Progressive candidates are increasingly sharing their own abortion stories after Roe’s demise

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For decades, only three people knew Gloria Johnson had had an abortion. “If these candidates continue to be successful, it’ll just once again show us that people are unhappy with state abortion policies but also that abortion is a big enough deal to them that they may vote for someone they may not otherwise,” said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis. Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, said Lands’ victory was a “political earthquake in Alabama.” “In red states, when candidates share these stories, it helps voters see there’s someone championing the things they care about, who shares their experiences,” she said. While the majority of candidates and lawmakers who have shared abortion stories have been Democrats, Republican Sam Brown has chosen to revisit his wife’s abortion as he vies for a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada. Brown said he would oppose a federal abortion ban while supporting Nevada’s current law protecting the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks — roughly the standard nationally under Roe v. Wade.