Democrats make abortion rights their election-year battle cry while honoring Roe anniversary

Monday marked the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decision that was overturned by the conservative-majority court in 2022. As a record number of Americans continue to support reproductive rights, Democrats are working to make it clear that abortion is on the ballot in the 2024 presidential election.

As such, party leaders spent Monday campaigning across the country on the grounds of protecting a pregnant person’s right to choose.

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“It’s over for white Christian male hegemony in the United States.”

Vice President Kamala Harris launched her cross-country Reproductive Freedoms Tour in Wisconsin, declaring that Donald Trump is responsible for “the highest court in our land” taking “a constitutional right from the people of America.”

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“The former president hand-picked three Supreme Court justices because he intended for them to overturn Roe. He intended for them to take your freedoms. And it is a decision he brags about.” She blasted Trump for being proud “that women across our nation are suffering” and “have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers.” But she also emphasized the importance of who is in power, explaining, “What the United States Supreme Court took, Congress can put back in place.”

President Joe Biden also posted a video to social media of Vice President Harris discussing that winning back Congress and winning the presidency means Biden will sign reproductive rights into law.

Harris “is right,” Biden wrote on X. “Reproductive freedom is on the ballot this year, and have to continue showing up to protect it.”

Biden also posted a screenshot of Trump proclaiming, “I was able to kill Roe. v. Wade” and that “Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing.”

“In his own words: Donald Trump is responsible for ending Roe v. Wade,” Biden noted. “And if you vote for him, he’ll go even further.”

Also on Monday, Biden unveiled a series of new actions from the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, including strengthening access to affordable contraception, educating patients and healthcare providers on rights and obligations related to emergency medical care, and protecting access to safe and legal medication abortion.

In a separate statement, Biden blamed Republicans for risking the health and lives of women: “Tens of millions of women now live in states with extreme and dangerous abortion bans… In states across the country, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, forced to go to court to seek permission for the medical attention they need, and made to travel hundreds of miles for health care.”

He blasted the GOP for continuing to advocate for a national ban even as voters have “resoundingly rejected” anti-abortion laws.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also released a statement to mark the anniversary, saying that reproductive freedom “has been stripped away by a runaway, radical, right-wing Supreme Court majority as part of the Extreme MAGA Republican agenda to criminalize abortion, outlaw contraception and force government-mandated pregnancies.”

“House Democrats will continue to stand on the side of freedom because we believe every American deserves to make their own choices about their future,” he continued. “We will not allow House Republicans to turn back the clock on progress as they march toward a nationwide ban on abortion.”