
With the dust settling after the 2024 election, many reproductive rights advocates are left feeling uneasy as we stare down another four years under Trump. Yet while we didn’t get the election results we wanted at the top of the ticket, abortion rights still proved to be a winning issue across the nation.
Seven out of ten states with abortion measures on the ballot passed in favor of protecting reproductive rights. Florida’s ballot measure failed with 57% of the vote – falling short only due to the state’s threshold of a 60% majority to pass. Yet in many of these states, these votes didn’t translate to a vote for Kamala Harris. In Missouri, 52% voted to protect abortion while 58% voted for Donald Trump.
So where is the disconnect? Since the overturning of Roe V. Wade, election results have made it clear that the majority of Americans support abortion rights. Yet anti-abortion politicians were able to win across the country in the 2024 election.
It would seem that in large part this is due to the media’s failure to hold Donald Trump accountable for the abortion bans now plaguing this country. Mindful of their weak showing in the 2022 midterms, Republicans largely walked back their rhetoric on abortion. Donald Trump proudly proclaimed that he simply gave abortion “back to the states” during the presidential debate. Republicans picked up this rhetoric in their campaigns. Mike Rogers, Michigan’s failed GOP candidate for senate, has a history of supporting legislation in congress that would ban abortion nationally. Yet on the campaign trail, he promised to accept the will of Michigan voters and their passing of the Reproductive Freedom for All Amendment.
Meanwhile, JD Vance insisted he had never supported an abortion ban, but instead supported some sort of “limit.” Here too, the media has largely allowed Republicans to frame the language around abortion bans. The only difference between a 15 week ban and a 15 week “limit” is the word printed on the bill. Yet as the results of the 2024 election show, that little word choice is all Republicans needed to distance themselves from the abortion issue.
As we continue fighting for abortion rights, we must be diligent in combating misinformation from the GOP. We must hold them accountable for the actions they take to restrict access to reproductive healthcare. If we continue to allow them to write the narrative, they will continue to dodge responsibility for stripping away our rights while simultaneously enacting further bans. Voters have made it clear – Americans want safe, legal abortion access. Now it’s time we make it clear to voters exactly who is standing in the way of that – Donald Trump and the GOP.