Democrats’ radical abortion policy playbook

At the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson spoke in front of a cheering crowd while wearing a bright pink dress and a gold pin with the word “ABORTION.” She bashed former President Donald Trump for his history of pro-life policies and told the story of a woman who was unable to get an abortion in three pro-life states before she traveled to California for the procedure.

“I’m here to tell you, in no way are Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance more qualified than doctors and women to make these decisions,” she said. “We decide. We trust women! We trust doctors! And we trust Kamala Harris!”

Pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris’ track record on the issue and the support she’s received from abortion groups, pro-life organizations warn that an administration under the Democratic presidential nominee would be the most pro-abortion in the nation’s history. Abortion supporters have cheered Harris’ vows to restore Roe v. Wade and sign legislation legalizing abortion nationwide. But off the stage, the pro-abortion leaders who spoke at the convention last week aren’t satisfied with Harris’ promises. They’re calling for more radical goals.

“Starting at Roe is the wrong framework,” McGill Johnson told Politico last week. She explained that Roe allowed for some limits on abortion. In theory, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision permitted states to enact some protections for unborn babies later in pregnancy—even though the broad exceptions required after that point would effectively legalize abortions for any reason.

In a memo entitled “Abortion Justice, Now,” dozens of smaller pro-abortion organizations have outlined their primary objections to the Roe framework. They say allowing for even some limits on abortion suggests that some reasons for getting abortions aren’t as valid as others and that states should prohibit abortions later in pregnancy.

“Under Roe, tens of thousands of abortion-seekers were denied care every year due to abortion bans based on gestational duration or viability,” the memo reads. It adds that Roe also failed to ensure low-income women and minors could get abortions since states were able to pass parental consent laws and laws restricting federal funding of abortion.

Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America)—two leading abortion groups represented at the DNC—have not added their names to the memo. But the leaders of both organizations have critiqued Roe on similar grounds.

“We don’t want just some of our rights,” McGill Johnson told Politico. “We want them all.”

Reproductive Freedom for All president Mini Timmaraju, who also spoke in support of Harris at the convention, told Politico, “We have to push for more.” Neither Planned Parenthood nor Reproductive Freedom for All responded to WORLD’s request for an interview.

Some abortion groups have already started that push. Earlier this month, a group of pro-abortion physicians sent an open letter to President Joe Biden and Harris, calling on them to move beyond Roe’s legal framework, saying it failed to ensure abortion access for everyone. As of last week, Biden and Harris had not responded to the letter, according to Politico. Physicians for Reproductive Health, the group behind the letter, did not respond to WORLD’s requests for an update.

Jamie Dangers, director of federal affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, warns that Harris’ hesitancy to commit to these more radical standards is “all political calculation.” Dangers said that, by relying on the language of Roe, the campaign is trying to retain more moderate voters who don’t understand that the decision’s requirement that states include broad health exceptions in their restrictions on abortions later in pregnancy effectively allowed for abortion for any reason throughout pregnancy.

“They know America isn’t quite there yet. … I think they’re just trying to give themselves as many options as possible, and then they’ll go as far as their political realities let them,” said Dangers.

Even the campaign’s supposedly more moderate stance, she said, isn’t as moderate as it appears at first glance. As vice president, Harris has supported the Women’s Health Protection Act—what Dangers called the “flagship” pro-abortion bill at the federal level that lawmakers paint as a bill to restore Roe v. Wade. While Roe prohibited states from interfering with a supposed constitutional right to abortion, she said this bill would create an entitlement to abortion.

“That means that the government has to remove … any barrier to her accessing abortion for absolutely any reason,” Dangers said. The implication: laws in place under Roe, such as parental consent or waiting period requirements, would not be allowed under this legislation.

But sticking to the promise to restore Roe would itself be devastating for unborn babies and the pro-life movement. “To be clear, restoring Roe is not a moderate position,” Dangers said. “Under Roe, [about] a million lives were being lost every single year in our nation legally. … But a lot of Americans didn’t understand how extreme Roe was.”