Both Barack Obama's and John McCain's performances at the Saddleback Civil Forum prompted a great deal of confusion on where the candidates stand on reproductive health issues. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne said the debate was a "sign that both parties intend to fight for the votes of religious Christians." But as Democrats head to Denver for their national convention next week, many pro-choice groups are optimistic about the priorities of the party on reproductive rights.

The DNC has titled Tuesday "Renewing America's Promise," after the 2008 platform, and one of the key components will be addressing women's economic and social issues. Delegates will hear speeches from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Lily Ledbetter, whose lower court victories were overturned by the Supreme Court, making it much more difficult for women to sue for pay discrimination. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards is also scheduled to speak on the importance of women's health care.

"Women's health care includes the whole range of women's health care," said Planned Parenthood's Tait Sye, and noted that it doesn't just include access to abortion, even if that's one important component.

At the convention, the party is expected to officially accept the proposed platform. The platform was almost surprisingly friendly to reproductive health activists. In other words, it doesn't seem that there will be any floor fights over the choice section of the party's platform. The position on choice has eliminated an emphasis on abortion reduction in favor of directly attacking the Hyde Amendment, which has made abortion access much more restrictive by preventing federal dollars from being spent on abortion care. The party's platform also outlines women's health care as a priority along with an ambitious call for health care as a "basic right."

With health care consistently ranking among the top five issues voters are worried about, choice groups are noticing that women consistently make less money than men and spend more on health care, Sye said.

This comes, however, on the heels of a rather lackluster amount of candidate talk on health care issues. Although a coalition of several groups pushed a remix of the famous Harry and Louise ad, the one largely attributed with killing health care reform in the 1990, the new ad that supports health care reform hasn't been brought to the public candidate debate. Of the television ads released by the Obama campaign in the last month, one mentioned health care, but only as one of many symptoms of a bad economy and energy policy.

But with the Democratic National Convention approaching, activists on every issue are seeking to promote their own cause. Women's health care is getting a chance to be highlighted -- whether or not it will break into the larger mainstream media narrative remains to be seen.

But pro-choice groups aren't just working on messaging at the Democratic convention. They're working messaging at the Republican National Convention as well. Already, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Joe Lieberman, both of whom are pro-choice, are scheduled to speak at the convention in St. Paul.

In 1996 pro-choice delegates at the Republican National Convention felt the party's platform was too conservative on abortion, so they wore yellow scarves that said "Yank the Plank," according to Harry Rubenstein, co-curator of political history at the Smithsonian Institution, as reported in the Chicago Tribune. The pro-choice Republican group Republican Majority for Choice regularly cites the many Republicans who are uncomfortable with the strong anti-choice stance that many activists have taken over the years.

A poll that Planned Parenthood conducted in February showed that about half of John McCain supporters said they didn't understand his position on choice issues very well. After pro-choice McCain supporters are informed of his lackluster position on choice, about 40 percent of pro-choice voters say they're less likely to vote for him. As part of Planned Parenthood's "Know McCain" campaign, they released an ad featuring McCain claiming he didn't "know enough about" insurance companies covering Viagra and not birth control.

It's clear that the Saddleback debate, which featured an audience largely of religious conservatives, left voters perplexed as to where candidates stand on choice -- perhaps intentionally so. But the examination of the candidates' records leaves their positions much clearer.

Pro-choice activists have certainly been brought to the table to speak at the Democratic convention and to formulate a reproductive justice-friendly platform. But unless these issues are highlighted by the campaigns in addition to the activists, the party risks allowing progress on reproductive justice to fall by the wayside.