The Broader Agenda Wins Big

Over the past two years of election coverage, the media has done occasional pieces about abortion politics. A good example was the pre-election piece run by the New York Times. The themes were Catholic voters and the saliency of the issue (in particular, candidates being threatened by bishops who would withhold communion) and a possible southern strategy by Democrats to pick-up seats by running so-called "pro-life" candidates. But yesterday's election showed that if political analysts would look for a moment through something other than the narrow lens of abortion they’d find a broader set of crucial reproductive rights issues that influenced important races.

This year a number of candidates that ran for the Senate, the House and as Governor engaged in a wide reproductive health debate that went way beyond abortion to include birth control, emergency contraceptive, pharmacist refusals to fill birth control pill prescriptions and sex education. It turns out it was a great strategy for pro-choice candidates. In the tightest of races, last night's results showed the broader agenda was a winning one.

In New Hampshire, pro-choice Democrat Jeanne Shaheen used anti-choice opponent John Sununu's anti-contraception record to portray him as an extremist. She unseated him (52/45) and we now have a new pro-choice voice in the US Senate.

In Colorado, Protect Families Protect Choices, the campaign to defeat Amendment 48, educated Coloradans about threats the Amendment posed to the most common and effective birth control methods as well as stem cell research and IVF treatment. Amendment 48, which just a month ago seemed a toss up, was handily defeated by 73 to 27.

In the United States, poll after poll shows 9 in ten voters support birth control. If a candidate, or measure, can be "outed" as extreme on such a popular practice, it resonates with voters. These are important life decisions that have resonance in voters’ lives. Compare the number of times a woman uses birth control to prevent pregnancy to how often she terminates an early pregnancy. One in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Yet, virtually all women (98%) aged 15–44 who have ever had intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method. Birth control is universally used and supported. And so candidates that can expose their opponents’ positions against contraception can win over voters in a big way.

Take, for example, the Connolly-Fimian House race in Virginia's 11th. In the final days of the campaign, pro-choice Democrat Gerry Connolly was able to focus attention on anti-choice Republican Keith Fimian's ties to a extremist anti-contraception operative. Connolly revealed that Fimian is a board member of an organization that seeks to have business leaders impose religious doctrine in the workplace. Connolly also exposed Fimian’s decision as a CEO to deny his employees contraceptive coverage. In that tight race, Connolly was able to pull out a victory. In Washington State, what was long viewed as a tight gubernatorial race became a runaway contest. Incumbent pro-choice Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire used access to birth control as an issue and ran ads revealing that her opponent, anti-choice Republican Dino Rossi, supports giving pharmacists the right to deny women their prescriptions for birth control. Gregoire won 54 to 46. (Several other races where contraception played a important role are still too close to call.)

In the Presidential race, the reproductive health issues that clicked with voters were those that Americans could see affecting their own lives. The failure of abstinence-only was exemplified by Bristol Palin and her unintended pregnancy. It isn't what Americans want for their daughters. McCain's attempts to portray Obama as an extremist on sex education fell flat. Americans understood that age-appropriate sex education protects our children. People understood that what Obama supports is teaching children from an early age that they have the right to protect themselves, whether from a sexual predator or, when age-appropriate, from STDs and pregnancy. Palin's support of a policy to charge rape victims for pregnancy prevention was something Americans could imagine happening to themselves or a loved one. McCain's inability to answer whether he supported contraceptive coverage became a big issue, mystified most Americans, an revealed how out-of-step he was from the day to day lives Americans live.

The electorate believes deeply in protection, prevention, and common sense solutions. That's the pro-choice platform that the media failed to recognize this year. But as this election year demonstrated it's this broader array of issues where pro-choice politicians and gained traction with voters. The 2008 election is the time we finally broadened the discussion to be about our right to make important life decisions for ourselves. It was the year that pro-choice became pro-choices.

This article was first posted at Birth Control Watch.