Staff Reports
Abortion has officially upstaged Obamacare as the headline healthcare issue in the race for the presidency, and it’s all thanks to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to show Democrats recently what “losing” really looks like. With Trump successfully overturning Roe v. Wade, the Democrats are scrambling to control the narrative, sticking with their playbook of health care being their bread and butter while real voter concerns shift dramatically.
Vice President Kamala Harris has doubled down on trying to make Obamacare a household name once again. Still, despite President Biden’s best efforts to keep it alive, she’s found herself fumbling with her support for abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s seismic shift in 2022. Instead of juicy discussions about drug pricing or insurance premiums, voters now find themselves wrapped up in debates about abortion, in vitro fertilization, and other reproductive rights. The Democrats may have thought it was a clever pivot, but most Americans are probably just shaking their heads, wondering when discussions about actual health care will surface.
Election 2024 issues. I am Pro Life. TRUMP/VANCE get my vote.
ABORTION
HARRIS/WALZ support unrestricted abortions at any time for any reason.
TRUMP/VANCE want to pass the issue to states and not have any federal laws governing abortion. pic.twitter.com/XpbDn9a1GE— Baldwin Samuel (@Samuel7Baldwin) October 4, 2024
There’s a hint of irony in the fact that a healthcare topic like abortion is overshadowing traditional concerns like rising drug prices and insurance costs—the very bread-and-butter issues Democrats used to ride into power. Yet, a director at a left-leaning institution observed that folks are more worried about crime, immigration, and, of course, their reproductive rights than whether they can afford their co-pays. It seems like the “party of health care” should probably get a new game plan other than eating up the headlines with reproductive debates.
As for Trump, he’s taken a rather pragmatic approach by advocating for states to decide abortion policies while offering to stick a federal dollar into the IVF pot for families looking to grow. It appears he’s prioritizing not only the unborn but also the ambitious mamas and papas trying to navigate the modern family landscape. Meanwhile, Harris has made it clear she wants abortion to be a non-negotiable “fundamental freedom,” which means she’s spinning a vision of unlimited access that sends chills down the spines of conservatives.
In the grand scheme of things, Trump’s healthcare ideas don’t seem to draw as much media attention as discussions of abortion and Obamacare, but they certainly pack a punch. His previous efforts yielded innovations in terms of presenting “right to try” policies for experimental drugs and rapidly developing the COVID-19 vaccine. Not to be left behind, Harris is waving her magic wand and promising to erase medical debt and other woes, but unless she can put together a magic healthcare economy of her own without harmful side effects from the socialist crowd, it seems efforts in that arena might fall flat.
Between Trump’s potential plans for Medicaid reform and his drive to lower drug prices, while combating “super-sized” Obamacare guidelines, it’s clear there is a substantive Republican framework out there. Democrats seem stuck defending their unpopular healthcare policies while desperately trying to make abortion the forefront of their platform. One would think they might actually want to listen to what Americans truly care about, but then again, that might require a complete overhaul of their political approach—something they haven’t quite mastered.
