The Democrats set focus on abortion once again with a series of speakers leading abortion rights organizations. The issue was a motivator for voters in the 2022 midterms, the first to take place after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wadeand Democrats hope it will once again help propel their candidates to victory in November.
“When abortion is on, we win,” said Minnie Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, before ticking off the seven states where the pro-abortion legal position succeeded when the issue was directly on the 2022 ballot.
Voters in at least eight states will have the chance to weigh in on abortion ballot measures in November. The second night of the convention featured remarks from several women who shared their experiences in states with abortion restrictions.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, recalled a pregnant woman from Georgia who had to fly to California to get an abortion, and warned of the health care landscape in states with near-total bans or severe restrictions.
“We cannot call ourselves a free nation when women are not free,” she said.
Former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said politics shouldn’t interfere with a patient’s health care.
“When women are free to make their own decisions about their lives and follow our dreams, we are unstoppable,” she said. “But when Roe v. Wade was overturned, a generation of women lost that freedom.”
Jessica Mackler, who runs EMILY’s List, recited from Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the case that dismantled the constitutional right to abortion, in which he wrote, “Women are not without electoral or political power.”
“Donald Trump and the Republicans are about to find out how true that is,” Mackler said. “The opportunity is before us. The power is in our hands, and the time is now.”