As always in presidential election years, a ferocious Republican attack on Democrats as “the party of death,” “baby-killers” and worse is well underway, kicked off by the president’s focus on late-term abortion in his State of the Union address and continued by Mitch McConnell’s decision this week to force Senate votes on two anti-abortion bills, one banning the procedure after 20 weeks and the other the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.”

This year, these attacks will reach levels of vitriol never seen before. They will roll out in a cascade of ads, speeches and social media messages targeting evangelical and Catholic voters in swing states.

Democratic candidates at all levels need to respond by aggressively reframing the debate as one about how the two parties’ overall policies impact women. Bluntly put, Democratic policies aim to increase financial security and health access for working Americans. Republican policies deepen the financial pressures on middle-class families, put their health coverage at risk, and add to pressures that drive many to abortions.