In their first convention since the end of federal abortion protections, Democrats have woven reproductive health care access into every night of programming, highlighting an issue they hope will boost turnout for candidates in November.
“We’ve never had a convention like this, where it’s been reproductive freedom every single night,” Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All and one of Wednesday’s speakers, told CNN.
Abortion access has been a key focus of past Democratic conventions, particularly in 2016, when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and abortion rights advocates warned that Donald Trump would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Those warnings have come to fruition. Nearly two dozen states have enacted abortion limits since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe. But the aftermath of that ruling has led to a wave of political activity that has boosted Democrats, who had a better-than-expected showing in the midterm elections. This year, Democrats hope that enduring anger over bans, as well as abortion rights ballot initiatives in a handful of key battleground states, will help 2024 candidates.
Even before she became the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris made abortion rights a key part of her portfolio. In March, she became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic when she toured a Minnesota Planned Parenthood with her future running mate, Gov. Tim Walz.
Now, abortion rights groups have expanded their messaging to focus on the stories of women – as well as their families and health care providers – who have been harmed by post-Roe bans. They have also put a spotlight on access to other forms of reproductive health care, such as contraceptives and access to in vitro fertilization.
They are also arguing that the movement’s electoral wins are sustainable.
Timmaraju said she plans to use her remarks to contrast Trump’s record with the agenda laid out by Harris and Walz and note the success of past ballot initiatives. She is one of several abortion rights advocates – along with Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson – who will address the third night of the DNC: “A Fight for Our Freedoms.”
The storyteller convention
But while Wednesday will feature major abortions rights organizations, Monday night focused on what the movement calls “storytellers,” advocates who share their personal experiences.
Against a black backdrop, Amanda Zurawski, standing with her husband, described her experience being denied an abortion in Texas after her water broke at 18 weeks. Zurawski later developed sepsis. Kaitlyn Joshua described being denied miscarriage care in Louisiana.
And Hadley Duvall, who appeared in an ad for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection campaign last year, described her experience years ago of becoming pregnant at age 12 after being raped by her stepfather and having the option to have an abortion. Kentucky’s abortion ban does not include exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
“I can’t imagine not having a choice, but today that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans,” said Duvall, who is now in her early 20s.
She also referenced Trump’s past comment praising states’ ability to legislate their own abortion laws, which he said during a June Fox News interview was “in many ways, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
“He calls it ‘a beautiful thing.’ What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?” Duvall said.
Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, said this convention provides an opportunity to talk about abortion through the lens of the real experiences of patients, their families and their medical providers.
“There are stories everywhere,” Richards, who is also the co-founder of Charley, a chatbot that helps people seek abortions, told CNN. “I expect, and I hope, what the convention can do is put a name and a face to real people whose lives have been affected.”
Texas Democrats spotlighted abortion rights advocates during Tuesday night’s roll call. In addition to Richards, the state’s delegate tally was announced by Kate Cox, a Texas woman who sued for the right to get an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a rare and fatal genetic condition.
Cox, who eventually left the state to get an abortion, told the court that carrying the pregnancy to term would endanger her life and chances of getting pregnant again.
“There’s nothing pro-family about abortion bans,” Cox, who is now pregnant again, said during Tuesday’s roll call.
Cox said she hoped to hear from other reproductive rights storytellers at the convention, as well as to continue telling her own story.
“You think it’ll never happen to you until it does,” Cox told CNN.
Abortion rights groups have also descended on Chicago. Free & Just, which is advocating for federal abortion protections, ended its monthlong “Ride to Decide” bus tour in the city this week.
The tour, which launched in Wisconsin last month during the Republican National Convention, has aimed to highlight the stories of people affected by abortion restrictions – including DNC speakers like Joshua, Zurawski and Cox.
“It’s a new form of storytelling, because the consequences of Roe falling has meant that women’s health care is in crisis,” said Veronica Ingham, Free & Just’s campaign manager.
A focus on IVF
Democrats aren’t just focused on abortion access. The party has also made IVF a campaign issue after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that embryos created through the treatment should be considered children in wrongful-death lawsuits, leading providers in the state to stop treatment.
Republicans have sought to affirm their support for the treatment. Alabama’s GOP-led Legislature swiftly moved to protect clinics from liability after the court ruling and US Senate Republicans introduced legislation to prohibit states from banning the procedure.
But Senate Republicans also blocked a Democratic bill that would have created a federal right to IVF treatment and made it more affordable. Democrats have also targeted congressional Republicans over their support for legislation declaring life begins at conception, which reproductive rights advocates say could also threaten access to IVF.
In Michelle Obama’s prime-time address Tuesday, the former first lady briefly mentioned that she conceived her children through in vitro fertilization while arguing that Republicans want to take away people’s rights.
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the first US senator to give birth while in office, said in her convention remarks that she struggled with infertility for 10 years and was able to conceive her daughters only through IVF.
“If they win, Republicans will not stop at banning abortion,” Duckworth said Tuesday. “They will come for IVF next.”
