Biden campaign focused on keeping reproductive rights top of mind for voters

An abortion-rights demonstrator holds a sign that says "Keep Abortion Legal" during a rally, May 14, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Ben Margot, Associated Press file
FILE – An abortion-rights demonstrator holds a sign during a rally, May 14, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

President Biden’s reelection campaign released a memo Friday outlining how it will highlight the impact former President Trump had on abortion access and what’s at stake for reproductive rights in 2024.

In a memo, “November 2024 Will Determine the Fate of Women’s Reproductive Rights,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez outlined the difference between Biden and Vice President Harris and Trump on abortion access to mark the upcoming 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

“When Americans go to the polls on Election Day this November, they will go knowing that the fate of every American woman’s freedom to make her own health care decisions is on the line. They will also know that the horrific alternative — the chaos, confusion, and uncertainty women whose rights have been ripped away are experiencing right now — falls squarely at the feet of Donald J. Trump,” Rodriguez said in the memo.

She noted that 1 in 3 women of reproductive age are living under abortion bans in the U.S. and that the majority of state bans have no exceptions for rape or incest. Additionally, she noted that doctors can now be faced with felony charges for providing care and could face life in prison in some states, all while women are being turned away from emergency rooms.

Rodriguez argued that Trump is “determined to ban and criminalize abortion nationally,” a ban that if it passed Congress, Biden has vowed to veto.

“Faced with this choice, voters have shown again and again whose side they are on. November 2024 will be no different,” she said.

Rodriguez argued that reproductive rights are translating to electoral success for Democrats, pointing to states like Kansas and Michigan where voters favored protecting reproductive rights on the state level.

And, she cited polling showing that 61 percent of U.S. adults support abortion rights, according to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll from April, and 80 percent of voters, including 65 percent of Republicans, oppose a national abortion ban, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll from June. That poll also showed that 3 in 4 Americans think abortion will be an important issue for them in 2024.

Tags 2024 presidential election abortion access Donald Trump Joe Biden Julie Chavez Rodriguez reproductive rights

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