Reproductive Rights Take Center Stage at Democratic National Convention
From a van offering free emergency contraception to emotional speeches, reproductive rights have been a central focus at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this week, as Democrats aim to use this issue to mobilize voters in the upcoming election.
Speakers at the convention, like former Secretary of State, have emphasized the significance of reproductive rights while expressing support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Several women have shared their personal experiences of how state abortion restrictions have impacted them, including , who was forced to leave her home state of Texas to obtain an abortion after doctors diagnosed her fetus with a fatal condition.
“Trump didn’t care, and because of his abortion bans, I had to flee my home,” Cox stated during the DNC’s delegate roll call on Tuesday. “There’s nothing pro-family about abortion bans. There’s nothing pro-life about letting women suffer and even die.”
Reproductive-rights organizations have also capitalized on the attention surrounding the convention this week. On Monday and Tuesday, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers operated a mobile health clinic offering free vasectomies, medication abortion, and emergency contraception just a short distance from the convention—a decision the organization believes demonstrates “what is possible when policies truly support accessible reproductive health care.” Americans for Contraception set up an informational booth on intrauterine devices (IUDs) near the United Center, one of the venues for the DNC.
Basil Smikle, a political analyst and former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, believes that highlighting reproductive rights is a “strong strategy” for the Democratic Party.
“We’ve already seen in multiple states how when reproductive rights is on the ballot, it has become an extremely important mobilizing force in individual states,” Smikle says. “I think it’s something that Democrats feel, based on a significant amount of evidence, is going to drive voters to the polls in November.”
National polling data indicates that a majority of Americans support abortion rights. A survey conducted in June revealed that approximately 61% of adults believe their state should allow a person to access legal abortion for any reason—a significant increase from the 49% who expressed the same sentiment in June 2021, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In most states where abortion has been on the ballot in the past two years, Americans have voted to protect abortion rights, including in high-profile votes in Kentucky and Michigan.
Former President Donald Trump, Harris’s opponent in the 2024 election, appointed three of the Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. As he campaigns for a second term, he has stated that he would uphold restrictions on abortion. Harris, on the other hand, has pledged to protect access to abortion. Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has strongly advocated for abortion rights and shared his and his wife’s journey to conceive through fertility treatment.
Among the women who have shared their stories to advocate for reproductive rights at the convention so far is Louisiana resident Kaitlyn Joshua, who was denied medical care while experiencing a miscarriage. She blamed the state’s near-total abortion ban for her inability to receive proper care. “I was in pain, bleeding so much my husband feared for my life,” she said at the convention on Monday. “No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have.”
Hadley Duvall also spoke at the DNC on Monday. Duvall is from Kentucky, which has severely restricted abortion in almost all circumstances. While she was not directly affected by Kentucky’s abortion restrictions, she has spoken about how her experience has made her an advocate for reproductive rights—Duvall became pregnant when she was 12 years old. She later experienced a miscarriage. “I can’t imagine not having a choice. But today, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans,” Duvall stated.
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Reproductive rights have become a particularly prominent focus at the DNC this year, experts say, because it is the first convention since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Republicans largely avoided discussing the issue at their own convention earlier this summer. “Politically, abortion has been a losing issue for Republicans and a winning one for Democrats,” says Alexandra LaManna, former White House spokesperson for reproductive rights in the Biden Administration and a Democratic strategist. “The freedom of being able to make your own choice has been taken away from people and so making it front and center now is not only important—it’s imperative.”