Some Democrats warn abortion rights demonstrators not to go overboard

Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety,” she wrote.The Twitter missive was unremarkable — President Biden and his team have long denounced violence at protests — but for the fact that it seemed penned in response to recent abortion rights demonstrations, an attempt to head off what Republicans are trying to weaponize as a political issue.After a leaked draft opinion one week ago indicated that the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion rights supporters have organized protests at the homes of some of the conservative Supreme Court justices, and the headquarters of an antiabortion group in Madison, Wis., was vandalized.Two molotov cocktails were found inside the headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action, which was set on fire Sunday, as well as defaced with graffiti reading, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” The same evening, two molotov cocktails were thrown at the Oregon Right to Life office in a suburb of Salem, and last week, two Catholic churches in Colorado, including one known for its antiabortion stance, were vandalized.Republicans were quick to pounce, with GOP lawmakers sending more than a dozen tweets attacking Biden and Democrats and calling on them to condemn the abortion rights demonstrators.“Joe Biden should call on his supporters to stand down,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote in a tweet. “They’re taking away an incredibly important right that could criminalize your behavior and potentially lead to people’s deaths.”Sonja Spoo, director of reproductive rights campaigns for UltraViolet, a gender justice advocacy group, argued that Democratic leaders should focus on the threat of abortion rights being taken away — and added that the antiabortion movement has regularly employed threatening and violent tactics.“I would ask that Democratic leaders focus on the violence that’s already being inflicted on abortion providers and people seeking abortions in Republican-controlled states, and of course the people who ultimately can’t access care as their health and lives are being targeted right now,” Spoo said.According to the Justice Department’s National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers, 10 people employed by abortion clinics as doctors, staffers or patient or doctor escorts have been killed in antiabortion incidents since 1993, and several others have suffered life-threatening injuries.Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who worked on Biden’s 2020 campaign, said that Republicans are playing a “twofer” game.