frontlines of safeguarding reproductive rights, protecting LGBTQ+ people, and fighting for dignity and respect for every community. GOP extremism underscores the urgency of every vote at our ballot level, and the DLCC will continue sounding the alarm on dangerous Republican extremism.”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures and building state infrastructure. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.
###
