Democrats blitzed target states on Tuesday with a campaign to rally voters on reproductive rights ahead of the November election, stressing moves by Donald Trump and Republicans to restrict abortion access.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries led a “field hearing” in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a day after the state Supreme Court ruled that a six-week abortion ban will go into force next month.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s election campaign released an advertisement reminding voters of Trump’s role in removing the federal right to abortion.
Conservatives have been attempting to impose significant restrictions on reproductive health care nationally since the US Supreme Court, aided by three Trump nominees, decimated abortion access in 2022.
Republicans declared victory in the verdict, which reversed the 40-year-old “Roe v. Wade” precedent, and soon imposed tight prohibitions or limitations in the majority of states they control.
However, a large majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in most situations, according to comprehensive polling, and approximately half of states have laws in place to guarantee access.
Jeffries was joined in the southeastern city of Fort Lauderdale by health secretary Xavier Becerra, members of Congress, and Florida women who had trouble accessing abortion services.
“Florida is now ground zero in the fight to protect a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions,” Jeffries said in a statement.
“And as House Democrats, we are here to make clear we stand with you to protect reproductive freedom.”
While the Florida verdict places the state among the most restrictive, the state’s high court also ruled that an amendment to codify abortion rights in Florida’s constitution can be included on the November ballot.
According to early polls, the amendment has the 60 percent support required to succeed and would allow abortions until “viability,” or approximately 24 weeks.
Democrats aim ‘winnable’ Florida
Since Roe, abortion rights campaigners have won seven consecutive referendum victories.
Meanwhile, Republicans have struggled to establish a clear position on the subject, and they were punished in the 2022 midterm elections, losing crucial battlegrounds to pro-choice Democrats.
Trump blasted Florida’s prohibition while running for the Republican presidential nomination against the state’s popular governor, Ron DeSantis, who signed it into law.
As a Florida citizen, the 77-year-old former president is entitled to vote on the ballot measure, but he has yet to say whether he will support it.
Democrats are emphasizing women’s body autonomy again in 2024, portraying Trump as the architect of attacks on reproductive rights in a long-shot quest to make Florida competitive in the state’s Senate contest.
In a letter, the Biden team suggested that Florida is “winnable” if abortion remains “front and centre” in the race.
In a new 30-second video released Tuesday, the campaign shows Trump talking about repealing Roe v. Wade, as part of a $30 million attempt to target voters in swing states.
“Because they tried for 54 years to get Roe v. Wade overturned — and I did it. And I’m proud to have accomplished it,” Trump is shown saying.
Vice President Kamala Harris said that millions of women in Florida and elsewhere would face the “cruel reality” of traveling hundreds or thousands of miles for abortions, while doctors would be prosecuted “for doing their jobs.”
“For Donald Trump, it is not enough that more than one in every three women of reproductive age in America lives in a state with a ban,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement.
“It isn’t enough that millions of American women have fewer rights than their moms and grandmothers. However, if Donald Trump has his way, he will eliminate abortion care in every state across the country, and he has the plans to do so.”