If Monday's leaked draft opinion is in fact the U.S. Supreme Court's final word on Roe v. Wade, then the constitutional right to abortion guaranteed to American women for almost half a century is doomed. Elected Democrats and the majority of Americans who recognize the urgency of keeping abortion safe and legal now see the consequences of failing to maintain disciplined focus on the issue, as anti-choice forces have done for decades.

The anticipated opinion comes as legislatures move to eviscerate abortion rights in more than half the states (including Missouri), while Republicans are poised to win Congress in the midterms, amid talk of outlawing abortion nationally. If this doesn't serve as a wakeup call to Democrats and other pro-choice Americans to finally get organized and engaged, it's difficult to imagine what would.

The leaked draft, penned by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico, was written in February and could change before the court officially rules. But the sweeping language, with five conservative justices signing, indicates the final opinion will overturn Roe. Alito's draft goes far beyond the case at hand — Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban — and instead forcefully rejects the very premise of any constitutional safeguard that would prevent any state from imposing any restrictions it wants. He calls Roe "egregiously wrong from the start," and throws the whole issue to the legislatures and Congress.

Alito's opinion notes that the Constitution "makes no reference to abortion." True enough. The Constitution also makes no reference to contraception, same-sex marriage or a host of other rights that have been interpreted into existence by the same implied constitutional right to privacy that undergirded Roe — a foundation Alito's opinion forcefully rejects. Intentional or not, he may be handing a dangerous new cudgel to right-wing culture warriors on issues that go far beyond abortion.

Republicans have already shown how brutally effective they can be at exploiting such openings. The currently lopsided conservative majority is only there because Republicans refused to allow Barack Obama to fill one court seat for 11 months, then quickly rammed through confirmation of another, changing the rules as they went along.

Democrats, meanwhile, go down radical rabbit holes like "defund the police." They argue about which pronouns to use and watch in disarray as the minority party stymies their agenda at every turn.

In theory, congressional Democrats currently have the power to eliminate the Senate filibuster and codify the rights of Roe into federal law immediately. In theory, pro-choice moderates in the upcoming primaries and midterms could, finally, prioritize that issue in their voting patterns.

But both of these possibilities would require a sense of urgency and coherence that has so far eluded Democrats. If they want to avoid an American dystopia as this fight moves from the courts to the ballot box, now would be a good time to get their act together.

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