President Biden and Democrats have used the anniversary of the Dobbs decision to target former President Trump’s role in restricting abortion access and attack him on the issue.
“Today, our daughters know less about their rights than their grandmothers. This is a health crisis, and we all know who to blame: Donald Trump,” Vice President Harris said Monday at a campaign event in Maryland.
She roundly criticized President Trump, saying he “intended” for the three Supreme Court justices he appointed to overturn Roe and that it was “premeditated.”
Meanwhile, Biden declared in a campaign video that his predecessor’s “four years in the White House” destroyed decades of progress.
Democrats’ attempts to use abortion rights to their advantage are not surprising or a new election tactic: Democrats credit their last election victory to the Supreme Court’s galvanizing of the Democratic Party on the abortion rights issue.
Trump has also stepped up his efforts to claim credit for the Supreme Court’s actions, and Biden’s campaign has indicated it intends to make the issue an issue in the first presidential debate between the two candidates this week.
Trump said Saturday that it was a “great thing” to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, a half-century-old ruling. But the former president has sought to convey a balanced message on abortion, a sign of the political dangers of the issue for his own campaign.
Trump has said he opposes a nationwide abortion ban, and after the Supreme Court upheld the abortion drug mifepristone earlier this month, his campaign said “the issue is settled.”
At the same time, Trump won the confirmation of the three justices who voted to overturn Roe. Since their decision, many states have denied the right to an abortion, making it much harder for women to obtain an abortion in large parts of the country.
Democrats, including Biden and Harris, have warned that Trump and Republicans could go further during the new term by targeting contraception, IVF and medication abortion, as well as pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is responsible for every anti-abortion law and policy that has deprived women across this country of essential reproductive health care,” Rosemary Voeglin, communications director for the Democratic National Committee, said Monday.
Democrats see the strategy of blaming President Trump for state-level bans as a clever way to communicate with voters on the issue.
“Trump will go down in history as the only president to turn back the clock and take away our freedoms – and he brags about it at every opportunity. It is essential that the American people connect Trump to this legacy and understand that putting him back in the White House means putting other rights at risk,” said Alexandra LaManna, a former Biden administration spokeswoman for reproductive rights.
Polls show Democrats have the advantage on abortion rights: Six in 10 Americans said last month they believe abortion should be legal in most cases.Pew Research CenterResearch. Furthermore,Fox News PollA March poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal.
Biden is lagging behind Trump in battleground states and national polls, but Democrats believe they can energize their supporters with their message on abortion.
Still, polls suggest Democrats still have work to do.
The New York Times/Siena CollegeLast month’s poll The survey found that one in five voters in battleground states believe Biden, not Trump, is to blame for Roe’s demise.
Although President Trump appointed the judges who will decide the case, the change was made in 2022 while Biden was in the Oval Office.
To be sure, Biden and Harris have made every effort to convey that Trump is responsible.
“Let’s be clear: There is one person responsible for this nightmare, and he owns it and brags about it: Donald Trump,” Biden said in April in remarks condemning Florida’s six-week abortion ban.
Speaking at the Emily’s List National Gala in May, Harris said Trump “selected three Supreme Court justices with the intention of overturning Roe, and they have done just that.”
Democratic strategists say the abortion messaging is the right strategy as Biden struggles to win over voters on other issues, such as inflation and the economy.
“It’s right to hold Trump accountable for an outcome that two-thirds of voters rejected,” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist and donor.
