Julie Chávez Rodríguez
One week before Florida’s latest extreme abortion ban goes into effect, President Joe Biden delivered remarks in Tampa on the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom across the entire country.
When Florida’s ban takes effect, it will severely restrict reproductive health care access across the entire Southeastern United States, including neighboring battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina – two states with abortion bans on the books thanks to Donald Trump. Many women in the Southeast desperately in need of care will have to drive for a day or more to reach the closest clinic, further straining resources for providers that are already struggling to serve women coming from states with bans.
In recent weeks, Trump has doubled down on taking credit for these extreme state abortion bans, bragging that he “broke Roe,” saying he “was proudly the person responsible” for overturning it and it is “working the way it’s supposed to.”
According to Trump, “working the way it’s supposed to” means that 1 in 3 women are living under the dangerous abortion bans Trump brags about – the majority of which have no exceptions for rape or incest. The horrors women face every single day aren’t exclusive to any one state. Across the country, women are getting turned away from emergency rooms when they need lifesaving care. Victims of rape and incest, including children, are being forced to travel thousands of miles for care, outside of states where Trump’s abortion bans have already been instated.
Women and their families do not want Trump and MAGA Republicans continuing to dismantle their fundamental freedoms.
Trump and his allies have no intention at stopping their assault on reproductive rights. They have a comprehensive strategy to ban abortion in all 50 states if Trump retakes the White House – with or without the help of Congress.
These attacks on women’s freedoms put Trump far out of step with the American people.
In every election since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, voters have continued to reject Trump’s attacks on reproductive freedom, especially in competitive races and in our battleground states. With more bans being implemented as a result of Trump and more and more women being impacted every single day by these bans, abortion rights will continue to mobilize voters for President Biden and Democrats this November.
In Every Single Key Battleground, Reproductive Freedom Is a Top Issue
In Arizona, 66% of voters disapprove of the state’s 1864 ban, and this fall Arizonans will likely have the opportunity to cast their ballots to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. More than 1,000 new volunteers took action to help reelect President Biden and Democrats up and down the ticket in the week after the ruling, and the state’s abortion ballot initiative received so many messages from voters asking to help that their website crashed. Three months before the deadline, the initiative behind the ballot measure has already collected 500,000 signatures – 100,000 more than they need to get on the ballot.
In Georgia, residents have been forced to live under an extreme abortion ban, which is exacerbating the state’s devastating maternal health crisis. 62% of Georgians, including 86% of Black voters in the state, oppose the ban. As president, Trump made maternal health challenges significantly worse by constantly attacking health care access, and his statewide abortion ban in Georgia has made starting a family even more dangerous for Black women.
In Michigan, voters overwhelmingly turned out to protect abortion rights and elect Democrats up and down the ticket in 2022. With abortion on the ballot and winning 57% of the vote, the state saw record voter turnout and the highest youth turnout rate in the country – winning Democrats a trifecta in the governor’s office and the state legislature.
Nevada is one of the most pro-choice states in the country. In 1990, Nevadans voted to protect women’s reproductive rights in a referendum with more than 63% support. This year, organizers are working to officially codify abortion rights in the state’s constitution, and surpassed the signature threshold more than two months ahead of the deadline.
In New Hampshire, 69% of voters support women’s reproductive freedoms. But New Hampshire is also the only state in New England without proactive protections for abortion rights in state statutes or the state constitution, making reproductive freedom a critical issue in November.
In North Carolina, Trump’s allies in the state legislature overrode Governor Roy Cooper’s veto to enact a dangerous abortion ban in 2023 that has led to health care professionals leaving the state. Opposition to the state’s abortion ban is mobilizing Democrats across the state, including in critical Mecklenburg County – the home district of the former Democratic state representative who switched parties to help pass the state’s abortion ban.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats have won recent elections – including one in swing Bucks County – by overperforming in the key collar counties surrounding Philadelphia, where abortion rights are incredibly popular. In 2022, after Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats won the gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, all three swing U.S. House seats, and even eventually took control of the state House for the first time in more than a decade. A CBS Pennsylvania exit poll found that abortion was the top issue for voters in the state.
In Wisconsin, a draconian law from 1849, similar to Arizona’s, remains on the books with no exceptions for health, rape, or incest. Opposition to this law helped power Democrats’ overwhelming victory in last year’s state Supreme Court race, when Justice Janet Protasiewicz put reproductive rights front and center in her campaign and won with more than 55% of the vote. Just last week, another liberal justice on the state court announced her retirement, which means reproductive freedoms in the state are once again hanging in the balance, heightening the stakes of the 2024 presidential race for reproductive rights in Wisconsin.
And in Florida, reproductive freedom will be literally on the ballot this November as voters will have the chance to codify abortion rights in their state constitution. The vast majority of Floridians believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, yet they have been living under a dangerous abortion ban and an even more extreme abortion ban will take effect on May 1, ripping away reproductive health care access before many women even know they are pregnant.
Trump’s Abortion Bans Will Be Front and Center This November
Trump is hoping that Americans will somehow forget that he’s responsible for the horror women are facing in this country every single day because of him. It’s a bad bet.
Abortion rights will be on the ballot in every race this November. As they have in every election since Trump overturned Roe, voters will remind Trump and MAGA Republicans they do not want their rights taken away. And in every single key battleground, Trump’s abortion bans will be front and center this November.
Bottom line
When President Biden speaks out against attacks on reproductive freedom across the country and yet another extreme Trump abortion ban taking effect in Florida, it will resonate with voters across every battleground state. Women and their families do not want Trump and MAGA Republicans continuing to dismantle their fundamental freedoms. An overwhelming majority of voters have rejected Trump’s abortion bans every time they’ve been on the ballot, and this November, they’ll reject Trump too.
Julie Chávez Rodríguez is the Campaign Manager for Biden-Harris 2024.
