"The 2012 election was meant to be a referendum on, among other things, the tide of Republican extremism that swept reproductive rights to the edge of existence in many states between 2010 and 2012. Although the Tea Party was allegedly given votes in the midterms to address financial issues, abortion restriction and defunding Planned Parenthood immediately rose to the top of the new Republican priority list.
That was all supposed to end with this election--but did it? This absurd period of legislative history that became dubbed the “war on women” (though it affected people of all genders) culminated in this year's notorious spate of comments from Tea Party-approved candidates about rape -- legitimate, god-willed or otherwise -- and resulted in the biggest anti-misogynist backlash at the ballot box we’ve seen in a long time."