When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the debate around abortion rights in America exploded.
Democrats and Republicans campaigned on access to the procedure in pivotal midterm races. And advocates trying to protect abortion have since notched victories with ballot measures in half a dozen states − even in deep red areas.
Now, the Supreme Court’s handling of abortion is again colliding with an election tied to reproductive rights.
As the court weighs whether to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone on Tuesday, a state house election taking place in ruby red Alabama could test the influence of similar debates on 2024 local and national races.
There, Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands is facing off against Republican Teddy Powell in a special election for Alabama’s 10th State House District. The Huntsville area seat was left vacant last year after former Republican Rep. David Cole pleaded guilty to voter fraud.
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Lands is vying to win the rare purple Alabama district with a platform focused on protecting abortion and in-vitro fertilization access, including by sharing her own abortion story.
If Lands flips the district on Tuesday, her presence in the state legislature isn’t likely to change much on the policy front. Republicans still hold a supermajority in Alabama. But national Democrats believe her candidacy could highlight the sway reproductive issues such as abortion and IVF access will have around the country in 2024.
“This election will be the first real test of potential backlash from voters upset by the onslaught of Republican attacks on family planning and reproductive care,” said Sam Paisley, press secretary for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an organization that works to elect Democrats to statehouses. She added that it has “implications for elections up and down the ticket in November.”
‘My biggest fear is that this is going to spread to other states’
The special election for Alabama’s 10th State House District comes just a month after a blockbuster decision by the state’s Supreme Court threw access to IVF into turmoil. The court found that embryos created through the procedure are legally protected as children.
The ruling effectively halted access to the procedure and rocked families across the country.
While most Democrats and Republicans immediately called for IVF protections, many reproductive rights advocates argued the decision was a direct result of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Since then, Lands has sought to capitalize on frustration and anger related to the court’s IVF ruling.
Lands, a professional counselor, ran for the 10th District seat in 2022 but lost by seven points – the closest any Democrat in the state got to flipping a Republican district. This time around, Lands said abortion and IVF access are at “the heart” of her campaign.
“I really do feel like Alabama has become ground zero for women’s freedoms and reproductive health care,” she said. “My biggest fear is that this is going to spread to other states.”
While Alabama passed a law protecting IVF providers and patients in early March, Lands argued the measure “falls short of providing the necessary protections” and does not address the underlying implications of the court ruling.
Days before the IVF decision, Lands on the campaign trail shared her own experience having an abortion for a nonviable pregnancy that posed risks to her health.
She was drawn to tell her story after hearing about another Alabama woman, Alyssa Gonzales, who was forced to leave the state to have her procedure. The two now tell their stories in a campaign ad.
“She couldn’t get the care she needed with her own doctor, in her own community, and 20 years ago I was able to do that,” Lands said. “We’ve taken just a huge step backwards, and we keep doing it.”
‘I’m not sure any race can or should be about a single issue’
Powell, a Madison City Councilman, has expressed support for IVF access but believes that it shouldn’t be lumped in with discussions about abortion.
“They are two separate issues. One is about creating life,” he said.
Powell noted that Alabama’s abortion ban “has issues that need to be fixed” including exceptions for rape and incest.
However, he criticized Lands for turning the race into a referendum about abortion and IVF, arguing that it is not a “single issue” election.
“I’m not sure any race can or should be about a single issue,” he said, “Our district has many challenges that we’re facing that aren’t related at all to this specific issue.”
It’s an argument voters in Alabama’s 10th State House District could certainly buy.
Abortion has fallen in importance to voters, as inflation, the border and other debates also have Americans concerned. The 12% of people who said it’s the most important issue in their 2024 vote is down from 24% in 2022, according to polling from KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization.
But abortion advocates point to a string of Democratic victories since the 2022 midterms as evidence that reproductive rights remain a major issue.
A’shanti Gholar, president of Emerge, an organization that recruits Democratic female candidates, said concerns about IVF protections could convince more conservative and moderate female voters to vote with reproductive issues in mind.
“The biggest thing in IVF is to see women, especially conservative women, shocked that they came for IVF,” Gholar said. “Every time that they are making a decision that impacts women’s health care, women are paying attention. But more and more women are starting to pay attention and that is going to have a huge impact on the election.”
Contributing: Maureen Groppe
