Democrats highlight abortion stories at convention. Can they make an impact?

The Democratic National Convention heard personal stories from women who faced restrictions on reproductive care, which advocates say will resonate beyond U.S. voters.

When U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, she highlighted an issue that dominated the party’s convention this week: the reality millions of women face without access to abortion.

Each day of the convention, audiences inside Chicago’s United Center and watching from home heard harrowing stories from women who faced the prospect of carrying their rapist’s child to term, nearly dying from a miscarriage at home after being denied medical treatment, and almost losing their ability to get pregnant when they chose to be.

Harris said she’s heard similar stories from women, as well as their husbands and fathers, across the country in the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which led to abortion bans and restrictions in more than half of all U.S. states. And she warned that Donald Trump and the Republican Party won’t stop there.

“This is what’s happening in our country,” she said Thursday. “And understand: he’s not done.”

Abortion access was set to be a key election issue well before Harris, an outspoken advocate for reproductive rights and women’s health, replaced U.S. President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.

But Democrats are betting it will gain even more attention under Harris, who leads Trump on abortion by 27 points among voters, according to an early August poll by Ipsos. They’re also hoping that wide margin will overcome the leads Trump has over Harris on the economy and immigration.

Nine states will also have measures on their ballot in November that will ask voters whether they want to protect access to abortion. Some of those states have enacted new laws since Roe v. Wade was overturned that restrict access during the earliest stages of pregnancy, which would be nullified if voters approve those measures.

The complicated legal minefield created by handing the issue of abortion back to the states — which Trump has called a “beautiful thing” — set the stage for women to share their stories at the convention this week.