Washington Post: Democrats ‘Less Focused on Abortion’ Three Years After End of Roe

After essentially making abortion the sole issue of every election since the fall of Roe v. Wade exactly three years ago, the Democrat party “has largely shifted its focus to other fights, as some acknowledge the difficulty of battling President Donald Trump on the issue,” the Washington Postreported.

While Democrats still plan to pitch killing unborn babies in abortions to “persuade centrist voters” and their base in this year’s elections, it is “no longer the dominant topic for many Democrats, as they scramble to fight Trump on other fronts, from his deportation raids to his dismantling of some federal agencies to the pocketbook issues strategists are most eager to center in the 2026 midterms,” the report reads. 

Democrats are eyeing the economy over abortion as a “more promising target,” with Democratic strategist Mark Riddle telling the publication, “There’s no question since [the 2022 midterms] that the cost of living has moved way up higher on the list of voting priorities.” 

Riddle is still urging his party to keep talking about abortion, although other Democrats noted that President Trump’s position on the issue,  that it should be left to the states, has made it “difficult to pin him down.”

“Trump’s campaign basically undercut some of our most compelling arguments about what he had done to overturn Roe and what he would do … [by saying] ‘I’m going to leave it to the states,’” said Mini Timmaraju, president the abortion organization Reproductive Freedom for All.  “To the average person, that sounds like a really reasonable answer.”

Abortion activists said they plan to focus on the Trump administration’s actions, including the FDA’s review of abortion pill safety data and the fight to defund Planned Parenthood.

“We know that we have our job cut out for us to educate voters on the list of things that Trump is actively doing,” Timmaraju said.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had for 50 years established an invented constitutional right to kill unborn babies in abortions. President Trump has touted the decision has a personal victory after nominating three of the Supreme Court justices who ultimately helped to overturn Roe.

Since then, the issue has largely been battled in the states, including through ballot initiatives. According to the Post, abortion activists have largely “exhausted their best opportunities for citizen-led ballot initiatives expanding abortion access” after the 2024 elections. In November, abortion activists experienced their first ballot measure losses in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida, and passed amendments in seven other states.

Strategists said while the debate over abortion was helpful last year, it could not surpass voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy and the people in power.

“Despite a lot of efforts, the economy became nationalized and abortion became localized, and that was a bad situation for the Democrats,” said strategist Celinda Lake.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton