While the GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance continue their insults against childless “cat ladies,” delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) placed the defense of reproductive rights center stage. Throughout the intense political week, powerful testimonials and speeches discussed the road forward in codifying Roe v. Wade and ensuring women have the right to choose abortion.
After Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, the reproductive rights of women were under legal protection nationwide for nearly fifty years. In 2022, a right-wing, conservative-packed Supreme Court overturned that monumental decision under Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that his influence on the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was what many wanted because it returned the decision back to the states. Since that time, 14 states have adopted a total abortion ban, while eight have imposed restrictions on when abortions can be had.
We are already seeing the consequences of such barriers being placed on reproductive health. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that infant and newborn mortality rates in the United States rose in 2022 for the first time since 2001.
The Women’s Caucus met during the second day of the DNC. Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, spoke at the meeting and quickly took the Trump campaign to task for their pride in helping to overturn Roe v. Wade. “No one in this country wants government in their health care,” she stated.
Timmaraju gave a speech on the main arena stage on Wednesday evening, where she evoked the rallying cry, “When abortion is on the ballot, we win.” Since the overturning of Roe v Wade, there has been an increasing number of states that have put the right to abortion on the ballot, resulting in voters turning out to vote in favor of a woman’s right to choose. These states include California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, and Vermont.
Arizona recently joined the list when, on May 2, 2024, Governor Katie Hobbs signed House Bill 2677 into law, officially repealing the state’s 1864 abortion ban. A repeal that will take effect on September 14, 2024. When signing the bill, Hobbs noted that she did what “23 governors and 55 legislatures refused to do” and that “we should not rest, but we should recommit to protecting women’s bodily autonomy, their ability to make their own healthcare decisions, and the ability to control their lives.”
Timmaraju also mentioned Montana, which became one of several states where voters will get to decide in November whether they want to protect the right to an abortion in the constitution.
When speaking about the strength of voters who support reproductive freedoms, she stated, “We’re not the minority; we’re the majority.”
Timmaraju cited Trump’s connection to the infamous Project 2025—a right-wing playbook for the next Republican president of the United States. The nearly 1,000-page document has several proposals that would severely restrict the freedoms of women and those who seek reproductive healthcare.
It also advocates a federal ban on abortion across all 50 states, allows the government to track births and abortions in pregnant people across the country, and aims for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to become “fully obsolete and ethically unthinkable.”
Will decide America’s future
“Do we want a president who thinks women should be punished [for getting an abortion],” Timmaraju asked. “This election will decide America’s future,” she concluded.
Earlier in the convention week, several women went on the main arena stage to speak about their experiences with reproductive health. Texas couple Amanda and Josh Zurawski told the story of how Amanda was denied early care to terminate her pregnancy even though they were told with “one hundred percent certainty” that the fetus she was carrying had no chance of survival. The couple had to wait nearly three days until Amanda was deathly ill to be allowed to have any sort of emergency care. “I’m here tonight because the fight for reproductive rights isn’t just a woman’s fight,” Josh stated. “It’s about fighting for our families.”
“I was lucky. I lived,” Amanda added, “So I will continue to tell my story and stand with women across the country. Today, because of Donald Trump, one in three women in America lives under an abortion ban. A second Trump term would strip away even more of our rights. We need to vote as if lives depend on it—because they do.”
Kaitlyn Joshua of Louisiana told the story of how when she was pregnant with her second child and began to miscarry. Due to her state’s abortion ban, all of the doctors refused to confirm that she was miscarrying. “I was bleeding so much that my husband feared for my life,” Joshua remarked. “No woman should experience what I did, but too many have.”
Abortion rights advocate Hadley Duvall told the story of how she was sexually abused and raped by her stepfather, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. “At age 12, I took my first pregnancy test, and it was positive,” Duvall stated. “That was the first time I was told, ‘You have options.’ I can’t imagine not having a choice, but today, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country. Kamala Harris will sign a national law to restore the right to an abortion,” she said.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke after the testimonials, expressing that extremism when it comes to abortion bans needed to be challenged across the country. “Trump and Vance simply don’t believe in your freedom,” the governor stated. He claimed that Vance views rape that results in pregnancy as an “inconvenience,” referencing an interview the GOP Vice Presidential nominee gave in 2021 when asked about access to abortion in cases of rape and incest.
“All women should have the freedom to make their own decisions,” Beshear concluded.
Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson spoke on the main stage on day 3 of the convention and pointed out that over 50 percent of Black women live under an abortion ban in the U.S. “Trump wants women to be less free and pregnancy to be more dangerous,” Johnson said.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke on how Gov. Ron DeSantis has used his power to enforce “state-sanctioned hate,” and that his abortion ban and oppressive laws are “Project 2025 in practice.”
“We can’t let them [the Republicans] do to America what they did to Florida,” Schultz declared.
Democratic Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz noted in his main speech, after speaking about his and his wife’s experience with IVF that “when Republicans use the word freedom they mean freedom to invade your doctor’s office.”
Referring again to Project 2025, and his time as a high school football coach, Walz asserted, “When someone takes the time to work up a playbook, they’re gonna use it. It’s an agenda no one asked for. [Under a Harris presidency] the government will stay out of your bedroom.”
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