6 August 6-12, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Month XX–Month XX, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | a researcher and political strategist who has worked with a number of campaigns on re- productive rights polling and messaging, doesn’t think it’s fair to say that the abortion issue has been abandoned in 2026. For a midterm election year, it’s still relatively early for a campaign’s message to be finalized, she said. Things happen earlier in presidential election years because there is more money, and more desire to choke out a crowded field, which may be why it felt like we were all drowning in ads by this point in 2024. Additionally, with Republicans holding the incumbency, Teitelbaum said this elec- tion season presents a unique opportunity to Democrats, who can now force the party in power to “own up to what they have done” in a way they couldn’t in the last two elec- tion cycles. “That doesn’t mean that abortion is not impactful or that reproductive rights are not a major concern for voters. It just means that we also have other opportunities this cycle that we didn’t have as much of in the past,” Teitelbaum said. “People are more economi- cally stressed than they were two years ago, four years ago, six years ago. … People have been stressed for a while and it is incumbent upon candidates to speak to that. That doesn’t mean that it’s at odds with talking about abortion and reproductive rights.” There are at least a few campaign blitzes planned for the coming months, although advertisers seem to be steering away from Texas. Politico reports that Planned Parenthood will pump $47 million into midterm ads tar- geting Republicans across 10 states, including Iowa and Nevada, two of the four states that will have abortion-related measures on the ballot in November. Voters in Idaho, Nevada and Virginia may choose to protect abortion access through the proposed constitutional amendments, while Missouri voters will de- cide whether to ban the procedure. Another organization, Reproductive Freedom for All, plans to spend $23.5 mil- lion on similar messaging in Arizona, Ne- vada, Michigan, Georgia and California. Even as advertisers look outside of the Lone Star State for support, the Texas Dem- ocratic Party has rejected the idea that its candidates have moved away from abortion. In a statement provided to the Observer, the organization disagreed with articles and punditry that have characterized Demo- cratic candidates as abandoning the issue. “Texans are facing a range of urgent chal- lenges, from rising health care costs and public education to housing affordability and protecting our democracy. Speaking about those issues does not mean we are re- treating from reproductive freedom. It means we’re addressing the full range of concerns Texans tell us they face every day,” the statement said. The latest Pew Research Center data shows that economic issues are overwhelm- ingly the top concern for voters ahead of No- vember, and economic optimism has declined over the past year. In Duane’s mind, economic concerns and reproductive freedoms are easy issues to connect. She points to families like the Brandts, who have decided not to have any more chil- dren due to their concerns about the state’s abortion ban. Additionally, some studies have suggested that students entering medi- cal school residency are less likely to con- sider programs located in states where care is regulated under bills like SB 8. Both of those are economic issues. “There’s nothing more fundamental to a family’s economic security than being able to have a family at the time that is right for them. It is the single biggest indi- cator of financial stability,” Duane said. “When the government takes that ability away from you … that’s an unforced error that the state has put on its citizens while at the same time doing absolutely nothing to support families.” GRASSROOTS MOMENTUM As soon as the midterm elections are fin- ished, Brandt will immediately have a new focus: the 2027 Texas legislative session. Bill filing will open the Monday following the election, and the list of things Brandt is con- cerned about is long. She’s hoping to see bills filed that address Texas’ infant and ma- ternal mortality rate, and she is worried by the recent emphasis the state GOP has put on regulating IVF treatments. She still keeps in touch with many of the Zurawski plaintiffs, and those that are “boots on the ground” in Austin keep an eye on what’s developing at the Capitol and “call us out when we need to [testify].” Other grassroots advocacy groups have emerged in the years since Dobbs, too. In some cases, education campaigns have been launched to help fill the gap between the questions pregnant women ask and the top- ics doctors are legally prohibited from dis- cussing. One resource, Asking for a Mom, developed in direct response to Texas’ Life of the Mother Act, which passed in 2025, helps inform patients about their rights during pregnancy emergencies. A bevy of Texas hospitals and healthcare coalitions have endorsed the effort, which offers Texas women a script for how to ad- vocate for themselves in the event of a preg- nancy complication. “Patients living in Texas are aware that Texas is a state with significant restrictions on abortion, but patients are generally unfa- miliar with the specific legal provisions of such laws,” said Dr. Deborah Fuller, a Dal- las-based OBGYN. “In an emergency, most women are unlikely to read the Texas statutes or search legislative websites. Instead, they are far more likely to turn to a trusted physi- cian, family member or a familiar online re- source for immediate answers. Our goal is for Asking for a Mom to be that resource.” For Brandt, advocacy work comes with “highs and lows.” Sometimes she feels like she’s “yelling at a wall, and people aren’t re- ally listening.” She worries that even as grassroots efforts emerge that are focused on increasing awareness of Texas’ health- care laws, the education gap is continuing to grow. Abortion, for many Texans, is still a “black and white” issue, she said. Cases like hers help show the gray. That’s her motiva- tion for continuing to tell her story. It doesn’t hurt that she’s starting to take the bullies by the horns, either. On July 15, Brandt was one of 13 women who signed on to a cease-and-desist order addressed to Live Action News. The letter demands that the outlet delete and retract the various sto- ries and statements that have been pub- lished over the years and accuse the women of being murderers and killers, or else risk facing “additional legal remedies.” Brandt sees herself as being a part of a generation of women who will not allow their rights to be taken quietly. “I’m glad we’re not being shamed out of (talking about our stories), even though out- lets like Live Action tried to do that,” Brandt said. “We’re not going to stop. We’re not ashamed, we stick up for each other and we stand up for ourselves. I think that momen- tum’s there, and we’re watching.” The forgotten issue from p4 THIS ELECTION SEASON PRESENTS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO DEMOCRATS, TO FORCE THE PARTY IN POWER TO ‘OWN UP TO WHAT THEY HAVE DONE.’ Photo by Maria Crane for the Dallas Observer Photo by Emma Ruby Colin Allred and James Talarico have bothseemingly discussed reproductive rights on the campign trail less in 2026 than in the past.
