Abortion Dominates the DNC Agenda

• Free abortion services and vasectomies will be provided to DNC attendees, courtesy of Planned Parenthood

• The Democrat Party has refused to support any limits on abortion

• The narrative has grown more extreme over time, from “safe, legal, and rare” to open celebration

The story

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off this week in Chicago, the party is emphasizing several key themes to shape its brand for 2024.

Besides embracing “joy,” the Democratic Party is heavily capitalizing on abortion as a key policy issue. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats managed a series of ballot victories, as Americans tend to align more with pro-abortion stances. Perceiving Republicans’ weakness on the issue, Democrats are spotlighting it, and it’s leading them to exotic places.

Planned Parenthood is deploying a bus to the convention which will provide medical abortions, just blocks from the event. It is also offering free vasectomies to anyone who makes an appointment, and demand is so high that there's already a waiting list.

An 18-foot-tall inflatable intrauterine device (IUD) called “Freeda Womb” was erected near the DNC grounds. On Sunday, protesters marched in the streets dressed as abortion pills, like mifepristone — the abortion drug. Mifepristone made headlines after the Supreme Court rejected Texas's plan to withdraw the pill from the market, and now activists are working fervently to ensure its widespread availability across the US.

Protesters were also heard chanting, "F**k the courts, f**k the state, you can't make us procreate,” along with the somewhat more puzzling, “Palestinian liberation is reproductive justice.”

The Democrat Party’s newest platform hits Republicans hard on their efforts to “impose extreme and dangerous” policies on abortion and on access to contraception. Under the “choice” banner, Democrats intend to become the party of freedom and normality.

Events surrounding the convention — from buses providing free sterilization, to abortion pill costumes — underscore how this rebranding will result in an increasingly aggressive stance on abortion.

The politics

In regard to the bus providing free abortions and vasectomies, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) remarked, “It’s hard to even comprehend, and it’s truly heartbreaking.” Kristan Hawkins, head of pro-life Students for Life of America, said that this exposes the Democrats as “the party of death.”

While many Republicans lament the radical promotion of abortion, Republican Party leader Donald Trump already decided to take his party in a more moderate direction on the issue. After appointing the Supreme Court justices who returned abortion policy decisions to the states, Trump appears confident in claiming that victory and focusing on less controversial issues.

Many on the left not only celebrate the Democrat Party’s stance on abortion; they want the issue pushed much further.

Dr. Erin King, chief medical officer at Hope Clinic abortion center in Illinois, said she is proud her state is a “safe haven” and a “beacon” for providing abortion services while surrounding states like Missouri imposed restrictions. These restrictions are why Planned Parenthood claims to be sending a mobile abortion center to Chicago.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who co-chairs the House Pro-Choice Caucus, called for the Democrat Party to further pursue abortion rights. Lee said Democrats have “a long way to go, but it’s a seminal moment, it’s a defining moment, and it’s part of the trajectory.” Meanwhile, many Democrat leaders — including Kamala Harris — have refused to call for any limits on abortion.

A seismic shift in the narrative

Americans’ support for legalized abortion has remained relatively stable over the past few decades, with around 60 percent supporting it in most cases. Some polls find over 70 percent support.

While the abortion fight has been dispersed to the state level, Democrats are pushing hard to codify protections at the federal level. They seem reluctant to outline any restrictions at all — likely to avoid conceding to Republicans that abortion could be morally questionable.

In 1992, former President Bill Clinton famously said that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Hillary Clinton echoed the slogan again during her 2008 presidential campaign. But during her run in 2016, she said abortion should be “safe and legal.” What changed?

“Abortion rights activist” Renee Bracey Sherman admitted to Vox in 2019 that adding the word “rare” implies that abortion is something that one “should be apologetic for.”

“It places the blame on the person who’s had an abortion,” continued Sherman, “as if they just did something wrong to need one.” Sherman clarifies here that acknowledging abortion as wrong in any circumstance cedes ground to the argument that it does destroy innocent human life.

Abandonment of the "safe, legal, and rare" approach, combined with intense political polarization that demands strong opposition to any conservative stance, led to a new standard on the left where women are encouraged to take pride in their abortions.

The website Shout Your Abortion includes thousands of women’s stories about how thankful they are for having had an abortion. One striking story on Planned Parenthood’s website details how one woman felt an “indescribable love” for the “little being” growing inside her, and then killed her child as an “act of love.”

The narrative around abortion has changed — drastically. The Democrat Party shifted to celebrating abortion so openly that a third-party provider offers free abortions to DNC attendees, and a giant contraceptive device will be prominently displayed in the convention hall to emphasize the party's disdain for human reproduction.

Why it matters

Democrat Party abortion rhetoric has grown increasingly extreme over time, but much of it is overlooked due to Americans’ broad support of the procedure. And although Democrats feel emboldened on the issue, it is far from settled. One poll indicates that two-thirds of Americans support abortion restrictions after three months of pregnancy.

While the question of abortion is not as settled in the US as in Canada, Democrats have successfully used outlier abortion stories in the aftermath of Roe to argue why it is a necessary service.