Election 2024: Make a Plan to Support Abortion Access

Tomorrow, American voters will head to the polls to decide who will be the next President. The stakes of this election are arguably higher than they’ve been in recent memory, and that includes abortion access.

During his previous four years in office, Trump made good on his promise to appoint justices to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to an abortion. If he wins again, we will likely be facing down the barrel of a national abortion ban. Project 2025, created by former Trump advisors and far-right ideologues at the Heritage Foundation, has vowed to use the zombie 1873 Comstock Law to ban disseminating medication abortion through the postal service, thereby gutting access even in states where abortion is protected. And some advocates worry that they would go even further, attempting to ban the transportation of any medical device that is abortion-related (which could mean a speculum!), and to even criminalize sharing information about abortion through the mail. This could—and would—all be done unilaterally, without Congressional approval.

It’s draconian and it’s terrifying. And it would be a severe escalation of the abortion access crisis that this country is already enduring.

Since the Dobbs ruling in June 2022, 21 states have banned abortion at some point early in pregnancy, 13 of which have total bans on abortion. Today, 21 million people who can get pregnant live in a state where abortion is banned. Last year alone, 171,000 people were forced to travel to access abortion care. Pregnant people have literally died because their physicians were too afraid to provide the life-saving care they needed due to their states’ abortion bans. 

And that has all been under a Democratic President.

If Kamala Harris wins, we are no longer talking about national abortion bans or abuses of executive authority to undermine public opinion, and in fact has said that she would sign a federal bill that codifies Roe into law, reinstating the federal right to an abortion. But it’s far from enough and far too late. Regardless of who wins the election, the abortion access crisis is far from over. In the best of cases, this is a years-long crisis instead of a decades-long one. People right now need abortion access—as will people tomorrow, and in December, and in January, and in July. We need comprehensive policy that protects all abortions. 66% of Americans support abortion without any gestational limits because they have seen how bans punish and kill people.

There is no quick-fix, there is only hard work from everyone, from the people already on the ground who have been supporting abortion seekers for decades to the newest volunteer.

Very soon, we’ll know who the next President is. It’s stressful and scary. But it’s important to remember that, while casting your ballot is important, it’s the continuation of this work, not the end. No matter who occupies the White House, pregnant people will still need you. They will still need help with travel, lodging, childcare, and the myriad costs and logistical hurdles that accessing an abortion requires today. That need will still be there once all the votes are tallied. And we will still be here, helping PSOs that are doing the on-the-ground work to make abortion accessible. This is a community responsibility, and it requires all of us. We hope you’ll join us.