Doris Brown has lived in Quakertown for decades and has watched the town transform from a quiet rural area into part of Philadelphia’s sprawling suburbs.

In the late 1960s, before Roe v. Wade was the law of the land, Brown had an extremely difficult pregnancy. Ultimately, Brown said, the child died and she had to undergo a procedure similar to a surgical abortion to remove the fetus.

“Fortunately, I was able to get the abortion I needed back then, but now that’s changing. Not in Pennsylvania, but it’s only a matter of time,” the 89-year-old told Vera Cole, a candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, who stopped by her home this month. in one of the more conservative parts of the contested Bucks County. Abortion was illegal in Pennsylvania before Roe v. Wade, But there were loopholes. The abortion ban would not have affected Brown because the fetus had already died.

Cole, a Democrat, had described free and fair elections and the protection of reproductive rights as her most important issues.

“I don’t like the way we’re treated,” Brown told Cole. “I don’t like anyone telling me what to do with my body.”

Brown, an unaffiliated voter, has not voted for a Republican as their presidential candidate since Sen. John McCain in 2008. But she said she would consider voting for incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, despite voting against him before. She is exactly the kind of voter Democrats need to reach to win on every ballot in November.

The exchange between Brown and Cole reflects conversations Democrats are having with women in Philadelphia’s suburbs ahead of November’s election, the first presidential election since the Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights in 2022. Reproductive rights are a key issue for Democratic candidates, whether they’re running for the statehouse or the White House.

Women in collar counties could play a critical role in electing the next president after helping President Joe Biden win in 2020. If they vote for her in similar or greater numbers and run against former President Donald Trump, they could potentially make Vice President Kamala Harris the first female president.

“Women are highly motivated and ready for this election season, and have been ever since their rights were stripped,” said Monica Taylor, a Democrat and Delaware County councilwoman. who is also co-chair of Black Women for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Taylor noted that a large number of women were volunteering and that some who had not volunteered earlier in the cycle were now volunteering again following Harris’ nomination.

This enthusiasm will be put to the test in November.

Philadelphia’s suburbs will be crucial for Democrats. Biden outperformed 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton’s vote total by tens of thousands in each of the suburbs on his way to winning Philadelphia. All four counties have more women eligible to vote than men, and Delaware County is second only to Philadelphia in the ratio of women eligible to vote to men eligible to vote. That slight lead among women voters could be significant.

Abortion is a key issue for suburban voters. A Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll of Pennsylvania voters in May found that about one in eight respondents in surrounding counties named abortion as the most important issue, second only to the economy. It was the only issue on which Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee, was more trusted than Trump.

Even before she was elected as the candidate, Harris was the Democrats’ leading ambassador for reproductive rights. During one of her first campaign visits to the Philadelphia suburbs this year, Harris spoke with Abbott Elementary Schoolby Sheryl Lee Ralph on abortion rights in Elkins Park.

The same focus on suburban women was missing from Trump’s campaign. which focuses on the economy and immigration. While those issues are relevant to women, and the campaign has activated female surrogates to help, there is little evidence that the campaign is specifically targeting women – although Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, have fended off criticism over their stance on abortion and their history of making derogatory remarks about women. In recent statements, Trump and Vance have said that abortion policy should be a matter for the states.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign argued in a statement that Harris supports “dangerously liberal” policies that harm women.

“Women deserve a president who will secure our country’s borders, drive violent criminals out of our neighborhoods and build an economy that helps our families thrive – and that’s exactly what President Trump will do,” said Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

How Republicans are reaching women in Philadelphia’s suburbs

Republicans are trying to catch up on reproductive rights and are struggling to send a clear message in the face of states cracking down on abortion rights following the Supreme Court ruling in 2022.

At an event in Bucks County earlier this month, Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick invited a woman who had undergone several unsuccessful rounds of artificial insemination to the stage to discuss his proposal to create tax breaks for the treatment, which was put in jeopardy in Alabama by a state court ruling earlier this year.

“Everyone is focused on abortion, and that’s obviously a very polarizing issue in our country,” McCormick said. “…But there’s so much more about reproductive rights that I think we should be thinking about and talking about.”

McCormick, who has come under repeated attack for his own anti-abortion comments during a previous run for office, reminded the crowd that he is the father of six daughters and said policymakers should think about access to contraception, adoption services and the affordability of fertility treatments.

Deb Mackey, a Bucks County voter who attended McCormick’s event, said she was pleasantly surprised to learn about McCormick’s policies on families, but she said she also considered other issues when making her voting decision.

“I think (Trump will) better for the economy, better for my stocks,” said Deb Mackey, a Bucks County Republican who opposes abortion. “On the world stage. I don’t think the players are afraid of Kamala. I think they are very afraid of President Trump. I think his presidency will protect the nation.”

Giana DePaul, the 21-year-old executive director of the Montgomery County Republican Party, said it was wrong of politicians to repeatedly push the issue of abortion on women, especially young women.

“It’s harmful to pigeonhole women and think they’re only interested in one thing, because we’re just as diverse as men,” DePaul said.

“We will need every woman”

While reproductive rights are an important part of the message, Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder said women are also at the center of the Democratic Party’s message on issues such as the economy and education.

“We need every woman, no matter where she fits into a particular demographic in Montgomery County, to play a role in voter turnout,” said Winder, who hopes to hold a women’s rally in the suburbs in October in support of Harris.

Winder, who co-chairs Black Women for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs with Taylor, said she is also working to recruit volunteers to host small events in their homes to get to know people in a more personal setting.

Meanwhile, Trump’s opponents are working on planning similar gatherings.

Women4US, an organization that seeks to persuade Republican women to vote against Trump, has focused on the Philadelphia suburbs as a key region. Stephanie Sharp, one of the group’s founders, said the chaos under Trump’s first administration was something Republican women did not want.

“They gave him that chance and saw what could happen if it was extended,” Sharp said.

Republicans hope Trump can win back the voters he lost in 2020 and win over women with a politically focused message.

“If they focus on their core policy messages, which revolve around money, kitchen table issues and national security, I think they could succeed,” said Christian Nascimento, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party.

But the Democrats’ message on reproductive rights remains powerful.

Cole, the Pennsylvania House candidate seeking to replace incumbent Republican Rep. Craig Staats, said she hears about the issue in about a third of the doors she knocks on in Bucks County. She is campaigning in a district that has been held by Republicans for decades, but she said people are quick to share personal stories.

“That’s something I hear a lot at the door – that people have their own opinions on abortion, but draw the line when it comes to making decisions for others,” Cole said.

Brown, 89, said she isn’t sure yet whether she would vote for Cole, but she plans to support Harris, and reproductive rights weigh heavily in her choice of vote in any election.

“It’s a matter of privacy,” she said. “It’s a matter between a doctor, the father of the child and the mother of the child. I just think that laws, government and politicians should stay out of it.”

Writer Aseem Shukla contributed to this report.