The Week in Abortion

7.22.24 - 7.26.24

Abortion 2024

The biggest abortion news of the week, obviously, was the very likely nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris. We went from a candidate who can barely say the word ‘abortion’ without defensiveness or caveats to one who’s been working on the issue for years and has spent the last few months traveling the country to discuss it.

That’s why abortion rights activists and organizations have been so enthused this week—they know Harris isn’t just paying lip service, but actually understands abortion rights. It’s not a coincidence, for example, that the vice president’s most frequent refrain during her Fight for Reproductive Freedoms speaking tour is “trust women.”

Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, told NBC News this week, “She talks about abortion rights, and she talks about it unapologetically.”

Harris/Abortion 2024

What remains to be seen is whether Harris will move away from President Joe Biden’s call to ‘restore Roe’—which abortion rights activists (myself included) criticize as being too timid. Remember, Roe didn’t offer the protection that women really need.

The conservative response to Harris has toggled between fury and fear (mostly fear). GOP leaders know that abortion has already been losing them elections, and that the vice president is a hell of a lot stronger on it than Biden.

Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations at Reproductive Freedom for All, says, “They know this issue is politically toxic for them.” Maybe that’s why Donald Trump is floating the idea of skipping the debate.

Anti-abortion lawmakers think the answer is to paint Harris as a life-long extremist, calling her the “Abortion Czar” and claiming she pushes “unlimited abortion.” Trump followed suit this week, accusing the vice president of being a “radical crazy person” who supports “the execution of a baby.”

My advice to the Harris campaign this week was to have her go on offense—highlighting real people’s stories and making clear to Americans exactly who Trump is talking about when he lies about ‘post-birth’ abortion.

Nobody Likes JD

I’m not going to lie, watching JD Vance get absolutely pummeled in the media has been a true delight and a high point of the week. From rumors about sofas (aka sectional harassment) to the New York Times exposé of Vance’s hypocrisy, coverage of the vice presidential candidate has been downright brutal. Deservedly so. This is a guy who wants to adopt federal anti-abortion legislation so women can’t even travel out-of-state for care.

What’s been really interesting to watch is how Republicans are starting to turn on Vance, calling him “the worst choice.” I’m beginning to wonder if Trump drops him from the ticket, using his quotes from that Times piece as an excuse.