It is no exaggeration to say that Kamala ran on abortion. Turns out, Americans don’t love it as much as she thought.
Americans have remained pretty consistent on their position regarding abortion, which is one of nuanced toleration. There is, of course, a stark difference between the public tolerating an issue and championing it, and Democrats could not grasp this. Progressive organizations literally paraded abortion pills, revered “Freeda Womb,” and distributed abortion-related paraphernalia on the streets. Kamala’s campaign was nothing short of an abortion-themed “pride parade,” and voters didn’t want to join.
Democrats love to claim that a vote against unrestricted abortion is a vote against women. A political illustration went viral before the election, displaying a father at the voting booth, glancing back guiltily at his young daughter. The girl asks, “Who are you voting for, Daddy?” to which the flannel-wearing father responds, “You.” The cartoon implied that fathers ought to vote for Kamala so their daughters will keep their “right” to an abortion.
The best response I have seen was a short post on X, “Your daughter is capable of so much more than aborting her kids.”
The Democrats bet way too heavily that women across the country would vote solely on “reproductive rights,” i.e., for unlimited abortion access. After the Dobbs decision of 2022, the Left has tried to turn abortion “rights” into a rallying call for all women, as though all women support third-trimester abortions.
Harris supporters used images of the Handmaid’s Tale, rhetoric of sexual slaver, and tragic stories of pregnant women dying from medical malpractice in an attempt to fearmonger Harris all the way into the Oval Office. Further, Kamala’s campaign also spent an unprecedented amount on pro-abortion messaging.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, observed this reality: “In the first presidential election since Dobbs, Americans have rejected the Democrats’ no-limits abortion agenda. Democrats led by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz went ‘all in’ on abortion as their number one issue. In the general election alone, they spent over half a billion dollars on ads attacking pro-life Republicans and claiming limits on abortion kill women. Their lies failed.”
The Harris campaign bet that women would turn out in droves at the ballot to protect “their choice” to end the life of the baby inside of them — or “terminate the fetus,” which is the kind of language abortion advocates use.
Despite all the campaign fearmongering, about how women are going to die if the pro-life side gains traction, Americans aren’t willing to elect a presidential candidate solely over the abortion question. (And with the Dobbs decision pushing abortion back to the states, the issue is more relevant to state legislatures instead of the federal executive.)
A recent headline from Politico read, “Anti-abortion forces broke the left’s post-Roe winning streak” — referring to the failed referenda in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida.
Another word for “anti-abortion forces”? About half of all women in the U.S. Among all women who voted in this election, 45 percent went for Trump — a significant increase from the 39 percent who voted for him in 2016.
Now, the Left has begun its witch hunt of Trump-supporting women to cope with Kamala’s resounding defeat.
In a desperate attempt to understand what happened, progressive women are pointing the finger at “Aunt Tammy” — any woman who, in the eyes of the Left, voted against her own interest and the interest of women everywhere by voting for pro-life candidates and policies.
A columnist at the Guardian, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, wrote: “Women’s bodies are also of little consequence to the people who voted for Donald Trump. . . . Women across the world are today experiencing the visceral, secondhand body horror of another Trump administration.” Emma Vigeland, a leftist podcast host, posted on X: “Can’t believe I actually had faith in other white women to choose our collective reproductive rights over their own whiteness. Naive and dumb.” A Harris-supporting OB-GYN physician’s assistant in Philadelphia posted: “To every woman that voted for Trump, I hope your daughter has an ectopic pregnancy.” (An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fetus attaches to a lining outside of the womb; it is fatal if left untreated.)
In short — with no exaggeration — select groups of progressive women believe that women who do not vote for abortion are misogynist, racist, and should die.
Identity politics failed the Harris campaign miserably. Sorry, Kamala — my mind, my choice.