Two years after the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade repealed, setting off a cascade of state-level abortion bans and sparking angry political backlash, Democrats are marking the anniversary by highlighting the role former President Donald J. Trump played in eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.
Through advertisements, campaign rallies and press conferences, Democrats are fanning out across the country to remind voters that it was Mr. Trump’s nominees who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Donald Trump is the only person responsible for this nightmare,” President Biden said in a statement Monday. “My message to Americans is: Kamala and I will fight like hell to win back your freedom.”
The messaging offensive is unfolding during a close presidential race, as Mr. Biden faces weak approval ratings and the coalition that powered his victory in 2020 shows signs of unraveling.
To empower their voters, Democrats are resorting to variations on arguments that have led to other victories in the past two years: that the Republican Party is increasingly extreme and is extraordinary violating some of the most personal health care decisions Americans can make.
“Fundamentally, this issue is about freedom,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in an MSNBC interview that will air in full on Monday. “Every person, regardless of gender, should understand that if such a basic freedom as the right to make decisions about one’s body can be exercised, one must be aware of what other freedoms may be at stake stand.”
On Monday, she is also scheduled to speak in College Park, Maryland, and in Phoenix to “remind voters that Donald Trump is responsible for the overthrow of Roe and the chaos that followed” and “highlight the threat that a second one.” “It poses a threat to reproductive freedom nationwide,” the Biden campaign said.
Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is traveling to Flint and Clawson, Michigan, with a similar message, and top Biden officials across the country are taking up the theme to illustrate the contrast in the election.
“It’s going to be a binary decision about who restricts your rights,” Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said in an interview Sunday. “This will only be a narrative of their extremism, but this is firmly entrenched because it is real. It’s not theoretical.”
Mr. Trump has said he is “proudly the person in charge” of Roe v. Wade – a line Democrats are keen to emphasize – and has indicated that if elected, he would allow states to prosecute women who violate abortion restrictions. He has also said he believes abortion policy should be left to the states, disappointing some on the right.
“Some states will be more conservative and others will be more liberal,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said in a statement, but Mr. Trump “supports the right of individuals to determine their own laws.”
“President Trump also strongly supports and always will ensure that women have access to the care they need to create healthy families, including widespread access to IVF, birth control and contraception,” she added .
In the 2022 midterm elections, a few months after Roe was overturned, and in a number of special elections since then, Democrats have successfully used abortion rights messages in critical elections. Campaigns, including Mr. Biden’s, are highlighting women’s personal experiences with Republican-backed abortion bans.
But in this election, Americans are also weighing a variety of other considerations, and polls show that on a number of key issues — but not abortion policy — voters say Mr. Trump would do a better job than Mr. Biden.
“Polls have consistently shown that Biden and the Democrats already have a lead on abortion, and yet Trump remains ahead in battleground states,” said Robert Blizzard, a Republican pollster. “They will certainly stand up for abortion, but unless Democrats find a way to destroy Trump’s legacy on the economy, they will continue to fight.”
Voters are also evaluating the personal characteristics of Mr. Biden, 81, the oldest American president in history, and Mr. Trump, 78, the first American president to be convicted of a crime.
Many of these issues are expected to come up in their debate on Thursday, the first of the general election campaign.
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2024-06-24 11:20:45
www.nytimes.com
