Democrats Complain ‘Voters Just Didn’t Care’ Enough About Abortion to Elect Kamala Harris AP Photo/Nathan Howard

Democrats and pro-abortion activists are bemoaning that “voters just didn’t care” enough about killing unborn babies in abortions to put Kamala Harris in the White House, left-leaning Politico reported Monday.

Alice Miranda Ollstein wrote for the outlet that while “the abortion-rights movement did everything it could to convince voters” not to vote for President-elect Donald Trump, “it didn’t work.”

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“More Americans than not knew that there would be a significant deterioration of reproductive rights in America, and they chose that,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who campaigned for Vice President Harris. “I don’t know what else all of these other pro-choice Democrats up and down the ballot could have done to convey more strongly the importance of this issue. They did, but the voters just didn’t care.”

Democrats pulled out all the stops: allowing free abortions outside the DNC, fearmongering about miscarriage care, putting abortion measures on the ballot in ten states, trotting out pro-abortion celebrities, touring the nation promising to restore Roe, and championing abortion throughout pregnancy. But in the face of a floundering economy and a porous southern border, abortion did not end up being a strong enough issue to tip the scales in Democrats’ favor.

“Apparently this issue was not as important to a wide segment of the American electorate as we thought it was, or that we hoped it was,” Nessel added.

Seven out of ten states voted to enshrine the right to abortion into their constitutions — including in states where Trump won, such as Missouri, Montana, Arizona, and Nevada. Abortion measures failed in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

READ MORE: Abortion Measures Pass in Seven States, Fail in Three

Democrats thought these measures would boost turnout for them and help Harris clinch more votes, but that strategy ultimately proved less fruitful than they had hoped. Exit polling showed many voters split their tickets, voting in favor of abortion measures while also voting for Trump.

Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, told the outlet that the ballot measures “were almost creating a permission structure for some folks who were die-hard Republicans but movable on abortion to vote for the ballot measure and then justify voting for Trump.”

Ollstein wrote that some abortion activists view the 2024 presidential election as “their worst setback since the fall of Roe two years ago” and are afraid Democrats may downplay the issue in future elections. Abortion groups are also reportedly “wrestling with internal disagreements” about messaging, now that Republicans will control the House, Senate, and White House.

READ MORE: Democrats’ Obsession with Abortion Failed to Deliver Harris Victory

Some activists and Democrats are blaming the party for apparently not being far-left enough on abortion and foreign affairs, thus failing to encourage their base to show up to the polls.

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Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, the vice president of communications for the National Institute of Reproductive Health, argued that Democrats were not pro-abortion enough because they did not unequivocally push for laws that allow abortion throughout pregnancy across the country. Lee-Gilmore said the data reflects “that the progressive base wants a clean, simplified rights structure that removes government from pregnancy decisions, full stop.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) contended Democrats’ decision to campaign with Liz Cheney and court Wall Street while trying to appear more centrist on national security and the economy disappointed the progressive wing of their party.

“It doesn’t seem to me that we picked up anything from the right,” said Jayapal, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “If you’re trying to out-Republican Republicans, people are like, ‘Well, I’ve got that party. What do you stand for? What’s the difference?’”

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