by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

While forthcoming polling can help shed more light on a matchup between Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, the Emerson poll also noted where abortion law could give an edge to Harris’ campaign in Virginia. 

Forty-four percent of polled Virginia voters “would like to see abortion laws be less strict.” Meanwhile, 35% support laws remaining as they are — legal for any reason up to about 26 weeks, with limited exceptions later — and 21% support more strict abortion laws, the poll showed. 

Harris has emerged as a national leader in discussing abortion rights — often noting the prominent role electing Democrats plays in retaining or re-establishing abortion rights around the country. Earlier this year, she visited an abortion clinic — an apparent first for a presidential or vice presidential candidate in America. 

Abortion access has been a winning issue for Democrats around the country in state congressional races since the overturn of federal protections two summers ago. In Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin led an effort to build consensus around a 15-week ban with limited exceptions after that point and most GOP candidates fell in line last year as the entire state legislature was up for election. Amid heated debates about that key issue, Democrats held their majority in the Senate and gained control of the House of Delegates. 

Nationwide, a Pew Research Center survey found that two thirds of the country believes abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

“At this critical point in our history, the leadership of women, both at the federal and state levels, has become even more important,” said Virginia state senator Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, who is a voting delegate at next months Democratic National Convention where Harris can formally become the party’s nominee. “On this issue especially, the contrast between Kamala Harris and the dangerous misogyny of Donald Trump is a bright and clear line.”

Reproductive rights advocates began lending their support to Harris soon after Biden’s announcement. Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a recent statement that she believes Harris will “continue to fight like hell to rebuild a fundamental right that was stripped away.”

While Trump’s campaign has said Virginia is “in play” among other states that could be key to control of Congress and the White House, Harris’ stance on abortion could be one of her strongest policy positions that could lock down Democratic voters and sway others for whom reproductive rights resonate strongly. 

Early in their re-election campaign before Biden dropped out, he and Harris announced restoring federal abortion protections as a key pillar of their platform, and expressed the same sentiment in Virginia. Democratic leaders around the country have also stressed reproductive rights as a key focus of this year’s elections. 

Aside from abortion, other areas of reproductive rights have emerged as campaign talking points this year as well. When Louisiana’s Supreme Court ruled that embryos are people, it called national access to in vitro fertilization into question. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia brought Norfolk, Va.-born Elizabeth Carr as his State of the Union address guest this year — she was the first American born of IVF. Democratic members of Congress have pressed for a bill to support IVF access nationwide. 

They’ve also tried to pass a similar measure to protect contraception, as have state lawmakers Sen. Hashmi and Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News. Though Hashmi and Price’s measure passed the state legislature, it was vetoed by Youngkin.

Price accused the governor at the time of “aligning with the most extreme parts of the Republican Party despite overwhelming support for right to contraception bills.” 

A largely Democratic yet not totally partisan issue, reproductive rights may continue to feature as prominently in Harris’ presidential campaign as they have nationwide.

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