For Democratic Candidates, Abortion Rights Is Now a Mandatory Topic

The first Democratic Party primary debate was a long, messy, crowded, two-night clown car. But it did offer something we鈥檝e rarely seen at a presidential debate before: multiple candidates scrambling to take the furthest left position on abortion.

The first night was particularly rowdy. Jay Inslee came out swinging, claiming that he was 鈥渢he only candidate here who has passed a law protecting a woman鈥檚 right of reproductive health.鈥� Amy Klobuchar hip-checked him, noting that 鈥渢here鈥檚 three women on the stage who have fought pretty hard for the right to choose.鈥� Elizabeth Warren pointed to her comprehensive plan to codify Roe v. Wade as federal law. Juli谩n Castro advocated for 鈥渘ot only reproductive freedom, but reproductive justice鈥� for transgender abortion patients, and for the overturn of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funds from being used for low-income patients鈥� abortions.

Even on the second night鈥攁 more dismal affair by far, where moderators asked聽only one brief question about reproductive rights before moving on鈥擪irsten Gillibrand gave a barn-burner of an answer about the fall of Roe v. Wade, one that channeled many feminists鈥� long-standing rage: 鈥淲hen the doors close and decisions get made, conversations are had about women鈥檚 rights, and compromises have been made on our backs. That鈥檚 how we got to Hyde, compromises by leaders of both parties,鈥� she spat. Electing a president, she said, was a matter of trust: 鈥淲ho do you want to be sitting behind that desk when the door closes?鈥�

This was a radical shift from the way abortion is normally talked about in presidential debates, where .

, where John McCain said bluntly that Roe v. Wade was 鈥渨rongly decided,鈥� Barack Obama offered that 鈥渁bortion is a very difficult issue, and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on.鈥� He then named abortion restrictions he鈥檇 support: He was, he said, 鈥渃ompletely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there鈥檚 an exception for the mother鈥檚 health and life.鈥� It was a tactic practiced by many winning Democrats before him, and some losing ones鈥攂e it the 鈥渟afe, legal, and rare鈥� language of Bill Clinton, or John Kerry, who when asked in 2004 about how he would respond to a 聽went into a spiel about the virtues of abstinence and how much he loved being Catholic, rather than simply saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not murder.鈥�

Worse: When candidates are good on reproductive rights, it doesn鈥檛 matter, because the question isn鈥檛 asked. The 2016 election will likely go down in history as the election that killed Roe vs. Wade. Yet throughout that year鈥檚 debates, not a single moderator asked a question about abortion. Hillary Clinton did eventually manage to with a resounding defense that was widely regarded as one of her campaign鈥檚 high points. But given that the 鈥渉igh point鈥� came a few days before people were set to vote, it didn鈥檛 matter.

Democrats seem eager to course-correct this year. That鈥檚 likely due to any number of factors: the newly conservative Supreme Court, the brutal abortion bans that have been generating so much outrage recently, or the wave of women鈥檚 activism that powered the Democrats鈥� success in the 2016 midterms. The sudden adjustment has made for some rocky moments; there鈥檚 always something uncomfortable about a White man shouting that he鈥檚 the only one in the room who gets this abortion thing. But if Inslee and the others are pandering, at least they鈥檙e pandering to the right crowd.

There are only a few men who seem not to have gotten the memo. Unfortunately for us, they鈥檙e the men at the top of the Democratic field. Of the three current frontrunners, Elizabeth Warren was predictably excellent: She鈥檚 issued a comprehensive plan to enshrine Roe as federal law, and all she needed to do at the debate was cite chapter and verse. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, however, are each a different variant of hot mess.

Knowing how to talk about abortion is becoming mandatory.

Biden has publicly , strongly supported the Hyde Amendment, and has likely been one of those back-room compromisers Gillibrand talked about on more than one occasion. He proclaimed as recently as 2015 that 鈥�.鈥� He was able to escape the question this year in the time-honored way, by pretending it didn鈥檛 exist: None of the moderators thought to grill him about it even though he had the worst reproductive rights record of anyone on stage.

Bernie Sanders 鈥� well, what to say? Here is a man who bristles at any suggestion he may be sexist and who can point to a long record of pro-choice votes, yet seems completely . This time, when Rachel Maddow asked Sanders what he would do to protect abortion access after the fall of Roe v. Wade, Sanders could only say he would appoint pro-choice justices to the Supreme Court鈥攚hich might have worked four years ago, but which certainly would not work after Roe v. Wade had been overturned. When Maddow corrected him, Sanders sputtered that his Medicare for All plan would cover abortions. It would, but if they were illegal where you lived, that would not help. There鈥檚 no reason Sanders has to be so bad at this. His own team tweeted out that Sanders would 鈥�.鈥� He just didn鈥檛 seem to know his own plan, which does not say much for the amount of thought he鈥檚 put into it.

But what was striking, in the context of these debates, was that these men鈥檚 ignorance wasn鈥檛 merely objectionable鈥攊t made them look out of touch. In the loud, rowdy, thriving abortion discussion of 2019, candidates鈥攎ale candidates, even!鈥攁re actually competing to be the most passionate, to have the best plans, to present America with language and policy that actually mirrors the priorities of abortion rights activists on the ground. Knowing how to talk about abortion is becoming mandatory. If the men at the top can鈥檛 keep up, that 鈥渇rontrunner鈥� status won鈥檛 last long.

Jude Ellison Sady Doyle is a feminist, journalist, opinion writer, and the author of three books, including Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy and the Fear of Female Power (Melville House). They live in upstate New York.

Reprints and reposts: YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps.

Republish This