The 2022 midterm elections were not the “red wave” of Republican dreams. They didn’t end up being a rebuke to the Biden presidency, a message about inflation or a protest against perceived crime rates.

The only issue voters sent a clear message on? Abortion.

Voters who came out to support reproductive rights seem to be one of the chief reasons Democrats weren’t absolutely routed. Abortion rights voters delivered several key elections for Democrats. And now, Democrats had better deliver for them.

There are still some races outstanding, including important Senate battles in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada and a smattering of House races. But early numbers tell an important and definitive story: the Democratic base showed up in numbers that are wildly uncommon in a midterm election, particularly from a party that already controls Congress and the White House. Turnout this year surpassed the 2018 midterms, when Democrats surged to the polls to signal their disgust with Donald Trump. And exit polling suggests that these Democratic voters were overwhelmingly motivated by abortion, with 76% of Democrats listing abortion as their top issue, according to CNN polling. And voters generally – not just Democrats – said that they trusted Democrats over Republicans to handle abortion.

Abortion rights supporters encouraged Democrats to prioritize abortion in their campaigns, but that strategy came with its fair share of detractors. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in these pages that focusing on abortion over inflation and the economy was a mistake. (Democrats, in their defense, did overwhelmingly make their case about the economy, too; they just emphasized abortion rights more forcefully than at any point in my living memory.) It would appear that detractors got it wrong, and abortion was indeed a winning strategy.

The Democratic line has been “abortion is on the ballot.” And in four states, it literally was: voters in California, Michigan and Vermont were asked to decide whether to enshrine abortion rights into their state constitutions; voters in Kentucky were asked to decide whether abortion rights should not be protected by their state constitution.

Voters in all four states voted for abortion rights and against abortion restrictions, echoing the outcome of a ballot measure earlier this year in Kansas.

This is an unmistakable pattern: when voters are given the chance to decide whether the state should outlaw abortion or if the choice should be left to a woman and her doctor, they tell the state to butt out. Even in conservative strongholds, state legislatures appear to be far more conservative on abortion than the voters they purport to represent.

These abortion rights voters have also cast their ballots for Democrats more broadly. Candidates in several tight races, including in Michigan and Pennsylvania, emphasized that they would protect abortion rights – and those candidates won, bringing down-ballot victories for state legislators with them.

In Pennsylvania, abortion was the number-one issue for voters, according to NBC exit polling – and 78% of voters who said abortion was their main issue cast their ballots for Democrat John Fetterman. Democrat Josh Shapiro also won against arch-conservative Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race. And while votes are still being tallied, Democrats seem to have done surprisingly well in races for seats in the Pennsylvania state legislature.

In Michigan, voters sent a resounding message that they want abortion rights enshrined into the state constitution. They also re-elected Gretchen Whitmer, who ran on abortion rights in a state that has been engulfed in legal battles over the status of abortion. And they flipped the state legislature, handing Democrats control of all three chambers for the first time in nearly four decades.

These voters are all clear: they turned out not just to put Democrats in power generally, but in support of abortion rights specifically.

Now these voters will want results. Yes, delivering on abortion rights may be tough with a divided House and Senate – especially if Republicans gain control of one or both chambers. But Democrats were never under the impression that they could achieve overwhelming victory. They still promised pro-choice voters that if they turned out, Democrats would stand up for them. Now they have to make good on that promise, even if it’s tough.

The Biden administration has been frustratingly tepid on abortion rights, and it’s beyond time for Democrats at all levels to get creative to secure abortion rights however they can. Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have suggested, for example, that Biden could use his executive powers to allow abortion clinics to open on federally owned lands, including military bases.

Congress could affirm the basic rights of all Americans to travel for medical care – which could help to stave off conservative efforts to criminalize those who help women cross state borders for abortions – and pass a bill protecting women and their loved ones from prosecution for pregnancy termination. (In my ideal world, Congress would pass a bill protecting abortion rights much more broadly, but that path will become impossible if Republicans gain power.) The FDA could treat abortion-inducing medications like any other prescription drug and evaluate them on safety and efficacy rather than politics – which, frustratingly, remains the case even with a Biden administration in the White House. And if Democrats do somehow manage to maintain control of Congress, Biden and the Democratic party truly have no excuse to not pass a bill enshrining abortion rights into law nationwide.

The American people sent a loud message yesterday: we are a pro-choice nation, and we want the government out of our most intimate reproductive decisions. Republicans should listen, and realize that their party’s position – that abortion should be outlawed in nearly all cases – represents but a tiny minority of Americans; if they want to stay competitive, they should back off from their extremist positions.

And Democrats should realize that these pro-choice voters just saved many of their hides, and recently elected Democratic politicians now owe them more than pro-choice platitudes. They owe what they promised: abortion rights.

• Jill Filipovic is the author of OK Boomer, Let’s Talk