The stump speeches and political advertisements that define our

political season have been focused on a few traditional themes: the

economy, terrorism, and jobs, jobs, jobs. But there’s one surprising

issue that keeps cropping up in progressive campaigns this year: A

woman’s right to choose.

Despite the fact that a majority of people in the United States support Roe v. Wade,

moderate restrictions on abortion, and access to contraception,

reproductive choice isn’t usually the centerpiece of progressive

political campaigns. For one, it excites people on the wrong side —

anti-choice conservatives. And for many moderate voters, choice is an

important issue but not the dominant one — economic or national

security issues more commonly drive voting patterns.

But this year, Democratic political operatives have been surprised

by the success they’ve had in deploying pro-choice messages.

Congressional campaigns from New Jersey to Nevada have picked up on the

trend, and outside groups spreading the word are not just usual

suspects like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, but also the Democratic

Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

"We didn’t use it as much in 2006. Voters then were really focused

on Iraq and the economy," says Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who

is working on several House and Senate races this year. "I was

surprised, honestly. You think the economy and nothing else will break

through, but this is breaking through."

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Lake points to a number of factors that are making the issue key

this cycle. It’s a presidential year, and the president’s choice of

Supreme Court justices (the next president could nominate several) are

deeply important at a time when court-watchers anticipate several

challenges to Roe. This message is aimed squarely at moderate

and independent women whose more conservative views on other issues

have often trumped their pro-choice beliefs. In previous years, it

hasn’t seemed possible for one or two judicial appointments to tip the

scale in favor of overturning Roe, but that changed during the Bush years.

Choice is also a clear-cut issue that distinguishes the two

presidential candidates in the minds of low-information voters,

especially when compared the complexities of tax plans or health care

reform. Another factor has been that many potential moderate candidates

on the Republican side chose to sit out this cycle due to the poor

political climate for the GOP, leading to the nomination of candidates

with more extreme views. This was reinforced by McCain’s running-mate

selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who believes abortion should be

illegal even in cases of rape or incest. Some voters, worried about a

possible GOP win on the presidential level, feel the need to support

congressional candidates who will protect choice in Congress.

GOP candidates who are unwilling to support free access to

contraception are especially ripe targets, according to Lake. "Women

voters react, ‘I have enough to worry about, I don’t need to add this

to my plate, I don’t need to be running around trying to get my

prescriptions filled,’" Lake says. "When politicians are interfering

and making their lives more difficult, that really has an edge to it."

These factors have led congressional campaigns and

independent-expenditure committees in New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois,

Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut and Washington, among others, to push a

pro-choice message in television and radio ads, and through direct

mail. And it’s not just Democratic candidates who are touting their

reproductive-rights credentials.

One example is New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, a

traditionally Republican seat where Democratic challenger Linda

Stender, a member of the state Assembly, is in a close race with

Republican State Senator Leonard Lance. The candidates share more than

an affection for rhyming insults ("big spender Stender," "the Leonard

Lance dance"); they both also seek to define themselves as the

pro-choice candidate, and have aired advertisements to that effect.

While Lance says he is pro-choice and has previously voted for Planned

Parenthood funding, he was one of only six senators to vote against a

bill Stender supported in the Assembly that would have required

pharmacists to fill birth control prescriptions for women, regardless

of their personal feelings on the matter. (Eleven other Republican

state senators voted for it.) The DCCC has gotten in on the action,

spending at least $2.2 million in the district.

Lance’s stance on the bill "exposes his whole ‘I’m a moderate’

façade," says Irene Lin, communications director for the Stender

campaign. She adds that this is why "Republicans are losing fluid,

suburban districts." Lance’s attempt to establish his moderate

credentials has undercut his support among more the conservative GOP

base.

"Women’s health and prevention seem to resonate with voters," says

Tait Sye, a Planned Parenthood spokesperson, citing Barack Obama’s

advantage in social issues over John McCain, as well as pro-choice

commercials run by Jeff Merkley, the Democratic Senate candidate in

Oregon. He pointed to another reason that pro-choice messages are

important this cycle: Many voters initially assumed McCain is

pro-choice, and in February a Planned Parenthood poll showed that 38

percent of pro-choice women supporting McCain were likely to switch

their vote when told he opposes Roe v. Wade.

There’s one other reason that pro-choice ads are springing up around

the country. This year, the electorate will be much younger than in

recent cycles, both because more young people tend to vote in

presidential elections and Obama has galvanized young voters unlike any

politician in recent memory. Surveys show that young voters are more

consistently pro-choice than their older counter-parts.

Though it doesn’t seem that this burst of emphasis on choice by

congressional candidates will change the framework of the abortion

debate in electoral politics, it does suggest that many voters aren’t

pleased with the way the Bush administration slowly chipped away at

women’s autonomy. These candidates, including Obama, appeal to voters

who may be ambivalent about abortion by emphasizing access to

contraception, women’s health, and social programs to prevent unwanted

pregnancy. Or they focus on the absolutist stands of conservative

candidates like Keith Fimian in Virginia’s 11th District, where the

DCCC ran an ad arguing that his no exceptions stance on banning abortion was "too extreme."

Indeed, for all of the right-wing attempts to make pro-choice voters

seem like extremists the message of many Democratic (and a few

Republican) campaigns this season is that it isn’t extreme to let women

control their bodies. At the final presidential debate, John McCain was

discussing abortion and noted that "[Senator Barack Obama supports]

health for the mother. You know, that’s been stretched by the

pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That’s the

extreme pro-abortion position, quote, ‘health.’" For most Americans,

health isn’t an extreme position. As long as conservatives make it out

to be, progressives can claim an advantage on the issue.