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."

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.

This article was first published by The American Prospect.