WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The way President Joe Biden sees it, was not just about whether a woman has a right to obtain an .
鈥淚t鈥檚 about freedom,鈥� Biden said at a private fundraiser in New York this past week.
Vice President Kamala Harris when she talks about abortion. "Extremist, so-called leaders trumpet the rhetoric of freedom while they take away freedoms,鈥� she told voters in Illinois this month.
That deliberate echo of 鈥渇reedom鈥� from Biden, Harris and other top White House officials shows how Democrats 鈥� eager to keep abortion front of mind heading into 鈥� at the highest ranks are increasingly co-opting traditionally conservative rhetoric in a blunt appeal to a broad swath of the electorate.
is a particularly potent one, especially when combined with repeated reminders about , which often do not include exceptions for rape or the mother鈥檚 health that are popular with voters. The freedom message also resonates, officials say, as is under threat in Republican-controlled states.
Now more than ever, Democrats are leaning into messaging strategy from pro-abortion rights groups, which have long advised candidates and elected officials to talk about reproductive rights as if they were part of the tea party 鈥� the conservative movement that made its mark in 2010 campaigning against government overreach. It鈥檚 a playbook that succeeded in August, when that would have allowed for further restrictions on abortion successfully hammered home an anti-government-mandate message to voters and on the airwaves.
Organizations supportive of abortion rights say research shows that framing the issue as a matter of freedom is by far the most effective message for voters across all political persuasions. For instance, when participants in focus groups convened by NARAL Pro-Choice America were shown articles about abortion restrictions, they would often become angry, insisting that the freedom to make personal decisions without political interference was a core American value.
The message, strategists say, can work even on GOP voters. , 32% of Republicans said after the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization in June that they believe Congress should guarantee the right to a legal abortion.
鈥淔undamentally, particularly now post-Dobbs, in a post-Roe America, getting back to the fundamental freedom guaranteed by the constitutional right ... is a really powerful way to talk about this issue,鈥� Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in an interview.
Since to nullify the constitutional right to an abortion, GOP candidates in battleground districts and states while Democrats nationwide have made it a central part of their bid to retain control of Congress. Republicans still say the November elections will be fought on a political terrain focused on the economy and Biden鈥檚 standing with the public, although Democrats believe their voters, fueled by anger over abortion, are far more motivated to cast a ballot this fall.
鈥淒emocrats are pushing an on-demand, taxpayer-funded abortion agenda that a majority of voters disagree with, all while ignoring the skyrocketing prices, crime surge, and border crisis they created,鈥� said Danielle Alvarez, communications director for the Republican National Committee. 鈥淰oters will vote for freedom this November 鈥� freedom from failed Democrat one-party rule.鈥�
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who recently proposed a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, has repeatedly argued that his plan is good politics for Republicans and that his party should tell the public that Democrats support few, if any, restrictions on access to the procedure.
鈥淟et鈥檚 talk about this in terms of human rights and personal freedom,鈥� he told the AP. 鈥淭he Democratic Party is on the track of supporting an abortion policy of North Korea and China. They鈥檙e not exactly in the column of personal freedom.鈥�
Mallory Carroll, vice president of communications for SBA Pro-Life America, said: 鈥淎bortion is the opposite of freedom. It is an egregious human rights violation that harms two people -鈥� the baby who is killed and the mother.鈥�
Still, mentions of abortion and the fate of reproductive rights have become a staple of Biden鈥檚 political speeches as he steps up his election-year campaigning. A Catholic once viewed by advocates as an , Biden even referenced his faith this past week as he depicted some Republican-crafted restrictions as extreme.
Abortion was a fixture during Biden鈥檚 two fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee in New York, as well as at a rally Friday at the National Education Association headquarters in Washington, where he emphasized that the elections offered voters choices on an array of issues from abortion and guns to democracy. Biden鈥檚 political schedule continues Tuesday in Florida, a state that has become more reliably Republican in recent years.
Biden also emphasized the freedom message at a reception in Detroit this month as he talked up Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who has centered her reelection message on abortion rights.
鈥淩epublicans want a national ban on abortion," Biden said. 鈥淕retchen supports the ballot initiative to put the right to reproductive freedom in your state constitution.鈥� will decide whether to enshrine access to abortion in the state's constitution.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly invokes the word as she decries abortion restrictions across the nation, including Idaho, Texas, Tennessee and Indiana. And at a gathering of Democratic attorneys general in Milwaukee, Harris on Thursday stressed that a woman and those around her should be the ones making a decision about an abortion.
鈥淭he government should not be making that decision for her,鈥� Harris said.
Though the party's candidates from New Hampshire to Florida to Nevada have carried the freedom message in their campaigns this fall, Democrats in some prominent races have taken that anti-government theme to a new level.
An ad released last week from Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., who is in one of the most contested House races, emphatically stated that 鈥渉ere in New Hampshire, we keep the government out of our homes and out of our doctors鈥� offices鈥� as it warned about the anti-abortion views of his Republican challenger, Karoline Leavitt.
鈥淚f Karoline Leavitt gets her way, it won鈥檛 be a woman鈥檚 choice. It will be the government鈥檚 choice,鈥� the ad said in its closing. In response, Leavitt said Democrats were 鈥渆xtremists who believe in taxpayer-funded abortions until the moment of birth鈥� and that state legislatures were responsible for abortion policies, not Washington.
In a campaign stop in Concord, New Hampshire, last week, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., warned that the Supreme Court has 鈥渢aken freedom away from half the population, freedom most women have known their entire lives.鈥� If her opponent, Republican Don Bolduc, were elected, those freedoms would continue to be reversed, she argued.
A spokeswoman for Bolduc鈥檚 campaign accused Hassan of wanting to distract from issues such as home heating bills and the economy. But Hassan, in a brief interview with the AP, insisted that she could do both.
鈥淢y constituents have to deal with inflation and a threat to their reproductive freedom all at once,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey expect us to be able to do the same thing.鈥�
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Seung Min Kim, The Associated Press
