Democratic Party platform embraces reproductive rights
The platform approved at the Democratic National Convention commits to restoring the rights affirmed in Roe v. Wade and protecting access to contraception.
Delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago have approved a new party platform that contains sections committing to the protection of reproductive freedom and women’s rights.
The platform, adopted Aug. 19, notes that former President Donald Trump appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade and that Trump oversaw efforts by Republicans that have curtailed access to abortion, contraception, and fertility treatments. It points out, “His allies have published plans to further attack access to contraception through executive action, including by further undermining women’s insurance coverage for birth control and reducing access to condoms and emergency contraception.”
“President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the reproductive rights Trump ripped away,” the document says. “With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national legislation to make Roe the law of the land again. We will strengthen access to contraception so every woman who needs it is able to get and afford it. We will protect a woman’s right to access IVF.”
In a section on women’s rights, it states: “No one should be discriminated against based on their sex; and we, as a nation, must affirm and protect women’s full equality. Democrats will fight to make the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land.” It says the party will work to support policies to protect maternal health, invest in women’s health research, end pay inequity, expand paid leave, and guarantee affordable child care.
On July 8, Republicans adopted their own platform, which contains almost none of those commitments.
A section with the heading “Republicans Will Protect and Defend a Vote of the People, from within the States, on the Issue of Life” celebrates the overturning of Roe and says: “We proudly stand for families and Life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Abortion rights opponents frequently invoke the 14th Amendment to argue that fetuses are entitled to the same constitutional protections as people.
In June, Senate Republicans blocked bills that would guarantee access to contraception and IVF treatment nationwide.
