As the Republican National Convention gets underway in Milwaukee this week, and in the wake of the GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Now that I have named J.D. Vance, with his anti-abortion bona fides, as his running mate, I have never been more convinced that we must unite behind the Biden-Harris ticket. This is our only chance to achieve this moment and protect our democracy.
Democrats Can’t Protect Reproductive Freedom Without a President Joe Bidenis back.
Last Friday I was with Biden at a rally in Detroit. The president was strong and in charge, and he clearly articulated why he is the leader this country needs.
Meanwhile, the threat of a second Trump presidency is a five-alarm fire for reproductive freedom and democracy itself. If he wins, Trump stands to dismantle our democracy and end the rights and freedoms we cherish.
This is not speculation. Project 2025, the 900+ page document made by at least 140 people who worked for himoutlines a plan to make this happen from day one of a second Trump administration.
The blueprint includes language and policies that promote the belief that life begins at conception. This “personhood” language could ban not only abortion, but also some forms of birth control and fertility treatments such as IVF.
And it’s not just our reproductive freedoms that are at stake. The plan amounts to a complete takeover of the federal government that dismantles our democratic norms and consolidates power in the executive branch.
There is every reason to believe that Trump would follow through. He has already worked hand in glove with Republicans in Congress to pack the federal judiciary — including the Supreme Court — with extremist judges who have carried out his agenda, including ending Roe vs. Wade.
Meanwhile, the GOP Platform Committee just confirmed what we already knew. They want to ban abortion nationwide —and they’re trying to use the 14th Amendment to do that.
But here’s the thing: we can stop his dangerous agenda.
By returning Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House and solidifying reproductive freedom-supporting majorities in Congress, we can restore federal abortion rights and expand access nationwide. The president has promised to sign a bill into law to do just that.
We can ensure that Trump never gets the chance to appoint more Supreme Court justices, which would set our country back and jeopardize our rights for decades. And we can intervene before he sets our country on a path toward authoritarianism from which we may never recover.
This election is ultimately about our freedom, and if we make that clear to the voters, that is our path to victory.
The Republican Party is responsible for taking away our right to abortion and putting bans in nearly half of the states in our country. People face horrible and life-threatening situations every day because of these bans.
Voters are angry and they are willing to do something about it.
Support for legal abortion has only increased since Deer was destroyed. Reproductive freedom has won every time it has been directly on the ballot, and it has helped candidates of all stripes win again and again.
According to a June report AP-NORC PollA large majority of Americans support legal abortion for any reason, up 12 points from the same poll two years ago. Kaiser Family Foundation reported this spring That Abortion is the top motivating issue for one in eight voters, with more than half of registered voters saying the November election will have a “major impact” on abortion access.
Democrats have a clear path to victory — and we have an administration that will fight tooth and nail to protect abortion access, reflecting the values of voters across the country.
Biden and Harris have made it clear that we must pass legislation that protects Roe vs. Wade to overturn dangerous abortion bans across the country and protect abortion access in all 50 states. Biden has promised to sign a bill to make it law if it makes it to his desk.
Meanwhile, Biden is taking executive action to protect access wherever possible: protecting a person’s right to emergency abortion care, expanding and strengthening access to contraception, and defending access to medication abortion.
And let’s not forget that Biden tasked Harris, a staunch advocate for abortion rights and access, to lead this fight.
The contrast between Biden and Trump could not be clearer. When voters understand the stakes, they reject Trump and his extremism and support Biden. We saw that in 2020, and polls since then have supported it.
We need to tell this story, highlight the stakes of this race, motivate our supporters and fight for this ticket. If we do that, Biden and Harris will win in November, but we will all have to work together and do our best to make that happen.
What happens now is in our hands. We can and must win, but we can’t do it without Biden and Harris.