The Democratic Party Convention begins today in Chicago. After examining what a Donald Trump and JD Vance presidency could mean for women’s rights in the USA, campaign and communications specialist Florence Blondel is leading the new Democratic candidates.
The Democratic Party in the United States has consistently placed emphasis on women’s rights, particularly reproductive freedoms. The current administration has reaffirmed this commitment, particularly in response to the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, which overturned nearly 50 years of established women’s rights.
Reproductive rights advocate
Vice President Kamala Harris is now the Democratic presidential nominee. She and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have proven to be strong advocates for women’s rights.
Both politicians are vocal defenders of reproductive rights and ensuring that women across the country have access to safe and legal abortions, and they show no remorse for supporting Republican efforts to roll back progress in reproductive health care.
You can label me whatever you want, as long as it ensures that children don’t go hungry in school and women can make their own decisions about their health care.”
Tim Walz
Equality for women
The Harris-Waltz team has been vocal in its support for reproductive rights across the United States. They stress that the Democratic Party has long had a stance on women’s rights. The party has a platform that emphasizes gender equality in various areas.
Her commitment goes beyond reproductive rights and includes workplace equality, paid family leave, and efforts to end gender discrimination in education, employment, and health care. The phrase “When women succeed, America succeeds” underscores this.
Like President Biden, Harris has been a vocal advocate for women’s issues and has vowed to sign legislation that would “restore and protect reproductive freedom in every state.”
Democrats have said they are aware of the danger a second Trump presidency could pose to reproductive rights. That urgency is evident, as “protecting reproductive rights” has become a recurring theme in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s public addresses whenever they appear on the campaign trail.
When announcing her selection of her vice presidential candidate, Harris said:
“He made Minnesota the first state in the country to pass a law constitutionally protecting abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.”
Protecting contraception: a constant struggle
In June of this year, when the candidate list was still Biden-Harris, a Pew Research Center poll found that about 93 percent of Biden supporters and 66 percent of Trump supporters thought it was good for society that contraception was widely available.
But this year the Democrats again made a “An act to protect individuals’ access to and use of contraceptives and to protect the ability of health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, and contraceptive-related information.” The Right to Contraception Act was never passed, even though most Americans needed this reassurance.
Harris and Walz continue to support the importance of contraception, including the right to in vitro fertilization (IVF), reflecting the party’s commitment to reproductive health. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago this month is an opportunity to reinforce their position.
A future for women’s rights
If elected, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will advance women’s rights in the U.S., with a particular focus on reproductive health. Their leadership style offers hope to many women and health care providers who worry about potential restrictions on rights under a Trump-Vance administration. The stakes are high, and Democrats seem clear in their determination to protect and expand women’s rights across the country.
