Kirsten Gillibrand on Abortion

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/kirsten-gillibrand-abortion.html

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has struggled to build early momentum in her campaign. But the renewed Republican push to restrict abortion in recent months has offered her an opening to speak out strongly in defense of women’s reproductive rights.

Ms. Gillibrand has said she will only nominate judges — including Supreme Court justices — who will commit to upholding Roe v. Wade and protecting reproductive rights.

She has also laid out a reproductive rights platform in which she pledged to protect access to abortions and doctors and organizations that provide them.

Amid a battle over a new Alabama law that effectively outlaws abortions in the state, Ms. Gillibrand warned of a “war on women,” and called for Americans to “fight like hell.”

Ms. Gillibrand has sought to position herself as the advocate-in-chief for women. Her leadership on abortion fits with her broader strategy.

Her campaign has struggled to raise money from small donors, but the recent anti-abortion legislation passed in numerous states helped give Ms. Gillibrand a bump. She booked a last-minute trip to Georgia to decry the passage of a restrictive abortion law there, blitzed the cable news networks, and the donations that followed helped secure her spot in the June debates.

Ms. Gillibrand’s breakout moment on abortion may have given her campaign a financial boost, but it did not lift her meager support in the polls or significantly expand her relatively thin crowds.