Democrats Shouldn't Isolate Abortion Access

Harris and other Democrats have been trying to dodge criticism on the campaign trail surrounding the genocide while going all-in on abortion rights. The late afternoon march was an opportunity for pro-Palestine and reproductive justice activists to publicly reject the premise that Harris cannot win while simultaneously embracing these and other struggles.

These struggles are critically and inextricably linked.

“For over 75 years, Israel has intentionally targeted Palestinian reproduction as a strategy to disappear, displace and erase the existence of Palestinian people,” noted Nadine Naber, a gender and women’s studies professor at the University of Illinois. ​“This is why it is no surprise that, with the U.S.-backed escalation of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, Israel has directly attacked birthing — leading to exponential miscarriage rates — bombing maternity centers leading to no pre- or post-natal care, C-sections with no anesthesia and worse.”

This year marks the first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and many Democrats have long believed they might be able to carry 2024 by centering abortion rights by itself. Harris is now highlighting her longtime support for reproductive rights as both a women’s rights and public health issue. 

Her embrace of reproductive rights is welcome, but it is not enough, which is why so many of the activists at the march (which I helped organize) told In These Times they were eager to show up.

“I see the abortion bans that are happening now as inseparable from other restrictions on healthcare,” said Warren Wagner, a teacher’s assistant with Chicago Public Schools who was at the march. ​“Privatizing healthcare. Restrictions on freedom of movement. The fact that we have people being forced to travel across state lines and being criminalized for seeking healthcare is parallel to the way that Palestinians are denied healthcare, forced to go through checkpoints and see their hospitals destroyed in the Gaza genocide.”

Wagner added that the issues are ​“inseparable from the way that queer and trans people are policed in public space and denied healthcare.”

Social worker Lisa Power, who traveled from Colorado for the convention, said the fundamental issue is ​“all about liberation of our bodies.”

“We can’t speak up for reproductive rights here knowing that, in Gaza, newborns are being starved to death and abandoned in incubators,” Power added. ​“We need to align our values. We can’t just say it’s good for us here. I’m a registered Democrat and I can’t believe that this administration is sponsoring this genocide. We need an arms embargo, a permanent ceasefire, and to end this apartheid state. We’re America, we’re supposed to respect democracy.”

Naber added a plea for Democrats, saying, ​“I only wish Democratic leaders would stop hiding behind the shadow of liberal rhetoric like ​‘women’s and LGBTQ rights’ while leading, funding and organizing the full and absolute violation of motherhood, killing children en masse, devastating a population for generations to come, and vetoing every UN proposal for ceasefire.”

Many of the polls indicate this strategy — of embracing the calls for meaningful and permanent ceasefire while also supporting queer rights and reproductive justice — could be a winning one, and support for a ceasefire in Gaza and withholding weapons to Israel is an increasingly popular position among likely Democratic voters. A new YouGov/​IMEU Policy Project poll, for example, found more than a third of voters in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia are more likely to vote for a Democratic nominee who pledges to withhold weapons to Israel.

The results were even more stark when considering undecided voters who voted for Biden in 2020. In Pennsylvania, 57% of such voters said they’d be more likely to support a Democratic nominee who pledged to withhold additional weapons to Israel.

“This polling clearly shows that, if the Democrats want Vice President Harris to be the strongest nominee possible going into November, then they should be demanding that President Biden stop the flow of weapons to Israel and secure a permanent ceasefire immediately,” IMEU Policy Project Executive Director Margaret DeReus said in a statement. ​“Not only are these policies popular, but they actually move voters from the ​‘undecided’ or ​‘not voting’ column and into the Democrats’ column in the states Democrats will need to win.”

Roughly a quarter of respondents in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia said the violence in Gaza — and candidates’ positions on it — is important to them and will likely sway how they vote.

In another poll, from Data for Progress in May, seven in 10 likely voters — including 83% of Democrats — signaled their support for the United States to call for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza, a 9-point increase from a November 2023 poll. A Gallup poll from March also showed 55% of Americans disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza. 

A majority of voters, including 70% of Democrats and 56% of Independents, say they support Congress passing approximately $9 billion of humanitarian assistance in conflict zones such as Ukraine and Gaza. And a majority of voters, including 68% of Democrats and 55% of Independents, also say they support suspending all U.S. arms sales to Israel for as long as Israel blocks such large amounts of U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Popular support for abortion is also at an all-time high and one in 8 voters say abortion is the most important issue for their vote in November. According to a KFF poll from February, two-thirds of respondents support guaranteeing a federal right to an abortion, including three-quarters of women under 50. In a March Axios/​Ipsos poll, eight in 10 people — including two-thirds of Republicans — agreed the government shouldn’t be involved in how a woman manages abortion issues.

Every time that abortion protections have been on state ballots since Roe fell, they have won — including in red states like Kansas and Ohio. It’s clearly one of the reasons Democrats are doubling down on reproductive rights in the presidential election. Eight related state constitutional amendment measures are presently on the ballot in November, and that number could increase to 11. 

Democrats are likely hoping these measures will turn out voters who prioritize reproductive rights and are most likely to vote blue, or that it may be a way to sway uncommitted or undecided voters. But it’s not a surefire strategy: Republican women or disaffected voters may act in favor of amendments that protect abortion rights at the ballot box in their state without supporting Harris. To win meaningful support and inspire voters, Democrats need to take a strong stand on abortion as a fundamental right that everyone should have access to, coupled with popular economic policies that give everyone the freedom to have children and support their families.

But Democrats also need to put forth a more progressive vision for how we can move forward.

Democrats have spent decades reacting defensively to right-wing attacks on abortion, and many reproductive justice supporters are fed up with political leaders who pay lip service to the issue but can’t follow through on meaningful action. While the momentum to expand access to abortion care is at a high point, Democrats should meet the moment by going on the offensive. The party should support the unapologetic legislation that reproductive justice groups and progressive legislators have proposed to fully fund reproductive healthcare, as well as remove barriers to care for immigrant patients, low-income patients and for abortions later in pregnancy.

But the support simply cannot stop there.

Democratic leaders need to not only take action on reproductive rights but should leverage the collective passion around the issue to bring other issues onto the platform. As Sam Paisley, the interim communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, explained: ​“States with Democratic majorities have moved quickly to protect LGBTQ+ freedoms and enshrine abortion rights into law, while state Republicans have pushed extreme legislation aimed at vilifying LGBTQ+ people, manufacturing unpopular culture wars, and slashing reproductive rights.”

If Democrats can understand the underlying importance of autonomy and self-determination that connect the demands for a free Palestine, reproductive justice and queer rights, and champion a bold agenda to address them, they have the chance to appeal to a wide swath of voters who care about these broadly popular issues — and they will be more likely to knock doors for Harris if they feel she also cares about them. 

Disclosure: The views expressed in this article are held by the author. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, In These Times does not support or oppose any candidate for public office.

Steel Brooks contributed to this report.