Even as the Trump campaign casts Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the most pro-abortion rights Democratic ticket in history, abortion as an issue has been all but absent at the Democratic National Convention.
The issue, which in the past month has been the source of controversy for Biden, was mentioned only once during the second night of the convention as a throwaway line in the keynote address, which was delivered by a multitude of speakers.
“As president, [Biden] will restore funding for Planned Parenthood. He will codify Roe v. Wade and make reducing maternal mortality, especially for women of color, a top priority,” said Tennessee state Sen. Raumesh Akbari amid a chorus of state lawmakers praising Biden for his record on women’s issues.
The night before, the issue received only a vague reference when Harris said “reproductive justice” in one of the many livestreamed video montages. Trump critics frequently point to Harris’s pro-abortion rights record, specifically a 2018 incident in which she took issue with a Trump judicial appointee whose membership in the Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus indicated that he opposed abortion.
The dearth of abortion references in the first few nights of the convention is a far cry from the past, when it played a primary role. In 2012, abortion was one of the central topics on the main stage, with references from first lady Michelle Obama, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro in his keynote address.
Abortion also played a prominent role at the 2016 convention, when Hillary Clinton was seen as the most liberal national figure on the issue. And, in a notable speech, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue drew cheers when she told the story of her abortion.
Prior to the 2020 convention, a group of more than 100 Democrats tried to keep the issue live by petitioning the Democratic National Committee to leave the codification of Roe v. Wade out of the party’s 2020 platform. They asked instead that the party adopt a more inclusive stance on the issue. The group, which included Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski, also asked that the party reaffirm support for the Hyde Amendment, a legislative proviso that bars federal funding for most abortions.
Biden supported the Hyde Amendment throughout his four decades in the Senate but reversed his position last year after support from the then-crowded field, including Harris.
Abortion played an outsize role in the 2019 Democratic primary, especially after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s January comments about the issue sparked a national conversation about abortion and infanticide. Biden’s June flip on the Hyde Amendment, as well as an October incident in which a priest denied him communion, kept the issue current throughout the year.
But since the coronavirus outbreak and the death of George Floyd, which triggered nationwide race-based protests, the Democratic Party and Biden have moved away from abortion rights to focus instead on racial justice, immigration, and President Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
The Trump campaign, however, has not moved away from its focus on abortion. In the weeks leading up to the convention, many Trump surrogates have laid into Biden for his opposition to the Hyde Amendment, including Newt Gingrich and Vice President Mike Pence. The Trump campaign has incorporated Biden’s support for abortion into a pervasive attempt to discredit the former vice president’s Catholic faith. The Catholic Church opposes abortion.
The Trump campaign has also stacked the speaking list at the Republican convention with anti-abortion activists, who in the past have praised Trump. These speakers include former Planned Parenthood employee Abby Johnson as well as Nicholas Sandmann, a high school student who became nationally known after an altercation following the 2019 March for Life.
The Republican convention will also feature an opening prayer from New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who made waves when he offered a prayer at the 2012 convention asking that the unborn be “welcomed and protected.”
