A look at reproductive rights ahead of the 2024 election
Updated: 5:00 PM EDT Sep 26, 2024
Women’s reproductive rights have become a major topic of conversation during the 2024 presidential race.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, many are concerned about how reproductive rights may change depending on who is elected president.
Since then, the debate has widened beyond abortion, with fertility treatments and birth control entering the conversation as well.
Here is how reproductive rights are being discussed between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump – along with other major talking points surrounding this topic ahead of the 2024 election:
Where Vice President Kamala Harris stands
Harris’ stance is that the government does not have the right to interfere with a woman’s reproductive decisions.
Harris has said that, if elected, she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will “defend reproductive freedom and safeguard the privacy of patients and providers” and will “never allow a national abortion ban to become law.”
Harris has said that as president, she would encourage Congress to pass a bill to legalize abortion and sign it into law.
Harris has also stated that she supports fertility treatments such as IVF, which help women who have trouble getting pregnant. Walz has also been open with his experiences using fertility treatment and has stated that he will support any fertility treatment.
Harris and Walz claim they will continue to support fertility treatment as well as access to birth control for women nationwide.
Where former President Donald Trump stands
Trump played a role in overturning Roe v. Wade by nominating three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the precedent.
Trump has maintained his stance on the issue: that abortion laws should be up to the states. Each state has been responsible for creating its own abortion laws since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision wiped out Roe v. Wade in 2022.
However, Trump has said he opposes late-term abortions. He has made claims on the campaign trail about abortions after a child has been born. However, there is no evidence supporting his claim that children have been left to die after a failed or botched abortion.
In fact, “abortion survivor protection acts” are moot, according to legal experts, who say abortion survivors already have the same legal protections as any living human.
Although Trump now wants abortion laws to be decided by the states, Trump has previously supported a woman’s right to choose. In 2000, in his book, “The America We Deserve,” he wrote, “I support a woman’s right to choose, but I am uncomfortable with the procedures.”
Trump has also said that he will continue supporting fertility treatments such as IVF and access to birth control.
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a nearly 1,000-page document launched last year. Its creators call it a “presidential transition project” for the next Republican president.
The effort is led by a Washington, D.C., think tank – The Heritage Foundation – and involves several former Trump administration officials, including Ken Cuccinelli, Rick Dearborn, Christopher Miller and Peter Navarro.
While former Trump officials and other Trump supporters were involved, Trump himself has denied any involvement in the document. It was also reported that Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, wrote the introduction to the document.
The document directly states that abortion should be outlawed nationwide with no exceptions. It states that health care providers should be prohibited from mailing abortion medications, equipment or other materials involved in abortion across the country, even in states where abortion is legal, by enacting the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old anti-obscenity law.
Abortion explained
The term abortion refers to the termination of a pregnancy. This can happen deliberately through the abortion pill, mifepristone or a surgical procedure.
Many women who experience miscarriages require a procedure called dilation and curettage (D&C), which removes tissue from the uterus. This procedure allows a woman experiencing a miscarriage to pass the non-viable fetus much easier, and, for some women, it can be a life-saving procedure. D&C procedures are considered abortions.
Access to all different types of abortions, including D&Cs, currently varies by state, and the United States’ history with abortion access has changed over time.
In the early 19th century, abortion was widely unregulated, and it was generally legal. However, by the mid-1800s, the American Medical Association began advocating against abortion, leading to a wave of state-level restrictions. By the early 1900s, abortion was illegal in almost all states except when necessary to save the mother’s life.
This strict legal environment remained in place for much of the 20th century, but by the 1960s, a growing women’s rights movement and concerns about unsafe, illegal abortions prompted calls for reform. Some states, like California and New York, began liberalizing their abortion laws.
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide, ruling that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected under the Constitution’s right to privacy. This decision allowed states to regulate but not ban abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Over the following decades, various states enacted laws aimed at restricting abortion access, leading to numerous court challenges. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, allowing states to set their own abortion laws. Since then, many conservative states have passed strict bans or severe restrictions, while others have expanded access. This shift has created a patchwork of abortion laws across the country.
Fertility treatments
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical procedure used to help individuals or couples conceive a child when they face fertility challenges. The process involves retrieving mature eggs from a woman’s ovaries and fertilizing them with sperm in a laboratory. Once fertilization occurs, the resulting embryo is monitored for several days before being implanted into the woman’s uterus during ovulation or stored for future use.
IVF can use the couple’s own eggs and sperm or those of donors. It’s a common assisted reproductive technology and can be effective for people with various fertility issues, such as endometriosis, blocked fallopian tubes or low sperm count, as well as same-sex couples.
Prior to the Dobbs decision, there were little to no legal restrictions on couples using IVF to grow their families. The biggest roadblock most families face with IVF procedures is the cost. IVF is often not covered by standard health insurance plans and can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 per cycle, depending on location.
Some conservatives’ stance is that a human life begins at the moment of conception, making abortion an act of murder. During the IVF process, many fertilized embryos can be destroyed — couples will fertilize multiple embryos if an implantation failure or miscarriage occurs. To those who believe life begins at conception, the destruction of a frozen, unused embryo is also an act of murder.
As of September 2024, no states ban IVF outright, but three states have passed laws that could restrict the process:
Alabama
In February 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under state law, which led to the suspension of IVF treatments in the state. The ruling opened the possibility of wrongful death claims if an embryo did not survive the process.
The Alabama legislature moved to protect access to IVF, but some say the proper body to regulate IVF is the legislature, not the court.
Missouri
Missouri also has a state law that defines life as beginning at conception and gives “unborn children” the same rights as people.
Arizona
A 2021 personhood law would define embryos, fertilized eggs, and fetuses as people, but the law is currently blocked by courts.
Candidates’ stances on IVF
Harris and Walz have been clear on their support for IVF, with Walz’s family having a personal connection to the process. Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, underwent intrauterine insemination (IUI) to get pregnant with their two children. IUI is a similar process to IVF. While they are different procedures, they are often lumped together as “fertility treatment.”
“This one’s personal for me about IVF and reproductive care,” Walz told supporters at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, earlier this month. “When we wanted to have children, we went through years of fertility treatment.”
The Republican ticket’s stance is not as unified.
Former President Donald Trump has stated he supports IVF and intends to have either the government or insurance companies cover IVF treatment for women who need it.
Meanwhile, JD Vance previously endorsed a Heritage Foundation report in 2017, which took an active stance against IVF.