Washington [US], September 2: Abortion rights helped Democrats stave off a hefty defeat at midterm elections last year and the party aims to put the issue at the center of the 2024 fight for the White House.
As Republican candidates propose new measures to restrict abortions and Republican-led states roll out tighter controls, President Joe Biden's re-election campaign last week released a new ad titled "These Guys", part of a $25 million campaign focused on women in key battleground states.
The ad shows former President Donald Trump taking credit for ending Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that recognized a constitutional right to abortion, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing a six-week abortion ban in his state.
Reproductive health care decisions are personal, and "the last people who should be involved are these guys," the ad says.
It is part of a larger push by women's, reproductive rights and Democratic groups to put abortion rights at the heart of the 2024 campaign and attack anti-abortion measures on local ballots around the country.
Biden campaign officials, the Democratic National Committee and rights groups told Reuters that abortion rights stopped an expected "red wave" Republican takeover of the Senate in 2022, and they believe it will draw more Democrats and some independent and Republican voters to Biden in 2024.
Taking a page from Republican ad campaigns of the past, they are stressing Americans' desire to keep the government out of their personal lives.
Midterm exit polls showed that a bump in young voters, and especially women, helped Democrats, and women voters swinging from Trump helped deliver the White House to Biden in 2020.
Abortion bans appeal to Republicans' Christian evangelical base, and overturning Roe v. Wade has been a galvanizing issue for the right for decades.
But they are unpopular with the general public, and Democrats aim to leverage that.
No Dem Left Behind, a political action committee, started training activists this week to reach across the aisle on abortion rights.
"It's about freedom. We were founded as a country on that principle," said Hassan Martini, who founded the PAC in 2019. "Nearly 40% of rural Republicans identify as pro-choice. Who is talking to them? We are," he said.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation
